Outta Road

Mon, 03/21/2011 - 12:11

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Developed by the United States (US)-based Population Media Center (PMC), "Outta Road" ("What's Happening out in the Streets") is an entertainment-education (EE) initiative that centred around 155 episodes of a radio serial drama. The drama addressed issues such as HIV/AIDS, adolescent sexual and reproductive health, violence prevention, and substance abuse prevention. Outta Road aired nationwide from March 2007 to March 2008 on RJR FM and, additionally, from November 2007 to July 2008 on Roots 96.1 FM. Episodes of the drama were also distributed to schools along with lesson plans. PMC worked in partnership with University Research Corporation (URC) and JA-STYLE (Jamaica's Solution for Youth Lifestyle and Empowerment).

Communication Strategies

Outta Road is the story of Jamaican teens and young adults from different social strata whose lives are interconnected. The drama is designed for 10-19 year olds across Jamaica, who through identification with transitional characters could vicariously experience the repercussions of their life choices. The social ills identified through nationwide formative research conducted by PMC in January 2006 helped guide the development of characters and plot lines. The characters grapple with conflicts ranging from love, friendship, peer pressure, violence, sex, drugs, HIV/AIDS, and more. Interspersed amongst dramatic conflicts and natural dialogue was popular reggae music. Outta Road also used epilogues to provide listeners with more information about the topics addressed and issues raised, such as where to access adolescent-friendly centres offering services like substance abuse counselling, HIV testing and contraception, and dispute resolution.

The messages in Outta Road, some episodes of which may be listened to online, were reinforced by flyers, pamphlets, handbooks, and good parenting calendars distributed by JA-STYLE to encourage further discussion among listeners. This supplemental information, what PMC refers to as the Whole Society Strategy, helped to reinforce lessons learned through the programme and provided another platform for discussion. Also, listening groups were established in schools as a part of the guidance curriculum. Youth listened to the programmes in a classroom setting and were also given CDs to bring home to listen to and share with their friends. Guidance counsellors used the programme as a stimulus for discussion about the difficult and highly sensitive issues addressed in Outta Road.

Development Issues

Youth, HIV/AIDS, Relationships, Substance Abuse.

Key Points

A quantitative evaluation conducted at the conclusion of the programme found that:

31% of the adolescents surveyed had heard of Outta Road.
32% of listeners had discussed the Outta Road drama with friends.
56% of listeners were motivated by Outta Road to seek healthy lifestyles services (e.g., those related to reproductive health, substance abuse, parenting, parent-child relationships, sexuality, and conflict resolution).

In April 2008, PMC also conducted a qualitative assessment of Outta Road; click here to access that report in PDF format.