Communication and Media Studies

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Browsing Communication and Media Studies by Author "Nthanda, Jacqueline Kakhobwe"

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    The efficacy of zokonda amayi phone-in radio programme in raising Hiv and Aids awareness among women of Lilongwe in Malawi
    (Kenyatta University, 2024-06) Nthanda, Jacqueline Kakhobwe
    This study assessed one interactive women‟s phone-in radio programme called “Zokonda Amayi” in raising HIV and AIDS awareness among women in Malawi, using two theories, namely Entertainment Education and Health Belief. Objectives guiding this research were: to establish the listenership of the phone-in radio programme, examine how HIV and AIDS messages were received and assess the experiences of listeners receiving the messages of HIV and AIDS from the phone-in radio programme. The study sample was drawn from Lilongwe Central, a district in the capital city of Malawi. A total of 380 women were interviewed and four journalists‟ respondents took part in this study. It is one of the districts with the highest listenerships of the phone-in radio programme in the country. The study adopted a mixed approach design to clearly describe the ability of phone-in radio programmes in boosting HIV and AIDS consciousness in Malawian women. Data was collected in a standardised form using questionnaires, interviews, and focus group discussions on the participants‟ knowledge, perceptions, attitudes and experiences in respect of HIV and AIDS awareness. Collected data was analyzed qualitatively using thematic content analysis and quantitatively using SPSS software. The major findings showed that most of the respondents were less than 24 years old and had basic literacy (64%) implying that the phone-in programme was delivering appropriate, relevant, timely and captivating content. Listenership of the phone-in radio programme was very high among youthful audiences in the grassroots locations of Lilongwe rural. Regarding how HIV and AIDS messages were received by listeners in the phone-in radio programme, the outcomes revealed that “Zokonda Amayi” was popular among the majority of women in the rural settlements of Lilongwe, an indication, that, it is discussing appropriate, captivating and relevant content and therefore having enormous impact on the grassroots women. Experiences of audiences receiving HIV and AIDS messages from Zokonda Amayi phone-in radio programme were majorly positive with women reporting that they had gained new knowledge in the area of going early for HIV testing, acquired new skills, improved attitudes towards persons with HIV as well as confidence building. Most of the women also found the educational topics value adding to their lives. The study concluded that Zokonda Amayi phone-in radio programme had a high patronage of youthful women in the rural areas of Lilongwe, the content in the programming was timely, relevant and useful and that the programme was filling up a very big vacuum in the women‟s lives by educating, informing and entertaining whilst simultaneously empowering them. Recommendations were that radio broadcasters/ producers/programmers should continue to develop high quality and relevant content on health-related subjects to satisfy the needs of women in rural areas. High quality refers to varied, informative, educative and influential HIV and AIDS content.