| dc.description.abstract | This study determined the impact of abstinence campaign You Think that’s dump? So is teenage
sex. Be Smart Abstain done on television channel which was advertised from June 2013 to March
2014 in reducing teenage pregnancy in Mathare North Sub-location. It is acknowledged that
teenage pregnancy continues to plague the country yet very little has been done to address the
problem even the use of mass media to campaign against the same has not achieved much. This
study therefore assesses the efficacy of that abstinence campaign in reducing teenage pregnancy.
The objectives of the study wereto investigate the efficacy and potency of television campaigns
in reducing teenage pregnancy, to determine the reach and extent of appeal of the message used
in the abstinence campaign, to find out the level of knowledge regarding sexual and reproductive
health
The study used Protection Motivation Theory and Social Cognitive Theory to explain the process
of behavior change. The study used Descriptive Survey design to gather information as it exist at
the time of study and a random sample of 80 school going teenagers from two primary schools
and two secondary schools aged between 13-17 in Mathare North Sub-location was drawn
through Stratified Sampling. The instrument of data collection that the researcher
administeredwas a questionnaire which contained both structured and unstructured questions.
The study findings shows that television as a medium of mass communication has enormous
capacity to create awareness and impart knowledge to the teenagers though its ability to alter the
behavior of the target population can only be achieved for as long as they are repeated and
sustained indefinitely for maximum impact. Indeed, it can be noted that the abstinence campaign,
you think that is dump? So is teenage sex. Be smart Abstain also achieved some degree of
success since the recall rates were very high and current abstinence levels also are high. The
campaign has therefore helped reduce the levels of teenage pregnancy but it must be done
continuously and other interpersonal channels like peer educators employed to improve on its
success.
The study therefore recommends that the abstinence campaign- you think that is dump so is
teenage sex, be smart abstain, should be rolled out again and all television channels in Kenya
should be used for maximum reach. Teenage pregnancies prevention strategies done on
television should also consider providing edutainment programs which are relevant to the needs
of the teenagers | en_US |
