Assessment of Information Education and Communication (I8C) materials and communication channels for behavior change communication implemented at the Thai-Cambodia border.

Abstract

The assessment of information, education and communication (IEC) products and communication channel was carried out to determine an acceptance, appropriateness, and effectiveness of IEC that had been produced to enhance and promote the behavior change communication for target population in the areas of the project “A strategy for the containment of artemisinin tolerant malaria parasites in South-East”. It aimed to find out the practical communication channel or media that reached the target population effectively and also to determine a preliminary impact of the IEC materials towards the target population.

The assessment was carried out in February, 2010 in Chanthaburi and Si Sa Ket Provinces, eastern Thailand. The assessment were performed through two main activities including 1) a cross-sectional survey and triangulated with 2) Focus Group Discussion. The survey assessed 81 respondents and conducted two FGD sessions. The results showed the coverage of IEC materials was high as 80.2-83.9%. Overall, the pamphlets met well acceptance by the majority of respondents in all characteristics including contents, colors, sizes, and illustrations. We also found that most of the respondents could comply with key messages appeared on the pamphlet. The results from FGD showed similar outcomes when compared to the materials survey. Majority of the respondents had highly accepted the posters as shown by scores. These results figured out that, by culturally consideration and theoretically practice, the tailored made IEC materials were well fit the target population. More importantly, we found that the interpersonal communication was the most wanted communication channel for health education. These findings should be utilized as an evidence for enhancing a capacity of our field staff and volunteers to effectively deliver the health education program to the target population, as the aim set to change people’s behaviors and finally to save people’s health from malaria.