Effect of Radio Drama Intervention on Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice-Intention of Hypertension Prevention among the Working Class

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background Knowledge, attitude, and practice of healthy lifestyles are crucial for the prevention of hypertension. While the use of the mass media as health information sources persists, their use for hypertension prevention interventions among high-risk individuals is arguably low. Purpose To examine the effect of radio drama intervention on knowledge, attitude, and practice-intention of hypertension prevention among the working class. Methods A quasi-experiment (pretest-posttest design) among the working class aged 18–64 years who received the radio drama intervention. The paired samples t-test and Cohen’s d statistics were adopted to test the hypotheses. Results There were significant differences in the knowledge (t(38) = −3.852, p < .05), attitude (t(38) = −2.719, p < .05) and practice-intention of hypertension prevention (t(38) = −4.958, p < .05) among participants exposed to the radio drama intervention. The effect size of the intervention was large for knowledge (d = 0.961) and practice-intention (d = 1.129) but medium (d = 0.584) for attitude toward hypertension prevention. Discussion The radio drama effectively delivered hypertension education messages and improved the knowledge, attitude, and practice-intention of participants toward hypertension prevention.Translation to Health Education Practice: The study recommends the adoption of radio drama to educate the working class and prevent non-communicable diseases such as hypertension by health educators.