Abstract

The application of entertainment-education (E-E) to promote social, health and development oriented goals have increased tremendously in the past ten years. As a communication strategy other than a theory, Entertainment-Education has borrowed its theoretical roots form other fields like psychology, humanities, sociology, communication, drama etc. Hence, it is an interdisciplinary field of study and this has not only made it unique but widely acceptable, adaptable and cross cutting.  However, theories underlying entertainment-education processes, practice and effects are anchored and adapted from traditional human behavioural theories, persuasion theories and health belief models. This paper conducted a theoretical analysis of the key findings of an entertainment-education study which assessed the impact of a polio documentary film on noncompliance to polio vaccination in Northern Nigeria. The paper underscores the application of human behavioural variables like empathy, character identification, imitation and self-efficacy in the processing of an entertainment-education polio documentary message for impacting refusals to polio vaccination to have desired prosocial effects on the audience. It also exposes and contextualizes the theoretical foundations of the findings of the study within the broader continuum of entertainment-education principles and practice in order to strengthen the potentials of the findings of the study for wider extrapolation.

Key Words: Entertainment-Education, Behaviour Change, Impact, Documentary Film, Northern Nigeria.

^JCMRJournal of Communication and Media Research, Vol. 7, No. 1, April 2015, 199 – 217 

©Delmas Communications Ltd.

About the author

*Dr. Chima E. Onuekwe, Ph.D., is a Health Communication/Promotion Specialist at the World Health Organisation, Damascus, Syria.

Full Article

Words: 8,594; Pages: 19