Investigating the Attitude of Families Residing in Qom towards the Health-Oriented TV/radio Programs and its Relationship with Their Health Practice in 2018

Health plays a key role in today's society and is considered the core of human development. It goes without saying that health is a matter of concern to all of us, and achieving and maintaining health requires the cooperation of all organs, including the mass media. With this background in mind, the current study aimed to assess the attitude of families residing in Qom towards health-oriented TV/radio programs and how it affects their health practice.

This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on families residing in Qom in 2018. Using multi-stage sampling and sample size formula, 310 families were randomly selected. Data collection tools included a researcher-made questionnaire on the use of health-oriented TV/radio programs, attitudes towards health-oriented TV/radio programs, and health practice. Data were analyzed in SPSS software (version 20) using independent t-test, Pearson correlation coefficient, Chi-square, ANOVA, as well as Tukey and Fisher's Least Significant Difference (LSD) post hoc tests.

Based on the results of the present study, 134 (43.2%) cases never used health-oriented TV/radio programs, and 90 (29%) subjects used them for less than one hour throughout the day and night. Furthermore, a significant relationship was observed between the use of health-oriented TV/radio programs with attitudes (P=0.023) and health practice (P<0.001). The study findings also pointed to a positive and significant correlation between attitudes toward the use of health-oriented TV/radio programs and their health practice (P <0.001, r=0.298).

As evidenced by the obtained results, there is a significant relationship between the use of health-oriented TV/radio programs with attitudes and health practice. It is recommended that national media officials and television programmers, based on needs analysis, produce programs with up-to-date methods in an effort to promote the use of health-oriented TV/radio programs.