Communicating Health Through Participatory Rural Communication Appraisal A Study On Evaluation And Promotion Of Infant Feeding Health Literacy Among Ruralites

Abstract

To promote infant feeding practices among rural communities, it is crucial to understand the newlineperception of their health determinants and devise effective health communication strategies newlinefor promoting health literacy. Drawing upon Culture Centered Approach and Convergence newlinetheory this study is an attempt to identify the gaps in the current communication strategies newlineand assess the effect of PRCA-based communication interventions on the IYCF health newlineliteracy of a rural community. A combination of descriptive and participatory research design newlineis applied to carry out this study. Several qualitative methods such as document analysis, newlineFGD, interview etc. are used to analyze the current communication strategies. Moreover, a newlinepreliminary assessment was carried out by analyzing the secondary sources and interviewing newlineexternal interventionists (pre-PRCA) followed by participatory sessions with the occupants, newlinein-depth interviews with the key respondents, and a baseline survey of key interaction groups newline(during PRCA) in the Siadih village, Gaya, Bihar. Further, a participatory group including the newlinemembers of the marginalized communities was formed for discussion, intervention, and newlineevaluation (post-PRCA). The findings revealed that wide gaps exist between the IYCF newlinecommunication policies and practice. Moreover, communities perceptions of problems newlinerelated to IYCF health literacy widely differ from the dominant perspectives. The current newlinestudy contributes by developing a community-driven, context-specific communication newlineintervention for IYCF within marginalized communities in rural India. Moreover, the study newlineconfirms that PRCA is an effective methodology to ensure genuine participation in promoting newlineinfant feeding health literacy.