Family Planning Communication Strategies for Couples in South East Nigeria: Insights from Nigerian Television Authority’s (NTA) Health Watch

Abstract

Background: Family planning is concerned with all aspects of reproductive health, fertility regulation, and family planning programmes, targeted at stopping unsafe abortions and preventable pregnancy-related deaths among nursing mothers and women of childbearing age.Both the mother and her unborn child face increased risks of illness and death if she becomes pregnant before the age of 18 or again after the age of 35. This is predicated on the idea that child spacing and family planning should be universal health policies under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The knowledge that after four pregnancies, a woman's health and that of her unborn child are in jeopardy informs both child spacing and family planning policy. Aim: This study analysed how the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) programme Health Watch Magazine affected reproductive health decisions made by couples in Southeast Nigeria. The purpose of this study, which was grounded in the Diffusion of Innovation Theory (DOI), was to determine whether or not respondents were familiar with the NTA's health watch programme and whether or not the campaign had a significant impact on respondents' attitudes towards family planning. Methodology: The population of the study was 23,281,688 people. A total of 995 reproductive couples were selected at random from the population of the five states in Nigeria's South East (Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo) using both quantitative survey and qualitative interview techniques. A multi-stage sampling strategy was adopted in selecting the samples for this study. Results:  The study was presented in simple frequency distribution tables and the explanation building techniques. The results revealed that there was a significant correlation between the broadcast media campaign on family planning and the level of awareness of the family planning practices among the respondents, and that there was a significant positive relationship between the broadcast media campaign and the practice of family planning among the respondents. Conclusion: It is therefore concluded that broadcast media health campaigns must collaborate with engagement communications for full health impact. In line with the findings made in this study, it is recommended that mass media campaigns for the health programmes should be reinforced and complemented with other engagement communication paradigms for policy objectives to be achieved.