Antenatal Health Communication: A Case Study of Information Dissermination at Tema Polyclinic.

Abstract

This study was designed to find out how antenatal health information is disseminated at the Tema Polyclinic. The study used mixed methods to collect data. Purposive sampling was also used to select three staff of Tema Polyclinic for in-depth interviews. One hundred and fifty questionnaires were distributed purposively to pregnant women out of which 115 were completed and returned. The researcher also attended antenatal health education sessions for observation. The findings of the study revealed that the face-to-face channel of communication was mostly used whereas other channels like videos and mobile phones were least used. Even though group communication and one-on-one forms of communication were generally used in the dissemination of antenatal health information, the survey showed that majority of the respondents’ preferred one-on-one form of communication to group communication. Also, though English language was generally used to disseminate antenatal health information, the survey revealed that majority of the respondents’ preferred the use of the local language to the English language. The study further revealed that there was no expert provision of communication to the hearing impaired. The study also showed that communication materials like posters, models, booklets and leaflets were used for illustrations and demonstrations in the dissemination of antenatal health information. Based on these findings, the study recommended that the least used channels of communication could be explored and the one-on-one form of communication could be increased. Apart from that, an increase in local language use in the dissemination of antenatal health information and the provision of a sign language communicator for the hearing impaired were recommended.