Journals Information
Universal Journal of Public Health Vol. 13(5), pp. 1237 - 1245
DOI: 10.13189/ujph.2025.130515
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Communicating Information about Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviours to Small-Scale and Under-Resourced Communities in Botswana
Lovie Edwin Seru 1,*, Malebogo Moji 2
1 Department of Communication Studies, Faculty of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences, School of Languages, Communication and Literacy Skills, University of Botswana, Botswana
2 Department of Language and Linguistic Science, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of York, England
ABSTRACT
Background: Sedentary behaviours have increasingly become dangerous in this era of non-communicable diseases and high mortality rate. While people living in urban settlements are exposed to an array of sources of information on living a healthier and active lifestyle, remote rural settlements' only guaranteed sources of information are Health Promotion Practitioners comprising local nurses and Health Promotion Assistants. This is notwithstanding the fact that the villagers' socio-cultural peculiarities and unfavourable economic contexts, make them a stark contrast of the Health Promotion Practitioners. Objective: Given the problems that are most likely to occur when people from different socio-cultural backgrounds communicate, it was surmised that the socio-cultural differences between the villagers and the Health Promoters could be impediments to a seamless dissemination of messages about physical activity and sedentary behaviours. This has prompted the question: How do Health Promotion officials execute the diffusion of messages about physical activity and sedentary behaviours? Driven by the scholarship of Social Constructionism, this study aimed to determine the right communication model for disseminating information about physical activity and sedentary behaviours to remote rural communities. Methods: To gather information for this study, a participatory observation and semi-structured interview methods were used. Results: The results show that an attempt to incorporate the cultural expressions and communication practices of the villagers into the communication processes of messages about physical activity and sedentary behaviours was made.
KEYWORDS
Communication, Physical Activity, Sedentary Behaviours, Socio-Cultural Context, Health Promotion
Cite This Paper in IEEE or APA Citation Styles
(a). IEEE Format:
[1] Lovie Edwin Seru , Malebogo Moji , "Communicating Information about Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviours to Small-Scale and Under-Resourced Communities in Botswana," Universal Journal of Public Health, Vol. 13, No. 5, pp. 1237 - 1245, 2025. DOI: 10.13189/ujph.2025.130515.
(b). APA Format:
Lovie Edwin Seru , Malebogo Moji (2025). Communicating Information about Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviours to Small-Scale and Under-Resourced Communities in Botswana. Universal Journal of Public Health, 13(5), 1237 - 1245. DOI: 10.13189/ujph.2025.130515.