Cultural sensitivity in health promotion program: Islamic persuasive communication

Although scenarios in global health are witnessing benefits from new medicines and technologies, nonetheless there are unprecedented reversals. As a result, the World Health Organization has encouraged more innovative approaches in promoting health risk reduction and the reconsideration of risky lifestyle behaviour. The concept of culture sensitivity has emerged as a key topic of interest to health communication. The growing awareness about culture argues both for a shift in the philosophical and theoretical approaches, and in methods underpinning health communication. On the other hand, a lack of understanding of Muslims and their cultural and religious tradition contributes to potential conflicts in health promotion. Thus, based on present study involves health promotion policy makers, implementers, and health practitioners, this paper suggests the use of Islamic values and elements in developing a strategy for communicating health promotion. In specific, this paper has three main objectives: (1) to briefly review the research on cultural sensitivity factor with focus on religious factors in health communication; (2) to discuss what are the values and characteristics that formulate Islamic persuasive communication in general and in health promotion specifically; and (3) to discuss the constrain and challenges of Islamic persuasion in promoting health. This insight may contribute to further development of health promotion strategy for Muslim in Islamic nations as well as Muslim communities in non-Islamic nations through interculturalisation process

Sacred communication: Exploring the attributes of health promotion programs in the faith-based media

Cultural sensitivity is a widely accepted principle among health behaviour and health communication researcher. However, studies that focus on faith-based health communication in particular on Islamic perspective or practices are rare. In contrast, the emergent and increasing of faith based media or communication institutions have significantly marked a growing interest to understand health promotion from cultural sensitivity such as Islamic communication. Thus, based on present study of 13 health promotion programs broadcasted by an Islamic radio station in Malaysia, this paper explored the attributes and practices of the faith based media in promoting health. The 390 minutes length of data was examined by employing thematic analysis using qualitative analysis software-NVivo version 8. In particular, this paper has three objectives: (i) briefly discuss the values and characteristics that formulate Islamic communication in health promotion; (ii) examine the characteristics of Islamic health promotion; and (iii) pointing out the potential and challenges of Islamic health communication in Malaysia. The insight of this paper may contribute to the understanding of Islamic communication in media and its impact for social change agenda such as on health promotion to Muslim community. These findings may also contribute to further development of health promotion strategy for Muslim communities in Islamic nation or non-Islamic nation

The spaces and places of audience research in Australian television

The history of TV ratings and developments in audience measurement has been well documented in Australia, but little attention has been paid to TV networks' use of ratings in their decision-making processes. This paper examines changes to the structure of the TV ratings industry since 2000, when ATR/OzTAM replaced ACNielsen as the official provider. It also examines the changing functions of audience research by Australian television broadcasters, highlighting three trends. Increased efficiency in ratings provision has made commercial broadcasters more reactive and conservative in programming decisions. At the same time, however, the increasing sophistication of ratings data enables broadcasters to strategically reposition themselves in response to the changing media environment. Market fragmentation has seen increasing importance placed on commissioned and in-house research in a shift away from mass audience capture to establishing and maintaining an audience bond