Assessing the Effective Communication Channels to Reduce Child and Adolescent Marriage in Rural Communities of Egypt

BACKGROUND: Low levels of scholarly achievement, poverty, and geographical isolation are all known to be linked to early marriage. AIM: This study aimed at identifying the most credible and the best-suited communication channels (CCs) to reach rural communities for motivating them to reduce child and adolescent marriage. METHODS: This study was a community-based cross-sectional systematic formative research. The study targeted 1000 wives who were ever married women in childbearing period aged 15–49 years and their husbands in 21 rural village units of two governorates of Upper Egypt through questionnaires. Decisions concerning the choice of the best-suited CCs were based on their reach, frequency, managerial feasibility, and effectiveness. The investigated CCs included: modern social media (search browser engine/Facebook group and/or twitter/YouTube or messaging through WhatsApp or any mobile app), traditional mass media (T.V/Radio/Reading), and interpersonal communication (talk with religious leaders/partners/friends/doctors/health promoters). Comparisons between different CCs were done using odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). RESULTS: A vast majority of the surveyed wives (96.6%) were married at an age ranging from 15 to 24 years. The spread of social media through smartphones was limited to only one-third of wives and their husbands through mainly searching on YouTube (31.7% of wives and 27.8% of husbands). Television was the most accessible means of mass media for both wives and husbands (72.5% and 63.3%, respectively). The most credible and the best-suited CCs methods for wives were talking with the health promotors and doctors with 2 times significantly higher (OR = 2.0, CI = 1.7–2.4 for each one) than that with the search on YouTube and 3 times significantly higher (OR = 3.1, CI = 2.5–3.7 and OR = 3.1, CI = 2.6–3.8, respectively) than that for social media using browser engine. For husbands, the odds of the most credible and the best-suited CCs methods were more than 1½ times higher for the talk with the health promotors than the search on You Tube (OR = 1.6, CI = 1.3–2.0) or the search using browser engine (OR = 1.6, CI = 1.3–1.9), Whereas the odds were one and a third higher for the talk with the doctor than the search on You Tube (OR = 1.3, CI = 1.1–1.6) or the search using browser engine (OR = 1.6, CI= 1.1–1.6). Significant difference was detected in favor of the traditional media as the most credible source of information only for wives’ intention to postpone their children early marriage. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the availability of recent social media worldwide, rural communities with high illiteracy have limited access to the internet and limited availability of smartphones. Interpersonal communication is considered their most effective CCs for achieving equity in reducing child marriage. It seems vital during the implementation of any strategies toward reproductive health to use not only the media broadcasts, but also to rely on the channels that are most credible and suitable for the targeted communication to support meeting the unmet need.