HIV/AIDS Communication Research Project (2001-2003)

This project uses field research to provide methodological insight into the potential and limitations of using communication to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS. The goal is to understand the theoretical underpinnings of edutainment. Key research questions will include:

• What experience exists with edutainment?
• What are the strengths of popular culture, and of fictional genres in particular, in relation to what more traditional journalistic spread of information?
• What are appropriate tools for monitoring and evaluating edutainment strategies?
• How is the causal link between communication intervention and impact established?
• How is change of behaviour measured - and what is not possible to measure?

A network of experts and resource persons has been established to foster ongoing discussions of the project, its results, and contemporary concerns in the international field of health communication. The network will also explore possible acceptance of invitations as participants in seminars planned in the context for the project or as guest speakers. It will publish working papers in the planned series of occasional papers - mainly based on presentations made in the context of this project. These papers will be available for download in PDF format on a special project page on the Department of Film and Media Studies site.

Soul City, South Africa, is one of the programmes highlighted by the case study. Each year a series of mass media interventions are implemented, including a 13-part television drama series, a 60-episode radio drama series, 2.25 million health education booklets (featured in 12 major newspapers), and contests/awards including "Soul City Search for Stars" (to recruit talent for next year's television and radio series), the "Soul City Health Care Worker of the Year" (to recognise outstanding outreach workers), and "Soul Citizens" (to recognise outstanding youth who engage in community development activities). Researchers will evaluate Soul City's edutainment strategy, which they describe as "operat[ing] strategically within three interlinked units of change: the individual, the community and the broader society. As such, it reflects a holistic, multilevel and culture sensitive communication strategy..."

While many evaluations of this particular programme have been conducted, this research project will analyse the role that Soul City's edutainment strategy plays in fostering behaviour change. The focus will be on the methodology of Soul City as a whole - not just an individual component of the programme - in the context of the lives of the (young) audience. The research will explore young South Africans' world, their media culture, and their social and cultural practices and then, in this context, explore edutainment's role in shaping the meaning of HIV/AIDS for these young people. A reception analysis will be performed in an effort to better understand processes of identification and the establishment of relationships between characters and the young audience. A content analysis will also be performed. An effort will also be made to develop qualitative indicators for impact and outcome evaluations, and to analyse the impact of Soul City over time (a retrospective: 1994-2002).

The country studies in Burkina Faso and Vietnam will be informed by and brought into dialogue with the Soul City experience. This component of the project seeks to explore questions like these: Would this model work in Vietnam, a country with a strong media control? Would it work in Burkina Faso, where radio is the predominant medium?

HIV/AIDS, Youth.

According to UNAIDS figures (year 2000), 34 million people live with HIV/AIDS, 25 million of them in Africa South of Sahara. 18.8 million have died from AIDS and 13.2 million children have become orphans, which are triple the numbers predicted (estimates in 1991 predicted that in sub-Saharan Africa, by the end of the decade, 9 million people would be infected and 5 million would die).

The HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in South Africa is 19.94; in Burkina Faso, it is 6.44; and in Vietnam it is .24.