No abstract

No abstract

The objective of this study was to ascertain the impact of social media-based dance therapy in reducing symptoms of depression among evacuees of the Russia–Ukraine war. The participants were randomly assigned to no dance therapy (n = 162) and social media-based dance therapy groups (n = 162). The dance therapy group took part in 12 sessions of dance therapy while the no dance therapy group did not receive any intervention. The result showed that before the dance therapy intervention, participants in both groups reported severe depression symptoms. After the intervention, participants in the dance therapy group dropped from severe depression to normal depression while those in the no dance therapy group dropped to major depression. During the follow-up assessment after 3 months, participants in the no dance therapy group reported moderate depression while those in the dance therapy group still maintained their normal depression classification with a drop in their depression score from 46 to 26. Overall, the result showed that there was a significant main effect of time and the depression score of the participants, F(1,304) 203.143, p = 0.001, eta = 0.401. No interactive effect of gender and the impact of the treatment on reduction in depression symptoms was detected, F(1,304) 3.232, p = 0.073. However, there was a significant main effect of treatment condition on depression symptoms, F(1,304) 495.023, p = 0.001. We highlighted the implication of these results on health promotion.

The study examined public perception of Nigeria Center of Disease Control’s (NCDC) radio campaign messages in managing the Covid-19 pandemic in three selected states in the south-western part of the country. A survey research design was adopted with a questionnaire as a data collection instrument. A sample size of 400 respondents was chosen through the multistage approach. The study revealed that the residents in selected states in South-Western Nigeria reported exposure to radio campaign messages on COVID-19 preventive measures and perceived that the messages influenced the awareness and adoption of COVID-19 preventive measures. It was recommended that behavioral change communication experts and public health officers at all levels should leverage the reliability and spread of radio among the populace to disseminate public health issues.

Communication is at the heart of human existence and technology has always determined the nature of and nurture how man communicates. The introduction of mobile telephone and most importantly smartphones has altered the way youths communicate, yet there is little or no empirical research on the influence of this technology on the communication pattern of youth especially students in higher institutions. The survey research design was adopted with questionnaire as the instrument of gathering data from 500 respondents chosen from the Redeemer's University, Osun State and the University of Lagos, Lagos State. Study revealed that smartphone usage among students in higher institutions has positive influence on their communication pattern. The study further showed that majority of the respondents used their smartphone for social activities and related functions. On the strength of these findings, the researchers recommended that more researches should be conducted to know more about this growing technology. Also, it was recommended that marketing communication professionals should be interested in the opportunities provided by this technology to reach out to their target audience.