Public communication campaigns in the destigmatization of leprosy: a comparative analysis of diffusion and...

This was an experimental study designed to determine the relative effectiveness of diffusion and participatory strategies (in health campaigns) and the effect of caste on the dependent variables of knowledge, perception of risk, and behavioral involvement that were conceptualized as contributing to leprosy destigmatization in Madhya Pradesh state, India. The multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) procedure found significant difference between the communication treatments on the dependent variables. The discriminate analysis procedure was used to locate the source of the difference. This procedure identified two significant discriminant functions: cognitive-affective and behavior-affective dimensions. The participatory treatment showed higher knowledge and lower perception of risk on the cognitive-affective dimension, and higher behavioral involvement on the behavior-affective dimension, but the diffusion treatment showed only lower self-perception of risk on the behavior-affective dimension. The study concluded that participatory strategies promoting dialogue and interaction and incorporating people's knowledge and action component result in increased knowledge, lower perception of risk, higher behavioral involvement, and, hence, destigmatization.