Role of Mass Media on Health Awareness Among Rural Mothers: A Qualitative Study

The present study investigates the role of mass media like television, radio, and the Internet in creating awareness among rural mothers for their health and their breastfeeding children. As a method, a survey has been conducted at Adda Union of Barura Upazila under the Cumilla district in Bangladesh. The primary data were collected from 100 mothers having breastfeeding children from July 2017 to June 2018 through a structured questionnaire following a purposive sampling technique. The study results revealed that almost all respondents were housewives (99%), (74%) were very young, and about half (48%) were secondary level education. Notably, 52% of respondents had two to three children in their conjugal life. Moreover, all of the respondents were Muslims in the study areas. The study also confirmed that all respondents (100%) replied to the role of mass media in creating health awareness among rural mothers. It was found that (52%) of respondents reported that they had gathered knowledge about the mother’s physical care, nutrition, and health care of breastfeeding children. Notably, 87% of respondents were getting health-related messages from television and other mass media. Finally, this study concludes that rural mothers notably benefited from the mass media concerning mother and child health issues.