Interpersonal and mass-mediated communication in an HIV/AIDS prevention campaign in Trinidad and Tobago

ABSTRACT

Considerable interest in the role of interpersonal and mass mediated communication in the health has evolved from a classical sender-receiver approach to one that recognizes the role of various influences on how campaign messages are decoded and interpreted. This recognition is evident in various mass-mediated and interpersonal communication studies, but the question of integrating the relative and different contributions of each field has remained elusive despite many significant, but separate findings. Using a health context, this chapter proposes a theoretical framework based on the mediating influences of talk, conversation and discourse on concepts of involvement, engagement and influence. These first three concepts are derived from theories of persuasion in interpersonal communication, and the other concepts of analytic audience, media exposure and encoded exposure are derived from two-step, diffusion of innovations, and agenda-setting theories in mass-mediated communication. Against the backdrop of the proposed theoretical framework, data from a survey evaluation of a national HIV/AIDS prevention campaign in Trinidad and Tobago, interviews with programme officials, and newspaper texts are adduced and analysed. The findings contribute insights into the proposed integrated interpersonal and mass-mediated communication (IMC) model.