The radio

The ideal of "Health for all by the year 2000" may not be attained. Instead, as economies shift, some perilously, at the close of the 20th century, individuals afflicted with non-communicable diseases may lose ground on the health care totem, and even succumb to the "learned helplessness" described by researchers in the field of health communication. The need to learn more about one's ailment and to engage actively in solving one's health problems is the message projected by the University Diabetes Outreach Project (UDOP). With support from the private sector, service and philanthropic organisation, and government, UDOP has utilised radio in the battle against ignorance. In so doing UDOP has combined radio drama, interviews and testimonials to inform the diabetic community specifically and the general public as well. The strategy, dubbed E + E by Johns Hopkins University (Entertainment + Education) has worked well in Jamaica. The principal movers behind the UDOP educational thrust has been Errol Morrison (Medicine and Biochemisty), and Alma MockYen (Communication). The evaluation and analysis of their approach from the basis of the presentation to the March conference, Jamaica, 1999.(AU)

A psycho-social analysis of callers to a radio-psychiatry programme in Jamaica - abstract

The telephone calls and letters from 529 clients to a live radio psychiatry programme held weekly on a Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation programme between March 1980 and January 1984 were analysed and the demographic and psycological variables desegregated. The radio psychiatrist spent an average of 12 minutes with each client of whom more than 60 percent were telephone callers. Over 80 percent of the clients were women. They were mainly single, unemployed domestic helpers, predominantly of urban location. The majority of the cases were calling for assistance for their own problems. Their major complaints were worry, unhappiness, anxiety, poor relationships with people, and sexual problems. The majority showed signs of anxiety, depression, inadequacy, dependency and power struggles. The major diagnoses made over the air were anxiety states, socioeconomic problems, personality disorders and physical illness. The main topics discussed on the air with clients were socioeconomic issues, emotional issues, and the problems of stress, conflict and power management, as well as the variety of psychotherapeutic and self-help mechanisms which callers could use to resolve their problems. A significant number of the problems seemed to be resolved over the air while other callers were referred to primary health-care clinic services, and social work agencies. The significance of this type of programme for the provision of a preventative primary health-care facility of a new kind and its relevance to the psychotherapy process needs formal evaluation (AU)

Quiet talks with simple folks - abstract

The availability of cheap, transistorized radio receiving sets in Jamaica created opportunity for using radio as a means of communicating with poor country folks. A large number of these people are unable to read and understand the daily newspaper. They cannot afford and do not own television sets. This barred easy communication by the written word or by using a combination of images and sound as in television. The small transistor radio joins the machete as an essential ingredient in the field of small cultivator; it forms the constant general backdrop to domestic chores for the 'housewife'. This opportunity for mass communication has been used for 21/2 years in weekly broadcasts about health problems. A broadcaster-school teacher and a doctor have combined to create a programme called "At the Clinic". These are taped recordings in the doctor's office of unrehearsed interviews between the patient, the broadcaster and the doctor. The broadcaster and the doctor try and work within an general framework but 'listening ability' ultimately determined the shape of each programme since the first objective to be achieved is to hold the listener's attention. Subjects covered ranged from "the immediate treatment of a burn" and "the boy who swallowed a common pin" to "problems of a 14-year-old ganja smoker." Some limitations of radio as a health educating medium are discussed. The difficulty of evaluation remains (AU)