Posters as a tool for disseminating health related information in a developing country: a pilot experience.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effectiveness of posters as a tool, for imparting information related to high blood pressure. METHODS: The intervention involved hanging posters conveying information about blood pressure, in the waiting rooms of 339 health facilities. The impact of this intervention was assessed after 30 days of hanging the posters with the main assessment component of the survey aimed at the target audience at the facilities. 1017 people attending the facilities were interviewed. RESULTS: Mean age of this population was 40.4 (SD 11.06) years. There were 79% males and 21% females. 80.2% (n=816) of the respondents had noticed the posters. 84.5% of the people were of the opinion that the poster was good. 63.7% of the people understood the overall message of the poster correctly. Regarding change in behaviour, 96.7% (n=789) of the people thought that the poster was asking them to do something; 85.9% (n=501) of these got their blood pressure checked compared to 60.9% (n=14) of those who did not think the poster was asking them to do anything (p=0.004). Of those who said that the poster was asking them to do something, there were varied responses as to what they thought the poster was asking them to do. If the response was that they should have their blood pressure checked, it was taken as a correct response. 87.3% of those who said that the poster was asking them to get their blood pressure checked, actually got their blood pressure checked compared to 83.7% of those who did not understand this message (p=0.241). CONCLUSIONS: Given the limitations of the study it is difficult to assess the effectiveness of the poster in changing people's behaviour regarding blood pressure check up. This experience will serve as a pilot for a larger prospective study to assess poster as a tool for prompting people to get their blood pressure checked.