An entertainment-education radio soap opera introduced in Tanzania in 1993 was evaluated by means of a field experimental design in which the radio program was broadcast by seven mainland stations of Radio Tanzania. An eighth station broadcast alternative programming from 1993 to 1995, its listenership serving as a comparison area in which contemporaneous changes in family planning adoption were measured. The soap opera was subsequently broadcast nationwide from 1995 to 1997. Data about the effects of the radio soap opera were gathered in five annual surveys of about 2,750 households in the comparison and the treatment areas and from a sample of new family planning adopters in 79 health clinics. The soap opera had strong behavioral effects on family planning adoption; it increased listeners' self-efficacy regarding family planning adoption and influenced listeners to talk with their spouses and peers about contraception.

Maternal death has implications for the entire family, although few, if any, interventions have addressed the role that the husband could play in his wife's pregnancy and delivery. The Suami SIAGA Campaign in Indonesia was a multi-media entertainment-education intervention, implemented in 1999/2000, that targeted husbands with messages about birth preparedness. The present paper presents the effects of this campaign (1) on the acquisition of new knowledge by husbands about birth preparedness, and (2) on husbands' action toward becoming an alert husband (a Suami SIAGA). When husbands were directly exposed to the messages from the Suami SIAGA campaign, new knowledge gain and birth preparedness activities occurred. However, the interaction of direct exposure to the campaign and the interpersonal communication stimulated by the campaign about Suami SIAGA was an even stronger predictor of knowledge gain and birth preparedness actions. Limitations of the study included post-only measures and a relatively short time period between the intervention and impact evaluation. We suggest that communication campaigns to educate husbands and to stimulate discussion about the innovative concept of birth preparedness may contribute to improved birth outcomes in Indonesia.

The present article explores the role that audience involvement plays in the effectiveness of entertainment—education programs. Utilizing data from a popular 104—episode entertainment—education radio soap opera from India, Tinka Tinka Sukh, it argues that the concept of audience involvement is multidimensional, and serves as a mediator for promoting behavior change. Audience involvement is characterized as being composed of two dimensions: (a) affective—referential involvement, and (b) cognitive—critical involvement. Involvement appears to be a precursor for increasing self—efficacy and collective efficacy, and in promoting interpersonal communication among individuals in the audience.

It is often noted that some individuals become aware of a mass media program's messages through discussions with other individuals. However, the extent to which indirect exposure occurs, and its influence on behavior, are somewhat unclear. This study examines the role of indirect exposure in extending the reach of a family planning mass media campaign in Nepal. Sociometric data, gathered from nearly all women between the ages of 15 and 49 years living in six villages in Dang District, Nepal (N = 667), assessed indirect exposure to the radio program. Indirect exposure was extensive; half of all respondents were indirectly exposed to the program's messages and the overall reach of the program increased from 50% to 75% when indirect exposure was considered. Members of community groups had higher levels of direct exposure to the radio program and more extensive and diverse social networks, allowing them to serve as a conduit for these messages into the wider community. While direct exposure to the radio program appeared to influence family planning knowledge, indirect exposure was more strongly associated with contraceptive use. These findings suggest that program evaluations that ignore indirect exposure underestimate the impact of a mass media program on behavior.

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Most past studies of entertainment-education programs have not provided an adequate theoretical explanation of the process through which community members enact system-level changes as a result of exposure to entertainment-education media messages. Here we study the effects of an entertainment-education radio soap opera by means of an observational case study in one Indian village. We investigate the paradoxes, contradictions, and audience members' struggles in the process of media-stimulated change, a process involving parasocial interaction, peer communication, and collective efficacy.This article explores the processes of social change initiated by an entertainmenteducation media program in India. Mass media communication can be an agency of national development in both developed and developing countries. Several decades of communication research on the effects of the mass media provide understandings of their ability, or inability, to influence social and behavior change.

Numerous studies show that exposure to entertainment-education-based mass media campaigns is associated with reduction in risk behaviors. Concurrently, there is a growing interest in comparing the cost-effectiveness of HIV prevention interventions taking into account infrastructural and programmatic costs. In such analyses, though few in number, mass media campaigns have fared well. Using data from a mass media communication campaign in the low HIV prevalence states of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Delhi in Northern India, in this article we examine the following: (1) factors that mediate behavior change in different components of the campaign, comprising a TV drama, reality show for youth audiences, and TV spots; (2) the relative impact of campaign components on the behavioral outcome: condom use; and (3) the cost-effectiveness calculations arising from this analysis. Results suggest that recall of the TV spots and the TV drama influences behavior change and is strongly associated with interpersonal communication and positive gender attitudes. The TV drama, in spite of being the costliest, emerges as the most cost-effective component when considering the behavioral outcome of interest. The analysis of the comparative cost-effectiveness of individual campaign components provides insights into the planning of resources for communication interventions globally.

Entertainment-education (EE) began as a communication approach that uses both entertainment and education to engender individual and social change, but is emerging as a distinct theoretical, practice, and evidence-based communication subdiscipline. EE has roots in oral and performing arts traditions spanning thousands of years, such as morality tales, religious storytelling, and the spoken word. Modern-day EE, meanwhile, is produced in both fiction and nonfiction designs that include many formats: local street theater, music, puppetry, games, radio, television, and social media. A classic successful example of EE is the children’s television program Sesame Street, which is broadcast in over 120 countries. EE, however, is a strategy that has been successfully planned, implemented, and evaluated in countries around the world for children and adults alike. EE scholarship has traditionally focused on asking, “Does it work?” but more recent theorizing and research is moving toward understanding how EE works, drawing from multidisciplinary theories. From a research standpoint, such scholarship has increasingly showcased a wide range of methodologies. The result of these transformations is that EE is becoming an area of study, or subdiscipline, backed by an entire body of theory, practice, and evidence. The theoretical underpinnings, practice components, and evidence base from EE may be surveyed via the peer-reviewed literature published over the past 10 years. However, extensive work in social change from EE projects around the world has not all made it into the published literature. EE historically began as a communication approach, one tool in the communication toolbox. Over time, the nascent approach became its own full-fledged strategy focused on individual change. Backed by emerging technologies, innovative examples from around the globe, and new variations in implementation, it becomes clear that the field of EE is emerging into a discrete theoretical, practice, and evidence-based subdiscipline within communication that increasingly recognizes the inherent role of individuals, families, communities, organizations, and policies on improving the conditions needed for lasting social change.