Ten "Golden Rules" for Successful Entertainment-Education Programming

In this presentation, Kriss Barker offers some advice to communication practitioners who are developing and implementing entertainment-education (EE) interventions.

1. Use a long-running serial drama format, which allows time (1) for audience members to identify with characters, (2) for characters to change their own attitudes at a believable pace, and (3) for audience members to test the attitudinal and behaviour changes themselves. In PMC's experience, TV can have fewer episodes than radio (you can move a bit faster), but you still need time for the characters to try the new behaviours and for the audience to absorb the information.
2. Stimulate conversations, a precursor to behaviour change, and incorporate social interaction in E-E programme models when evaluating the programme's effect on the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours of the audience. In a PMC radio drama in northern Nigeria called Ruwan Dare, spousal communication about family planning was modelled by the characters Azumi and Asibi. Listeners followed their example: Listeners were 1.7 times more likely than non-listeners to talk to their spouse or partner about family planning, and there were much greater increases in spousal communication reported for women versus for men.
3. Address sensitive, deeply entrenched topics. Singhal and Rogers wrote, "While audience members are usually reluctant to discuss the details of their personal lives in public, they feel comfortable talking about the lifestyles of their favourite characters, and commenting on the accompanying consequences." PMC's radio drama Ashreat al Amal in Sudan addressed a very sensitive topic that has been a bane to practitioners of behaviour change communication projects: female circumcision (female genital mutilation). One of the researchers who conducted the qualitative study of the effects of the programme said: "No one in the drama was saying 'circumcision is bad' as is so universally done in communication campaigns. The consequences [of female circumcision] were demonstrated through the death of the little girl [in the drama] which coincided with the real death of a little girl in Sudan."
4. Increase self-efficacy, which is critical to behaviour change. Evaluation of PCI Media Impact's Twende na Wakati in Tanzania found that self-efficacy, as indicated by the respondents' belief in his or her ability to determine his or her family size, increased 11 percentage points in the treatment area vs. 6 percentage points in the comparison area from 1993 to 1995. And in PMC's Nigerian drama Gugar Goge, the main (transitional) character is a young, seemingly powerless girl named Kande, who gets treated for fistula and develops into an educated woman, a community educator, and an advocate. Such role modelling led to results: The drama was the primary motivation to seek services for 54% of fistula clients surveyed.
5. Be specific about the desired behaviour change. One of the targeted behaviours of one of PMC's Rwanda dramas, Umurage Urukwiye, was planting of trees as a measure of environmental conservation. A government programme provided tree seedlings at specified locations throughout the country. PMC capitalised on this through encouraging listeners to adopt this very specific behaviour. Monitoring at selected distribution sites during broadcast of the programme showed increases in distribution of tree seedlings.
6. Create a comprehensive communication campaign. Singhal says (based on the Taru project in India): "...synergistic possibilities for social action can emerge when EE radio broadcasts are strategically integrated with community-based group listening and locally available health care services." Each component complemented the contributions of the other.
7. Ensure that high-quality services are available. Communication programmes can encourage positive behaviour change - but only if the infrastructure that is necessary to allow for the promoted behaviour exists, and is accessible to members of the intended audience. In Jamaica, while developing Outta Road, PMC learned that reproductive health services and information were not exactly "youth friendly". Instead of waiting for major reform in the health care delivery system, they used a tidbit discovered during the formative research: Some Jamaican youth sought guidance about safe sex, and were even provided condoms, by their dental hygienists. Perhaps it was the situation of one-to-one confidential contact, in an "innocent" setting, that encouraged youth to seek advice on reproductive health from a surprising source. PMC capitalised on this information by modelling this behaviour in Outta Road.
8. Develop a well-written script. Virginia Carter, drama trainer for PMC and former Senior Vice President and Head of Drama for Embassy Television under Norman Lear, says, "Adherence to the entertainment-education methodology is important, but if placed in a drama that is dull and predictable, you'll get almost nothing by way of social change because no one will listen."
9. Conduct good research. Whenever possible, Barker advises including the creative team in the formative research. For PMC's drama about people with disabilities in Mali, scriptwriters conducted in-depth interviews with people with disabilities to create realistic characters. Monitoring research (feedback from listeners) such as calls or text messages from listeners, listeners' groups, or structured focus group discussions can help the creative team to revise storylines, character profiles, and to production elements, if necessary.
10. Evaluate. Barker stresses that a well-designed impact evaluation is an important element of any EE intervention. The goal is to understand what impact the programme had on the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours of audience members - ideally as compared to those who were not exposed to the programme. Qualitative research can also help EE practitioners to understand how the programme achieved its effects by assessing how the listeners (or viewers) interacted with the programme.

Editor's note: The above is a summary of a presentation delivered by Kriss Barker at Shifting Norms, Changing Behaviour, Amplifying Voice: What Works? The 2018 International Social and Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) Summit featuring Entertainment Education, held April 16-20 2018 in Nusa Dua, Indonesia.

Click here for the 16-slide PowerPoint presentation.