An Experimental Study of Two Approaches to Communication

Abstract

An experimental study of the relationship between a planned, educational communication on an individual basis and action for infant care and postpartum care was conducted among Indian women who had had a hospital delivery and were about to be discharged with a well baby. A planned, tape recorded, indirect presentation was significantly associated with both types of action, as was a direct face-to-face verbal presentation. Unexpectedly, the 2 communication approaches did not differ significantly in their effects. It is suggested that the personal context of the 2 approaches reduced the impersonality of the indirect method and that the person-centered interested approach of a culturally similar and not too socially distant worker may have been a potent factor in both approaches. Analysis of data of variables which it was thought might be linked to the two types of action under study reveals that certain kinds of personal experience related to health, to the use of medical care facilities, and to having children are associated with a tendency to seek postnatal or infant care, but the constellation of experiences, or characteristics, differs for the 2 actions. The study revealed that the communication approaches used affected action not only in those who were tending toward action but also in those who apparently were not tending to act. Implications for research and action are indicated.