Utilising video in health communications

The purpose of using videos in reducing the rates of STIs, for example, is to increase “knowledge and perception of STI/HIV risk, promoting positive attitudes toward condom use” and more importantly “building self-efficacy and skills to facilitate partner treatment, safer sex, and the acquisition, negotiation and use of condoms”.

Findings from the study on the effectiveness of “Safe in the City”, show that video based interventions are simple at a “relatively low cost, likely acceptability and likelihood of healthier behaviours being adopted and sustained over time” (Warner 2008).

Another example of an effective and current video based intervention is “Video Doctor” which was designed to reduce drug and sexual risk behaviours among HIV-positive patients in diverse outpatient settings.

The video incorporates the application of “several key principles of Motivational Interviewing, including a patient-centred approach, non-judgemental tone, empathy, support, and avoidance of confrontation”.

The ‘Video Doctor’ script and programming “avoided the inconsistencies, hesitation, or discomfort that occur all too often in interpersonal encounters”. Researchers doing this study concluded that: “Given the challenges of changing human behaviour, our results are notable”. The intervention program “… is an efficacious adjunct to routine medical care for HIV-positive patients with the capacity to have important clinical and public health impact” (Gilbert 2008).

Lessons learnt In a another study, of a ‘soap opera’ style video intervention to improve partner notification, results showed that the video was enjoyed by both “patients and clinicians…”. “Patients were captivated with health promotion messages grounded in a story set in their own social and cultural context, and their responses demonstrated processes of internalisation of the constructive partner notification behaviours modelled in the video” (O’Donnel 1995).

The study showed that despite this outcome, the “potentially harmful feature of the video may be one of the explanations for the absence of an observed effect on partner return”. The “fundamental problem with it was that patients received confused messages about the relation between HIV/AIDS and other STDs. This has potentially negative consequences for partner notification”. (O’Donnel 1995).

In using video based interventions for increasing condom acquisition, researchers in a study found “subjects assigned to video viewing demonstrated greater knowledge about condoms and STDs, more positive attitudes about condom use, increased human immunodeficiency virus/STD risk perceptions, greater self-efficacy, and higher rates of condom acquisition” (Healton 1993).

Improving the design aspect of Video Based Interventions There has a been a clear improvement in designing video based intervention in recent years thanks to the development and partnership between behavioural research, film makers and public health agencies as proven by the “Safe in the City” randomised study (reduced incidence rates by 10%) and the “Video Doctor” evaluation study.

Only 17 years ago a study, showed that “… results are consistent with prior prevention studies that have demonstrated difficulty in achieving behaviour change” (Matthews 2001).

However through contemporary design efforts this factor has been addressed and the quality of video based intervention is making its way up the efficacy ladder.

More research such as BJ Fogg’s ‘persuasive technology‘ model from Stanford University, will be able to produce even better interventions and complement the success of video based interventions in the future.

REFERENCES

Warner L, Klausner JD, Rietmeijer CA, Malotte CK, O’DonnellL, et al. (2008) Effect of a brief video intervention on incident infection among patients attending sexually transmitted disease clinics. PLoS Med 5(6): e135. doi:10.1371/journal. pmed.0050135

Gilbert P, Ciccarone D, Gansky SA, Bangsberg DR, Clanon K, et al. (2008) Interactive ‘‘Video Doctor’’ Counseling Reduces Drug and Sexual Risk Behaviors among HIV-Positive Patients in Diverse Outpatient Settings. PLoS ONE 3(4): e1988. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.000198

O’Donnell L, San Doval A, Duran R, O’Donnell C R (1995) The effectiveness of video based interventions in promoting condom acquisition among STD clinic patients. Sexually Transmitted Disease 1995 Mar-Apr;22(2):97-103.

Healton C G, Messeri P(1993) The effect of video interventions on improving knowledge and treatment compliance in the sexually transmitted disease clinic setting. Lesson for HIV health education. Sexually Transmitted Disease 1993 Mar-Apr;20(2):70-6.

Mathews C, Guttmacher S J, Coetzee N, Magwaza S, Stein J, Lombard C, Goldstein S, Coetzee D (2001) Evaluation of a video based health education strategy to improve sexually transmitted disease partner notification in South Africa. Sexually Transmitted Infections 2002 Feb; 78(1):53-7.