ORILE-OKO LESSON: A HEALTH COMMUNICATION VIDEO DOCUMENTARY INTERVENTION FOR CHILDHOOD IMMUNIZATION
Background: Nigeria is one of the leading African countries with a high infant and childhood mortality rate. Studies have revealed immunization as a preventative measure to most childhood killer diseases. However, there appears to be few intervention studies on improving childhood immunization. This study evaluated the effect of a Video Documentary (VD) communication intervention on the knowledge, attitude and perception of childhood immunization among women in Orile-Oko community in Ogun State, Nigeria. Method: The study adopted the quasi-experimental design. Hundred (100) women of reproductive age were selected through multi-stage sampling, with a six-week intervention programme implementation, following baseline measures of the variables of interest, and at seventh week, follow-up data were collected for comparison. Results: Findings revealed homogeneity in the personal characteristics of the respondents in both the experimental and control groups. At baseline, the mean scores of participants for knowledge, attitude, and perception were (43.84±6.04, 14.26±3.48 and 16.10±3.56) respectively for the control group. This showed no significant difference (p>0.05) from that of the experimental group (44.46±7.44, 14.16±3.67 and 15.92±3.72) respectively. However, at endline, the mean scores for knowledge, attitude, and perception for the experimental group (49.34±6.47, 12.76±1.96 and 14.70±1.32) respectively were significantly different (p<0.05) compared with the control group (43.58±5.98, 14.16±3.67 and 16.00±3.53 respectively). Conclusion: The study concluded that participatory communication is more effective than mainstream mass media in disseminating health messages among rural dwellers. It recommended awareness creation through video documentary for disseminating health messages to support government immunization programmesand reduce global vaccine hesitancy and misinformation.
Childhood immunization; Child mortality; Infant mortality; Life expectancy; Primary health care; Vaccine hesitancy; Video documentary intervention; Orile-Oko (community)