Public Service Messages Research Articles

Assessing Hepatitis Awareness in Punjab: A Comprehensive Study on Public Service Message Effectiveness, Knowledge, and Health Beliefs

The study assessed the effectiveness of public service messages on hepatitis in Punjab, Pakistan, focusing on knowledge, preventive measures, and health beliefs using the Health Belief Model. The study utilized a multistage sampling technique and systematic random sampling to survey 760 respondents, including 384 general population members and 376 hepatitis patients, from the top five districts with the most common hepatitis, finding that public service messages’ effectiveness was insignificant among Hepatitis negative and hepatitis patients. The study found significant differences in knowledge about hepatitis among demographic variables such as age, background, educational qualification, respondent type, family history, and participation in health awareness activities, as tested through ANOVA and Pearson Chi-square tests. Moreover, the perceived susceptibility and perceived severity of hepatitis had a significant impact (R 2 =.635, F = 605.71, β1 =.36, β2 =.58, p-value =0.000 < 0.05.) on preventive measures to avoid hepatitis. The perceived barriers and perceived benefits of hepatitis had a significant impact (R 2 =.407, F = 238.96, β1 =.56, β2 = −.42, p-value =0.000) on the self-efficacy to execute positive behavior toward avoiding hepatitis. Perceived barriers negatively impact self-efficacy, while media exposure and health-related awareness about hepatitis do not significantly influence its knowledge.

Examining Framing Strategies in Health Vodcasts about Genetic Diseases and Pre-Marital Screening

This research delves into the evolving strategies for effectively communicating genetic information. Specifically, it explores health communication strategies as tools for enhancing health literacy. With the burgeoning role of digital media in disseminating public service messages, there is a growing emphasis on digital journalistic practices within health Vodcasts. However, despite the potential of health Vodcasts to promote preventive health behaviors against genetic disorders, their precise impact remains unclear. To address this gap, the study employs content analysis of health frames within digital health Vodcasts from popular media outlets in Pakistan. This research sheds light on journalistic practices related to genetic diseases, their preventive measures, and pre-marital screening. The findings reveal the prominence of the Health Severity frame, followed by the Consequence and Human-interest Frame, in Health Vodcasts. By advocating for more persuasive health campaigns on public health issues, this study contributes to advancing the field of health communication.

The Impact of Public Service Advertising: Social Development or Social Change through Development Communication: Strategic Communication through Corporate Lobbying: An Analysis of the Changing Dynamics from Print to Digital Media

The term 'public service advertising', although familiar to all of us, has never been exposed to critical analysis in India till 2000 onwards as the growing popularity and inescapability of media messages through advertising has reached to a crescendo during the times of a transition from one-dimensional print media to digital media. And in this process of change-over, the intent of 'public service' which means to mobilize the public to take action for a common goal or objective, has got affected. Public service advertising with all ennobled and embellished connotations, catalyzing social change or transformation is nothing new. However, the problem arises when under the garb of 'public service' the centers of power, media elites or communication strategists, try to propagate their own world views through constantly bombarded different social media platforms, the grey areas of borderline between public service or public good and personal interest and personal benefit get obliterated. This research study will try to highlight the issues of propagandist intent of public service advertising and how the ideals of social change or social development through development communication strategies is taking a drastic turn towards forging a mass consensus on false assertion and fake identity. The article has used quantitative analysis methodology to analyze the various understanding of the concept of 'public service advertising' and for that matter, social media platforms like YouTube, Instagram are used as its variables for analysis. The sample size used for this study is 150 respondents. The study has concluded from the detailed analysis that the alarming scenario of diluting the phenomena of 'public good or public service' has created a huge propensity towards creating a hegemony, ie, self-glorification or self propaganda and the 'social development' intent of the social messages or public service messages is getting diluted because of the growth of strategic communication interfaces or equipped professional elites working as political actors.

Perception and Attitude of the General Population of Saudi Arabia Towards Texting While Driving

Background and Aims: In order to assess the risk of texting while driving, the study looked at the distractions that affected how well drivers performed. Additionally, it aimed to assess Saudi Arabia’s level of awareness, usage, and risk of cell phone use while driving, as well as any necessary safety measures. Methods: This study was a descriptive, community-based and cross-sectional study conducted in Saudi Arabia from March 2022- May 2022. Before answering the questionnaire, participants provided informed consent. There are no sensitive or private questions in the questionnaire, and their identities are kept strictly confidential. Results: In total, 1108 (76.3%) of the 1452 participants said they were texting while driving, while 344 (23.7%) said they were not. Texting while driving was deemed dangerous by 1000 (90.3%) of 1108 participants. 732 (66.1%) participants were aware of current local laws pertaining to texting while driving, while 376 (33.9%) were not. 666 (60.1%) participants agree that the modification of laws making it illegal to text while driving is acceptable. Conclusions: The vast majority of participants were familiar with the rules governing road safety. The new research backs up previous claims that texting affects how well a driver performs in a driving simulator. This is primarily for calling and reading/writing messages, and it is strongly associated with an increased risk of accidents. These findings imply the need for ongoing education and public service messages that emphasize the risks associated with this unsafe driving practice while minimizing the perceived benefits of the behavior.

Analyzing &amp; Evaluating the Effects of Public Service Messages about Dengue in Punjab-Pakistan

This research aimed to evaluate the impact of public service messages about Dengue in Punjab, Pakistan. The aim was to measure the perceived effectiveness of public service messages, knowledge, attitudes, and practices in the context of Health Belief Model constructs. The pre-constructed questionnaire was used to collect data from 540 respondents through the survey method. The findings indicated a significant difference in the perceived effectiveness of the PSM between normal and diseased. Among normal people. There was a significant difference in knowledge about Dengue among people belonging to different socioeconomic backgrounds. A positive and significant relationship between knowledge and attitudes toward dengue was discovered, with a linear regression model indicating a 54.7% positive impact on attitudes. In addition, perceived susceptibility to dengue had a significant impact on dengue prevention measures (p-value&gt;0.05). But the impact of perceived severity on the preventive measures was not noteworthy (p-value =.144 &gt; 0.05). Moreover, the perceived benefits of Dengue had a significant impact on the self-efficacy but Perceived barriers were negatively correlated with self-efficacy, although the correlation was very weak (r = -16). Furthermore, exposure to the media and participation in health-related awareness had a significant impact on knowledge. TV, newspapers, and health clinics/hospitals were rated the most effective and leading sources of Dengue awareness.

Spatial Impressions Monitoring during COVID-19 Pandemic Using Machine Learning Techniques

During the COVID-19 epidemic, Twitter has become a vital platform for people to express their impressions and feelings towards the COVID-19 epidemic. There is an unavoidable need to examine various patterns on social media platforms in order to reduce public anxiety and misconceptions. Based on this study, various public service messages can be disseminated, and necessary steps can be taken to manage the scourge. There has already been a lot of work conducted in several languages, but little has been conducted on Arabic tweets. The primary goal of this study is to analyze Arabic tweets about COVID-19 and extract people’s impressions of different locations. This analysis will provide some insights into understanding public mood variation on Twitter, which could be useful for governments to identify the effect of COVID-19 over space and make decisions based on that understanding. To achieve that, two strategies are used to analyze people’s impressions from Twitter: machine learning approach and the deep learning approach. To conduct this study, we scraped Arabic tweets up with 12,000 tweets that were manually labeled and classify them as positive, neutral or negative feelings. Specialising in Saudi Arabia, the collected dataset consists of 2174 positive tweets and 2879 negative tweets. First, TF-IDF feature vectors are used for feature representation. Then, several models are implemented to identify people’s impression over time using Twitter Geo-tag information. Finally, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are used to map the spatial distribution of people’s emotions and impressions. Experimental results show that SVC outperforms other methods in terms of performance and accuracy.

Can Communication Strategies Combat COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy with Trade-Off between Public Service Messages and Public Skepticism? Experimental Evidence from Pakistan.

The COVID-19 pandemic may have reached a turning point as the World Health Organization and the global community of nations step up plans for mass vaccination campaigns. However, the COVID-19 vaccine-related conspiracy theories (e.g., falsehoods about birth control, women infertility, surveillance, and microchip humanity, etc.) have built new momentum for vaccine hesitancy. To this end, several nations worldwide, including Pakistan, are struggling to boost public trust and enthusiasm to get vaccinated, especially in an anxious and complicated atmosphere propelled by multiple, new and the deadliest variants of COVID-19. To address this critical research gap during these intensifying conditions of vaccine hesitancy, the present study makes the first attempt to explore the potential effects of various communication strategies, including public service message (safety benefits versus fear appraisals), media types (i.e., traditional versus digital), self-efficacy, perceived benefits and threats (susceptibility and severity), on the willingness to get vaccinated for COVID-19. Importantly, the underlying effects of public skepticism (in a moderating role) on these relationships were empirically examined. Using four fictitious COVID-19 immunization campaigns in a series of experiments with 2 (media type: traditional vs. digital) X 2 (service attribute: health and safety benefits vs. fear) message frames (represented as Group one to Group four), the findings identified fear appraisal as the most viable communication strategy in combating vaccine hesitancy. Moreover, public skepticism negatively moderated the effects of media types and public service message attributes on willingness to get vaccinated in relatively high (i.e., Group two), moderate (i.e., Group one and four), and low intensities (i.e., Group three). The pioneering findings of this research offer new strategic insights for the global health authorities and vaccine promoters to proactively address the downward spiral of people’s willingness to take the COVID-19 vaccine.

Seeking Healthcare During Lockdown: Challenges, Opportunities and Lessons for the Future.

In Aotearoa/New Zealand, the first nation-wide coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown occurred from March 23, 2020 to May 13, 2020, requiring most people to stay at home. Health services had to suddenly change how they delivered healthcare and some services were limited or postponed. This study investigated access to healthcare during this lockdown period, whether patients delayed seeking healthcare and reasons for these delays, focusing on the accessibility of primary care services. Adults (aged 18 years or older) who had contact with primary care services were invited through social media and email lists to participate in an online survey (n = 1010) and 38 people were recruited for in-depth interviews. We thematically analysed qualitative data from the survey and interviews, reported alongside relevant descriptive survey results. More than half (55%) of survey respondents delayed seeking healthcare during lockdown. Factors at a national or health system-level that could influence delay were changing public service messages, an excessive focus on COVID-19 and urgent issues, and poor service integration. Influential factors at a primary care-level were communication and outreach, use of technology, gatekeeping, staff manner and the safety of the clinical practice environment. Factors that influenced patients' individual decisions to seek healthcare were the ability to self-manage and self-triage, consciousness of perceived pressure on health services and fear of infection. In future pandemic lockdowns or crises, appropriate access to primary care services can be improved by unambiguous national messages and better integration of services. Primary care practices should adopt rapid proactive outreach to patients, fostering a calm but safe clinical practice environment. More support for patients to self-manage and self-triage appropriately could benefit over-burdened health systems during lockdowns and as part of business as usual in less extraordinary times.

A Qualitative Study of Parents With Children 6 to 12 Years Old: Use of Restaurant Calorie Labels to Inform the Development of a Messaging Campaign

BackgroundUS law mandates that chain restaurants with 20 or more locations post calorie information on their menus to inform consumers and encourage healthy choices. Few qualitative studies have assessed how parents perceive and use this information when ordering for their children and what types of accompanying messages might increase use of calorie labels when ordering food. ObjectiveWe aimed to better understand parents’ perceptions and use of calorie labeling and the types of messages that might increase use. DesignWe conducted 10 focus groups (n = 58) and 20 shop-along interviews (n = 20). Focus group participants discussed their hypothetical orders and restaurant experiences when dining with their children, and shop-along participants verbalized their decision processes while ordering at a restaurant. Both groups gave feedback on 4 public service messages aimed to increase healthier ordering for children. All interviews were voice-recorded and transcribed. Participants/SettingParticipants were primary caregivers of at least 1 child between 6 and 12 years who reported having less than a college education at the time of screening and who commonly ate at chain restaurants. Focus groups were conducted in a conference room, and shop-alongs were conducted in quick-serve and full-service chain restaurants around Philadelphia between August 2016 and May 2017. AnalysesA modified grounded theory approach was used to extract themes from transcripts. ResultsThematic analysis of transcripts revealed 5 key themes: (1) parents’ use of calorie labels; (2) differences across restaurant settings; (3) nonjudgmental information; (4) financial value and enjoyment of food; and (5) message preferences. These themes suggested that nonjudgmental, fact-based messages that highlight financial value, feelings of fullness, and easy meal component swaps without giving up the treatlike aspect of eating out may be particularly helpful for consumers. ConclusionsThese findings can inform current US Food and Drug Administration campaign efforts to support consumer use of calorie labels on menus.

Strategies and Persuasive Appeals in the Public Service Messages about Health Issues on Pakistani Television Channels

The study analyses strategies and persuasive appeals in the public service messages aired on Pakistani TV channels during 2016-2018, that measures the effects of PSMs on audience behaviour. The PSMs fails to deliver messages due to dissimilar socio-economic backdrop and scope of the audience understanding. The purposive sampling of six selected PSM is on the bases of health themed PSM’s. Objective is to investigate the characteristics of ads, role of the message, major health issues, sources of the message and appeals. The AIDA model, persuasion theory and social responsibility theory used to filter the textual analysis of the selected PSMs. It was found that the PSMs presented health issues while using celebrity endorsement and persuasive message appeals as persuasive techniques. The PSMs such as breast cancer persuaded women for self-care, calcium deficiency PSM to calcium intakes, heat stroke PSM to precautionary measures during emergency situations, the malnutrition PSM to women healthy diet during pregnancy. The study recommends that advertisers, producers and TV channels should adopt audience perception based important strategies for social welfare, while the state must promote them.

Looking beyond traditional measures of advertising impact: Using neuroscientific methods to evaluate social marketing messages

Despite the growing popularity of neuroscientific methods to elicit more objective information compared to the traditional research methods, there is little research on the impact of social marketing and public service messages, using a combination of qualitative and neuroscience research methods. This paper compares the overall impact of an anti-binge-drinking campaign using focus group discussions and experimental Electroencephalography (EEG), a neuroscientific research tool. We find many similarities and differences in the results from these two methods. We also identify specific time and message points when attention and memorization processes occur, by combining two analytical tools for the EEG data - Global Field Power (GFP) and standardized Low Resolution Electromagnetic Tomography (sLORETA). These findings provide valuable insights into the impact of content, style and composition of public service and social marketing messages. We discuss the managerial implications of our findings for social marketers and public policy makers and future research directions.

Does the Experience of Parasocial Interaction Enhance Persuasiveness of Video Public Service Messages?

Does the experience of parasocial interaction (EPSI) increase the persuasiveness of a video message? In a between-subjects experiment (N = 465) we used bodily addressing to successfully vary EPSI in viewers of three brief video-recorded health messages. This manipulation, however, yielded no significant effect on viewers’ perceived persuasiveness of the message and their attitude toward the recommended behavior, and the effect on viewers’ felt obligation to comply with the presenter of the message was only marginally significant. However, self-reported EPSI was significantly positively correlated with all persuasion measures, and exploratory analyses yielded significant indirect effects of the manipulation on persuasion via self-reported EPSI. Limitations and implications are discussed.

HIV/AIDS and the Deaf and Hard of Hearing: A Call to Action

It is becoming increasingly clear that the deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) have been, by and large, overlooked concerning both HIV/ AIDS prevention messaging and research related to their potential uniqueness regarding knowledge, attitudes, and practice. In general, life-long disability creates “barriers to health and rehabilitation services, education employment, and other aspects of economic and social life” [1-4]. These disability barriers are magnified for the DHH community more so than other disabilities (perhaps aside from mental disability) because the DHH are often confined to their own signing or speaking groups because of frequent social discrimination and ostracism, and many have diminished reading and speaking ability, in addition to hearing limitations. This means that broad public service messages on HIV in the form of printed literature, television and radio spots, and public exhibitions may not be effective. Indeed, it has been found that broad public prevention messages are not reaching them, nor are those messages always in the proper format. This has resulted in the fact that the DHH generally have lower HIV knowledge than their hearing counterparts [5].

Dangerous Double Dosing: How Naive Beliefs Can Contribute to Unintentional Overdose with Over-the-Counter Drugs

In a series of studies, consumers reviewed over-the-counter (OTC) drug packages and evaluated these drugs for concurrent use. The authors investigate whether the consumers utilized the active ingredients listed on the package and recognized the risks of double dosing when using two drugs with the same active ingredient. Both novice and expert consumers used the active ingredients to assess drug similarity, indicating that the information was accessible. However, only medically trained experts used this information to assess the risks of taking two drugs concurrently, indicating that they understood its diagnosticity or relevancy. Novices' failure to view double dosing as risky suggests that they might hold a naive belief that OTC drugs are relatively risk free; thus, the authors test interventions to increase active ingredient diagnosticity versus accessibility. One intervention considered by OTC drug manufacturers makes active ingredients more accessible on packages using icons. However, the authors found this approach alone to be ineffective, whereas interventions enhancing the diagnosticity of ingredients through public service messages or package warnings yielded promising results. Thus, interventions may benefit by going beyond accessibility to also highlight active ingredient diagnosticity.

The Effects of Texting and DUI Simulation on Driving Performance in a Driving Simulator

Alcohol and texting each have serious effects on driving ability, leading to crashes and fatalities. The combined effects of alcohol intoxication and texting on driving behavior have not been well-studied. The present study utilized ‘Beer Goggles’ (BG) to test the hypothesis that the visual disturbances typically observed with ethanol intoxication potentiate the disruptive effects of texting on driving. Subjects were 18–26 years of age. While ‘driving’ on a straight roadway, subjects were engaged in brief text conversations. Subjects wore normal safety goggles and BG that simulated the visual disturbance associated with 0.07-0.1 % EtOH (legally drunk). The primary dependent variables were (1) the position of the car on the roadway and (2) eye glances on the phone-v-the roadway during texting. In all subjects, texting while driving was associated with a series of glances back and forth between the phone and the roadway, with slightly more than half this time spent looking at the phone and NOT at the roadway. Texting alone significantly impaired driving performance. BG alone did not negatively affect driving. BG significantly increased the disruptive effects of texting on driving performance and also increased (1) mean (and median) glance duration, (2) the average number of glances off the roadway per text conversation, (3) the duration of the Longest Glance Off the Roadway and finally (4) the Total duration of Eyes Off the Roadway. The present study confirms past reports that texting impairs driving performance. Moreover, the effects of texting on driving are dramatically worse when vision has been moderately impaired by BG. Given the high likelihood of texting while driving and after drinking, these data suggest that ‘No Texting While Driving’ education and public service messages need to be continued, and they should be expanded to focus on the negative interaction between texting, drinking and driving.

The effects of texting on driving performance in a driving simulator: The influence of driver age

Distracted driving is a significant contributor to motor vehicle accidents and fatalities, and texting is a particularly significant form of driver distraction that continues to be on the rise. The present study examined the influence of driver age (18–59 years old) and other factors on the disruptive effects of texting on simulated driving behavior. While ‘driving’ the simulator, subjects were engaged in a series of brief text conversations with a member of the research team. The primary dependent variable was the occurrence of Lane Excursions (defined as any time the center of the vehicle moved outside the directed driving lane, e.g., into the lane for oncoming traffic or onto the shoulder of the road), measured as (1) the percent of subjects that exhibited Lane Excursions, (2) the number of Lane Excursions occurring and (3) the percent of the texting time in Lane Excursions. Multiple Regression analyses were used to assess the influence of several factors on driving performance while texting, including text task duration, texting skill level (subject-reported), texting history (#texts/week), driver gender and driver age. Lane Excursions were not observed in the absence of texting, but 66% of subjects overall exhibited Lane Excursions while texting. Multiple Regression analysis for all subjects (N=50) revealed that text task duration was significantly correlated with the number of Lane Excursions, and texting skill level and driver age were significantly correlated with the percent of subjects exhibiting Lane Excursions. Driver gender was not significantly correlated with Lane Excursions during texting. Multiple Regression analysis of only highly skilled texters (N=27) revealed that driver age was significantly correlated with the number of Lane Excursions, the percent of subjects exhibiting Lane Excursions and the percent of texting time in Lane Excursions. In contrast, Multiple Regression analysis of those drivers who self-identified as not highly skilled texters (N=23) revealed that text task duration was significantly correlated with the number of Lane Excursions. The present studies confirm past reports that texting impairs driving simulator performance. Moreover, the present study demonstrates that for highly skilled texters, the effects of texting on driving are actually worse for older drivers. Given the increasing frequency of texting while driving within virtually all age groups, these data suggest that ‘no texting while driving’ education and public service messages need to be continued, and they should be expanded to target older drivers as well.

Correlates of Human Papillomavirus Vaccination Among Female University Students

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most frequently occurring sexually transmitted infection in the United States, but only one third of adolescent girls have received the HPV vaccine (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2012; Committee on Infectious Diseases, 2012). Understanding correlates of vaccination behavior among young women has important implications for health care delivery and public service messages targeting HPV vaccination. Female college students (N = 313) completed web-based surveys during their sophomore (second) year of college, fall 2008. Surveys included questions about HPV vaccination, demographic factors (ethnicity/race, socioeconomic status [SES]), individual characteristics (romantic relationship status, grade point average, religiosity), and sexual behavior. Lifetime HPV vaccination was reported by 46.5% of participants. Being African American/Black was associated with a lower likelihood of vaccination. Having a mother with more education, adhering to religious teachings about sex-related principles, and having engaged in recent penetrative sex were associated with a higher likelihood of vaccination. Health care providers should consider young women to be an important group for HPV vaccine education and catch-up, particularly for African American/Black young women and young women from lower SES backgrounds. Providing vaccine education and access to young women before they become sexually active is critical.

Body Image of Pakistani Consumers

This paper examines how media exposure, self esteem, and religiosity in uence body image of Pakistan consumers.The underpinning of this study is based on Social Comparison Theory with two additional variables (religiosity and self es- teem) for understanding understand consumer attitude towards body image. A self administered questionnaire was used. 193 persons responded at mall intercepts. The Conceptual framework was empirically tested through SEM. A positive relationship be- tween exposure to media and body image was found while negative in uence was found between self esteem and body image. No relationship was found between religiosity and body image. The results showed mixed outcomes as compared to past studies. The scope of this study is limited to one city only and hence the �nding could not be generalized. Future researcher may use a larger sample drawn throughout Pakistan, and by examin- ing whether body image perception varies ethnically, age and gender. Media exposure is a�ecting the traditional norms and values of Pakistan culture and body image. The obsessions of the media and thin body image have to be controlled and this requires policy changes. Corporate sector might take initiative by not selecting ultra thin mod- els. They might also sponsors public service messages showing ill e�ects of being ultra thin, and showing that the ultra thin models are not real but is results of artworks and camera angles. Social Comparison Theory with two addition variable religiosity and self esteem has been successfully extended/empirically tested in the domain of Pakistan culture.

Revival of Public Service Advertising through Unconventional Mediums

It is time advertising saved the world with innovation and creativity. People around the globe are now alarmed and are aware about the constant degradation of the environment and increase in other social problems. People across the globe are willing to put in their efforts for social and environmental causes. This change of attitude in consumers' approach has prompted advertisers and agencies to take a leap forward by helping consumers to contribute to a good cause in the most appropriate and interesting ways. By doing this, brands/organizations can rebuild strong connections and trust with the audience. Advertisers and NGOs today are very much familiar with the fact that the warning messages in TV commercials, hard-hitting headlines of daily adverts, and brilliantly made radio spots for public service messages can no longer lift up the spirits of the people. They also believe that nowadays, warning messages about social issues given by the conventional media can hardly get the desired response due to many reasons; therefore, the results are not pleasing. After observing the growing levels of social awareness and behavioral change in the present day consumers, advertisers have now decided to do something different on a social side to catch the attention of their consumers, and at the same time, do their bit for a good cause. Advertisers are now coming up with unconventional ways to make a difference and are also hiring renowned creative firms for their brands to do something innovative and productive for the present world. Hence, it is now up to brands and organizations to prove that they deserve to be trusted by the consumers, as it is high time for them to think about how they can add value to people's lives.

Can Public-Service Advertising Change Children's Nutrition Habits?

<h3>ABSTRACT</h3> This study presents research conducted in France that builds (and tests) a framework for effectiveness of pro-nutrition public service announcements targeted at children. The study used the example of advertisements that encouraged children9s fruit consumption. “Child-relevance” of a campaign, which is created by using popular elements from commercial children9s food advertising, is found to be a key antecedent to effectiveness of pro-nutrition messages, both in terms of attitudinal and behavioral change. Further, it is also important to take care of the aspect of “campaign familiarity” and spend proportionate amounts of media budgets on public service messages in comparison to commercial food advertising.