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Background:
•Tobacco use in India leads to around 1 million deaths annually. Govt. of India passed the ‘comprehensive smoke-free’ law in 2008.
•State Tobacco Control Cell, Government of Gujarat launched a mass media campaign on ‘smoke-free’ awareness in April - May 2010 through Television, Radio and Billboards in two intervention districts to:
•Raise awareness, build knowledge and create positive attitudes towards the smoke free policy among public and policymakers,
•Bolster support for enforcement of the smoke-free law, and
•Change behavior of smokers to not smoke in public places and protect people from exposure to second hand smoke (SHS).
Program background:
State Tobacco Control Cell, Government of Gujarat, India received grant from Bloomberg Initiative To Reduce Tobacco Control. A smoke-free mass media awarness campaign was conducted as part of Smoke-free project covering 60 million population in state of Gujarat, India. The outcome evaluation aimed to measure the behavioral impact of smoke-free mass media campaign on knowledge, attitude and behavior of the target audience.Evaluation Methods and Results:
•A post-campaign impact evaluation survey was conducted in July - August 2010 in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar districts.
•The survey utilized a rigorous household survey methodology with a multi-stage sampling plan:
•Information about the impact of the campaign was obtained from the eligible male and female respondents in the age bracket of 15-60 years.
•A total of 3298 respondents were recruited across the two districts with a response rate of over 98 percent.
Results:
•Among the various media channels (television, radio and billboards), reach of television has been the most effective. Seven out of ten persons are exposed to television in a typical week.
•Majority of respondents who recalled the campaign advertisement said that it provided them new information, was relevant to them, and made them stop and think.
•About three quarter % respondents who were aware of the media campaign reported more than three illness caused due to smoking as compared to 45 % of respondents who were not aware of the campaign.
•Campaign-aware non-smokers (OR = 2.9, p=0.001) and campaign-aware smokers (OR = 3.6, p=0.003) were significantly more likely to report the ill effects of smoking than unaware smokers and non-smokers, respectively.
•Significantly more aware smokers compared to unaware smokers ‘discussed smoking and health at home’ (OR = 2.0); ‘thought about its harm to self’ (OR = 2.5); ‘thought about its harm to non-smokers’ (OR = 2.3); and ‘considered seriously quitting’ (OR = 4.1) in the last three months, after controlling for confounding factors.
Conclusions:
•The ‘smoke-free’ mass media campaign by Gujarat’s State Tobacco Control Cell was effective in raising awareness about the harms of smoking, exposure to second hand smoke and had positive behavioral impact on smokers.
Implications for research and/or practice:
•This was first time in state government health department that mass media campaign had been evaluated scientifically.
•This research study provided evidence on effectiveness of scientifically planned mass media campaign. Based on this study, second year mass media budget for the project was concentrated on television.
•This evidence has strengthened Government's will to continue evidence based mass media campaigns for future health awareness programmes.