Media exposure to climate change information and pro-environmental behavior: the role of climate change risk judgment.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to examine the relationships between exposure to climate change information in traditional and modern media, cognitive and emotional aspects of climate change risk judgment, and pro-environmental behavior (PEB). METHOD: A cross-sectional online study was conducted on a quota sample of 1,075 participants (51.9% women) aged 18-79 years. Participants self-reported their exposure to climate change-related information in traditional (e.g. television) and modern media (e.g. social networks), cognitive assessment of climate change risk, level of worry about climate change, and the frequency of PEB. RESULTS: Structural equation modeling showed a good fit for the parallel mediation model, involving cognitive risk judgment and worry as mediators between exposure to climate change information in traditional and modern media and PEB. Exposure to climate change information in traditional media had indirect effect on PEB through heightened worry, but not cognitive risk judgment. In contrast, exposure to climate change information in modern media had no indirect effect on PEB. CONCLUSION: Since the link between exposure to climate change information in traditional media and PEB has been shown to be mediated by climate change worry, it is important to enhance the coverage of climate change in traditional media in Croatia, taking care to offer solutions to reduce possible negative impact on people's well-being.

Prevalence, Reach of Anti-smokeless Tobacco Messages and Quit Attempts by Product Type: A Secondary Data Analysis from the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS - 2016-17).

OBJECTIVE: India has the highest number of smokeless tobacco (SLT) products available in different forms, consumed in various ways. The current study aimed to understand the pattern of daily SLT use according to different product categories and whether Quit intention and Quit attempts vary by SLT type and exposure to media messages. METHODS: Data from Global Adult Tobacco Surveys (GATS), 2016-17, was used to find access to media messages and warning labels by SLT type. Quit attempt and Quit intention were calculated for each of the SLT types. Logistic regression analyses were employed to identify whether access to media messages, warning labels influenced, quit intention and attempts vary by SLT type. RESULTS: Khaini or tobacco lime mixture was the most common SLT type consumed by 37% of SLT users, whereas SLT users consuming more than one product accounted for 23% of SLT users. Exposure to media messages and warning labels was high among Gutkha/ paan masala tobacco users (74.7% and 81.2%) and low among oral tobacco (Mishri, Gul, Gudakhu) users (56.1% and 60.0%). Quit attempts and quit intention were high among Gutkha/ paan masala tobacco users (38.3% and 22.3%) and low among oral tobacco (Mishri, Gul, Gudakhu) users (25.3% and 13.6%). Users of Oral tobacco and khaini or tobacco-lime mixture were significantly less likely to attempt quitting (AOR 0.806(95%CI: 0.676-0.962), 0.839(95%CI: 0.736-0.956), and have quit intention (AOR 0.681(95%CI: 0.702-0.976), 0.733(95%CI: 0.627-0.857) compared to Gutkha/ paan masala with tobacco users. CONCLUSION: The reach of media messages and warning labels varies by SLT type. Quit intention and attempts vary by SLT type and access to media messages and warning labels. There is a need to re-strategise the tobacco control Information, Education and Communication (IEC) to reach out with effective messaging to the most unreached.

"Death Is a Possibility for Those without Shelter": A Thematic Analysis of News Coverage on Homelessness and the 2021 Heat Dome in Canada.

Among the most vulnerable to the health-harming effects of heat are people experiencing homelessness. However, during the 2021 Heat Dome, the deadliest extreme heat event (EHE) recorded in Canada to date, people experiencing homelessness represented the smallest proportion of decedents (n = 3, 0.5%)-despite the impacted region (British Columbia) having some of the highest rates of homelessness in the country. Thus, we sought to explore the 2021 Heat Dome as a media-based case study to identify potential actions or targeted strategies that were initiated by community support agencies, individuals and groups, and communicated in the news during this EHE that may have aided in the protection of this group or helped minimize the mortality impacts. Using media articles collated for a more extensive investigation into the effects of the 2021 Heat Dome (n = 2909), we identified a subset which included content on people experiencing homelessness in Canada (n = 274, 9%). These articles were thematically analysed using NVivo. Three main themes were identified: (i) public warnings issued during the 2021 Heat Dome directly addressed people experiencing homelessness, (ii) community support services explicitly targeting this population were activated during the heat event, and (iii) challenges and barriers faced by people experiencing homelessness during extreme heat were communicated. These findings suggest that mass-media messaging and dedicated on-the-ground initiatives led by various organizations explicitly initiated to support individuals experiencing homelessness during the 2021 Heat Dome may have assisted in limiting the harmful impacts of the heat on this community.

US Nationwide Multi-City Media Coverage of COVID-19 Responses: Community Structure Theory, Belief System, and a "Violated Way of Life".

Community structure analysis compared city characteristics and newspaper coverage of state/local government responses to COVID-19 in 25 major U.S. cities, sampling all 250+ word articles from 4/4/20 to 7/6/20. The resulting 588 articles were coded for "prominence" and "direction" (favorable/unfavorable/balanced-neutral coverage), then combined into each newspaper's composite "Media Vector" (range=0.3552 to -0.5197, or 0.8749). Twenty-one of 25 newspapers (84%) displayed unfavorable coverage of local COVID-19 responses. Pearson correlations and regression analysis confirmed a muscular "violated way of life" pattern, when a community perceives itself as threatened by a "biological threat or a threat to a cherished way of life." Political and belief system polarization (in particular percent Evangelical and percent voting Republican) were strongly associated with unfavorable coverage of local pandemic responses, compared to more favorable responses linked to percent voting Democratic or percent Catholic. Vulnerability (percent uninsured) was also linked to negative coverage. Conversely, two different measures of access to healthcare (percent municipal spending on health and welfare, and physicians/100,000) were significantly linked to favorable coverage of the same local government efforts. Community structure theory's grass roots "bottom up" expectations linking community demographics to variations in reporting on critical issues were robustly confirmed.

Tobacco Imagery in Indian Over-the-Top (OTT) Media and Its Compliance With Existing Tobacco Laws: A Content Analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Over-the-top (OTT) media are internet-based content delivery systems offering media services to the viewers bypassing the traditional broadcasting platforms. The OTT media, with limited regulatory oversight, can serve as a source of exposure to tobacco-promoting content. AIMS AND METHODS: This study analyzed the depiction of tobacco imagery in Indian OTT programs and assessed their compliance with existing Indian tobacco control policies. We conducted a content analysis of 28 purposively sampled OTT exclusive programs (14 movies and 14 web series) in India. Breathe California method was used to code the OTT content for tobacco imagery. We assessed the prevalence of tobacco imagery, its duration per episode or program, product placements, and brand appearances. We also evaluated OTT programs adherence to existing tobacco control policies in India. RESULTS: Tobacco imagery was identified in all of the web series and most OTT-exclusive movies. On average the web series depicted seven incidents of tobacco imagery per episode, whereas there were close to 19 incidents of tobacco imagery per movie. Ten minutes of OTT programming (including movies and web series) had on average 8.40 s of tobacco imagery. None of the OTT programs studied fully complied with Indian tobacco control policies. CONCLUSIONS: Depiction of tobacco imagery in OTT exclusive programs is common in India. Streaming platforms need to comply with existing tobacco control policies. Furthermore, there is a need to strengthen these policies and strictly enforce them to ensure tobacco-free mass media. IMPLICATIONS: India has more than 267 million tobacco users and accounts for the largest share of smokeless tobacco use globally. OTT platforms are largely unregulated and are considered drivers for global tobacco use. This is one of the few studies examining tobacco imagery in Indian OTT content, reporting the gaps in tobacco control policies in India. This study documents the product placement of smokeless tobacco, duration of exposure to tobacco imagery, and empirically report the compliance of OTT platforms with Indian tobacco control policies. The study findings can aid in strengthening tobacco control policies in India.

A Comparative Content Analysis of the News Media Framing of Trans Homicide Between Trans Men and Trans Women in the U.S. from 2016 to 2022.

Recently, the media's coverage of trans homicides has increased in the U.S. Studies show that the news media's framing has been largely negative but has improved in recent times. Yet, research has mostly analyzed the news media's framing of victims who were trans women, thus limiting our understanding of this issue across different trans groups. The present study employs a mixed method approach to comparatively analyze articles (N = 124) published in online news media outlets of 15 trans men and 15 trans women murdered between 2016 and 2022. The findings indicate news media outlets used more positive and neutral frames than negative for both groups. However, when compared to trans women, trans men were delegitimized at higher rates. These findings highlight the ways that the police, news media, family, friends, and community members simultaneously contribute to the humanization and delegitimization of trans victims of homicide, demonstrating the importance of ensuring all information released about the victims correctly reflects who they were, or the cycle of delegitimization will continue. By studying how the news media frames trans homicide victims, we can look at how the media shapes cultural beliefs and ideologies about trans people, the role of language in reinforcing stereotypes, and the implications of these framings for trans people.

Measuring dynamic media bias.

Ideological media bias is increasingly central to the study of politics. Yet, past literature often assumes that the ideological bias of any outlet, at least in the short term, is static and exogenous to the political process. We challenge this assumption. We use longitudinal data from the Stanford Cable News Analyzer (2010 to 2021), which reports the screen time of various political actors on cable news, and quantify the partisan leaning of those actors using their past campaign donation behavior. Using one instantiation of media bias-the mean ideology of political actors on a channel, i.e., visibility bias-we examine weekly, within-day, and program-level estimates of media bias. We find that media bias is highly dynamic even in the short term and that the heightened polarization between TV channels over time was mostly driven by the prime-time shows.

Framing South Asian politics: An analysis of Indian and Pakistani English print media discourses regarding Kartarpur corridor.

This paper aims to analyze the divergent perspectives of Indian and Pakistani English print media on opening the Kartarpur corridor. It is a four-kilometer-long cordoned-off strip from the Indo-Pak international border to the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur located in Pakistan. The basic purpose of establishing this corridor is to give easy access to the Indian Sikh community. The initiative was taken into account in August 2018, which resulted in the appearance of a vast quantity of contemplations in the national print media of both countries, especially until the opening of the corridor in November 2019. Print media plays a key role in building knowledge and framing the general public's opinion through interpreting an issue. The data were taken from Dawn, The News International (Pakistan), The Times of India, and Hindustan Times (India) from August 2018 to March 2020 using Lexus Nexus Library. The corpus analysis was carried out by applying the lexical study of Natural Language Processing (NLP) through its Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) tool to find out the general patterns or topics in the print media of both countries. It was found that Pakistani print media terms the Kartarpur corridor as a sign of regional peace, religious tourism, mediation, and diplomatic efforts. In contrast, Indian print media focuses on apprehensions related to traveling modalities, pilgrimage facilities, and tensions between the two states.

Effects of media stories of hope and recovery on suicidal ideation and help-seeking attitudes and intentions: systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: There is strong evidence that suicides increase after media stories about suicides by celebrities, particularly those that highlight the suicide method (the Werther effect). Much less is known about the Papageno effect-the protective effects of media stories of hope and recovery from suicidal crises. A synthesis of the retrievable evidence is lacking. We aim to summarise findings from randomised controlled trials about the effects of stories of hope and recovery on individuals with some degree of vulnerability to suicide. METHODS: For this systematic review and individual participant data meta-analysis, we searched PubMed (including MEDLINE), Scopus, Embase, PsycInfo, Web of Science, and Google Scholar published from inception to Sept 6, 2021, without language restrictions. We included trials that reported suicidal ideation (the primary outcome) or help-seeking attitudes or intentions (the secondary outcome) and tested a media narrative of hope and recovery. Studies were excluded if they did not feature a clearly positive story of hope and recovery, or had a control group exposed to suicide-related stimulus material. We contacted the lead or senior authors of all original studies to obtain participant-level data for this study. The primary analysis was restricted to individuals with some vulnerability to suicide. Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool for randomised trials. The study is registered with PROSPERO, number CRD42020221341. FINDINGS: Our search yielded 7347 records. 3920 records were screened by title and abstract, and 25 full-text records assessed for eligibility. There were eight eligible studies with 2350 participants for which individual participant data were sought. For suicidal ideation, six studies met the inclusion criteria for the primary analysis. Follow-up responses were available for 569 (90%) of 633 participants who were randomised with high vulnerability (345 [55%] allocated to the intervention group and 288 [45%] to the control group). The pooled standardised mean difference (SMD) indicated a small reduction in suicidal ideation of -0·22 (95% CI -0·39 to -0·04, p=0·017; six studies) in the intervention group. For help-seeking attitudes and intentions, four studies met the inclusion criteria and follow-up data were available for 362 (86%) of 420 participants (247 [59%] allocated to the intervention group and 173 [41%] to the control group). The pooled SMD showed no evidence of a difference between the groups (SMD=0·14, 95% CI -0·15 to 0·43, p=0·35; four studies). Low levels of cross-study heterogeneity effects were observed for both analyses (I2=5% [suicidal ideation] and I2=36% [help-seeking attitudes and intentions]). We found no evidence of publication bias. INTERPRETATION: Media narratives of hope and recovery from suicidal crises appear to have a beneficial effect on suicidal ideation in individuals with some vulnerability, but there is insufficient evidence regarding help-seeking attitudes and intentions. These findings provide new evidence about narratives for suicide prevention. FUNDING: None.

Topical analysis of migration coverage during lockdown in India by mainstream print media.

Implementing countrywide lockdown measures in India, from March 2020 to May 2020 was a major step to deal with the COVID -19 pandemic crisis. The decision of country lockdown adversely affected the urban migrant population, and a large section of them was compelled to move out of the urban areas to their native places. The reverse migration garnered widespread media attention and coverage in electronic as well as print media. The present study focuses on the coverage of the issue by print media using descriptive natural language text mining. The study uses topic modelling, clustering, and sentiment analysis to examine the articles on migration issues during the lockdown period published in two leading English newspapers in India- The Times of India and The Hindu. The sentiment analysis results indicate that the majority of articles have neutral sentiment while very few articles show high negative or positive polarity. Descriptive topic modelling results show that transport, food security, special services, and employment with migration and migrants are the majorly covered topics after employing Bag of Words and TF-IDF models. Clustering is performed to group the article titles based on similar traits using agglomerative hierarchical clustering.

Is Ignorance Bliss? Examining the Effect of News Media Exposure on Anxiety and Depression During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

ABSTRACT: There has been a widespread increase in affective disorders after the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the current study, we investigated the effects of exposure to and perceived accuracy of news media and demographic characteristics on anxiety and depressive symptoms. We conducted an online survey of US adults (N = 480) using hierarchical linear regression models to understand the predictive roles of duration and frequency of news media exposure, as well as the perceived accuracy of COVID-19 portrayal by the news media, on anxiety and depression. Increased exposure duration predicted greater anxiety, and decreased frequency of exposure and perceived overreaction in the news media coverage of COVID-19 were linked to greater anxiety and depression. Perceived accuracy moderated the relationship of exposure frequency to both affective outcomes. Accordingly, our data support the importance of adequate levels of accurate and trusted information to help mitigate the overall mental health burden of the pandemic.

Personality Traits, Media Exposure, and Deterioration of Psychological Wellbeing in Japan During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

ABSTRACT: This study examined the associations among personality traits, media exposure regarding COVID-19, and deterioration of mental wellbeing among the public in Japan. We conducted a cross-sectional Web-based questionnaire survey among 8000 Japanese men and women aged 25 to 64 years. Approximately half of participants reported deterioration of mental wellbeing. Nearly 20% of participants reported "constant/excessive" exposure to media information regarding COVID-19. As compared with those with low "extraversion" and "less frequent" exposure to media information about COVID-19, those with high "extraversion" and "more frequent" media exposure reported significantly less deterioration of mental wellbeing. In addition, as compared with those with low "neuroticism" and media exposure, those with high "neuroticism" and "constant/excessive" exposure to COVID-19-related information significantly more frequently reported deterioration of mental wellbeing. Under the ongoing pandemic of COVID-19, measures for the promotion and maintenance of mental wellbeing should be implemented considering the interaction between personality traits and media exposure.

When election expectations fail: Polarized perceptions of election legitimacy increase with accumulating evidence of election outcomes and with polarized media.

The present study, conducted immediately after the 2020 presidential election in the United States, examined whether Democrats' and Republicans' polarized assessments of election legitimacy increased over time. In a naturalistic survey experiment, people (N = 1,236) were randomly surveyed either during the week following Election Day, with votes cast but the outcome unknown, or during the following week, after President Joseph Biden was widely declared the winner. The design unconfounded the election outcome announcement from the vote itself, allowing more precise testing of predictions derived from cognitive dissonance theory. As predicted, perceived election legitimacy increased among Democrats, from the first to the second week following Election Day, as their expected Biden win was confirmed, whereas perceived election legitimacy decreased among Republicans as their expected President Trump win was disconfirmed. From the first to the second week following Election Day, Republicans reported stronger negative emotions and weaker positive emotions while Democrats reported stronger positive emotions and weaker negative emotions. The polarized perceptions of election legitimacy were correlated with the tendencies to trust and consume polarized media. Consumption of Fox News was associated with lowered perceptions of election legitimacy over time whereas consumption of other outlets was associated with higher perceptions of election legitimacy over time. Discussion centers on the role of the media in the experience of cognitive dissonance and the implications of polarized perceptions of election legitimacy for psychology, political science, and the future of democratic society.

Impact of a mass media campaign on presentations and ambulance use for acute coronary syndrome.

OBJECTIVE: Between 2009 and 2013, the National Heart Foundation of Australia ran mass media campaigns to improve Australian's awareness of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) symptoms and the need to call emergency medical services (EMS). This study examined the impact of this campaign on emergency department (ED) presentations and EMS use in Victoria, Australia. METHODS: The Victorian Department of Health and Human Services provided data for adult Victorian patients presenting to public hospitals with an ED diagnosis of ACS or unspecified chest pain (U-CP). We modelled changes in the incidence of ED presentations, and the association between the campaign period and (1) EMS arrival and (2) referred to ED by a general practitioner (GP). Models were adjusted for increasing population size, ACS subtype and demographics. RESULTS: Between 2003 and 2015, there were 124 632 eligible ED presentations with ACS and 536 148 with U-CP. In patients with ACS, the campaign period was associated with an increase in ED presentations (incidence rate ratio: 1.11; 95% CI 1.07 to 1.15), a decrease in presentations via a GP (adjusted OR (AOR): 0.77; 95% CI 0.70 to 0.86) and an increase in EMS use (AOR: 1.10; 95% CI 1.05 to 1.17). Similar, but smaller associations were seen in U-CP. CONCLUSIONS: The Warning Signs Campaign was associated with improvements in treatment seeking in patients with ACS-including increased EMS use. The increase in ACS ED presentations corresponds with a decrease in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest over this time. Future education needs to focus on improving EMS use in ACS patient groups where use remains low.

They promised this ten years ago. Effects of diabetes news characteristics on patients' perceptions and attitudes towards medical innovations and therapy adherence.

Patients have ever-increasing access to web-based news about hopeful scientific developments that may or may not cure them in the future. Science communication experts agree that the quality of news provision is not always guaranteed. However, literature does not clarify in what way users are actually affected by typical news characteristics such as the news object (described developmental phase of an innovation), the news source (degree of authority), and the news style (degree of language intensification). An online vignette experiment (N = 259) investigated causal relationships between characteristics of news about diabetes innovations and patients' perceptions of future success, their interest in the innovation, and attitudes regarding current therapy adherence. Findings show that descriptions of success in mice led to higher estimations of future success chances than earlier and later developmental phases. Furthermore, news from a nonauthoritative source led to an increased interest in the innovation, and a more negative attitude towards current lifestyle advice. Lastly, the intensification of the language used in news messages showed slight adverse effects on the readers' attitude. These findings, combined with their small effect sizes, support the optimistic view that diabetes patients are generally critical assessors of health news and that future research on this topic should focus on affected fragile subgroups.

Trends in Hospital Lawsuits Filed Against Patients for Unpaid Bills Following Published Research About This Activity.

Importance: Suing patients and garnishing their wages for unpaid medical bills can be a predatory form of financial activity that may be inconsistent with the mission of a hospital. Many hospitals in the state of Virginia were discovered to be suing patients for unpaid medical bills, as first presented in a 2019 research article that launched 2.5 months of media attention on hospital billing practices and a grassroots public demand for hospitals to stop the practice. Objective: To evaluate the association of a research publication and subsequent media coverage with the number of hospital lawsuits filed against patients for unpaid medical bills. Design, Setting, and Participants: This cross-sectional study of Virginia hospitals that sued patients for unpaid medical bills used an interrupted time series analysis. Data on hospitals suing patients for unpaid medical bills were collected during a preintervention period (June 25, 2018, to June 24, 2019), an intervention period (June 25, 2019, to September 10, 2019), and a postintervention period (September 11, 2019, to September 10, 2020). Exposures: Publication of a research article and subsequent media coverage. Main Outcomes and Measures: The total number of warrant in debt and wage garnishment lawsuits filed by Virginia hospitals and the frequency of those lawsuits filed before, during, and after the intervention period on a weekly basis. Results: A total of 50 387 lawsuits, filed by 67 Virginia hospitals, were included; 33 204 (65.9%) were warrant in debt lawsuits, and 17 183 (34.1%) were wage garnishment lawsuits. From the preintervention period to the postintervention period, there was a 59% decrease in the number of lawsuits filed (from 30 760 lawsuits to 12 510 lawsuits), a 55% decrease in the number of warrant in debt cases filed (from 19 329 to 8651), a 66% decrease in the number of wage garnishments filed (from 11 431 to 3859), and a 64% decrease in the dollar amount pursued in court (from $38 700 209 to $13 960 300). During the study period, 11 hospitals banned the practice of suing patients for unpaid medical bills. The interrupted time series analysis showed a significant decrease of 5% (incidence rate ratio, 0.95; 95% CI, 0.94-0.96) in the total weekly number of lawsuits in the postintervention period. Conclusions and Relevance: The findings of this study suggest that research leading to public awareness can shift hospital billing practices.

Emotional and Cognitive Responses to COVID-19 Information Overload under Lockdown Predict Media Attention and Risk Perceptions of COVID-19.

The present study examined positive and negative effects of health communication on the fight against the COVID-19 under lockdown, during the first wave of the pandemic in Greece. An online survey (N = 1,199) examined the relationships among media trust, emotional and cognitive reactions to COVID-19 information overload, media attention, and risk perceptions regarding COVID-19. Participants' media attention (exposure and attention combined) to information about the pandemic was positively related to their risk perceptions (perceived susceptibility and severity) about the disease. Media attention was dependent on participants' trust in the media as valid sources of information, but also on their cognitive and emotional reactions to COVID-19 information overload. In response to this overload, they produced negative thoughts and more negative (fear and anger) than positive (protection) emotions. These distinct reactions had differential effects on media attention and risk perceptions. Fear and protection were positively related to media attention and risk perceptions, while anger and negative thinking undermined attention and perceptions. Furthermore, all reactions depended on media trust, which mediated the effect on media attention. These findings highlighted desirable and some undesirable effects of health communication in the fight against COVID-19, which can be used to improve health communication in the future.

Mass media exposure and use of reversible modern contraceptives among married women in India: An analysis of the NFHS 2015-16 data.

Since the inception of the National Programme for Family Planning, messages on family planning (FP) have been promoted across India using different mass media platforms. Mass media plays an important role in disseminating important information among the masses, such as how reversible modern methods give women more reproductive choices than opting for permanent methods that limit their child-bearing capacity. Mass media can provide a continuous flow of information and motivation to deter women from discontinuing the methods they have opted for. However, very few studies have been conducted on this issue, especially using recently available data. This study particularly focuses on exposure to mass media and the use of reversible modern methods of family planning among married women in India. The data for this study was obtained from the National Family Health Survey (2015-16) on currently married women aged 15-49 years. The association of reversible modern method use with media exposure variables was examined, controlling for a set of independent variables from multiple levels-individual, district, state, and region. The findings from this study showed that television was the most important medium for disseminating information on FP among married women in India. Spatial analysis revealed that some districts in the north, parts of the northeast, and Kerala in South India lacked any television exposure. The results from the decomposition analysis showed that mass media exposure was associated with a 14% increase in the use of reversible modern methods. Results from the multilevel analyses showed that exposure to TV along with other media (AOR 1.57 95% CI 1.49-1.65) and exposure to FP messages through different media (AOR 1.22 95% CI 1.12-1.32) had a significant positive effect on the use of reversible modern methods even when various individual, district, state, and regional-level factors were controlled. The findings of this paper provide evidence supporting the use of mass media to promote and increase awareness of voluntary contraceptive use in India. An increase in mass media exposure coupled with improvement in coverage and services of the FP program can significantly increase the use of reversible modern methods in a cost-effective yet efficient manner among women in need of FP services.