Communication Strategies and Students’ Awareness of Sexual Harassment in Secondary Schools in Uganda.
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Date
2023-06-20
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Kampala International University
Abstract
This study was about communication strategies and students’ awareness of sexual harassment in secondary schools in Uganda, but focusing on selected schools in Wakiso District. The purpose of the study or the main objective of the study was to assess the effect of communication strategies in creating awareness of sexual harassment in selected secondary schools in Wakiso District of Uganda. The specific objectives of the study were; to examine the effect of communication messages on awareness of sexual harassment amongst students in selected secondary schools in Wakiso, to assess the effect of audience mapping on the students’ awareness of sexual harassment in selected secondary schools in Wakiso, and to examine the effect of vehicles (media) used on creating students’ awareness about sexual harassment in selected secondary schools in Wakiso. Using Riemer and Haines’s (2008) theory of dynamic practice-based awareness creation in mediated communication to examine this problem, the study was qualitative in approach and was designed as a case study. It used convenient non probability sampling to arrive at 58 respondents comprising teachers, administrators and students. Purposive sampling was used to determine the schools examined. Data was collected through two methods; Focus Group Discussions and Interviews, and the tools of data collection were Discussion Prompts and Interview Guides respectively. The analysis of data was undertaken by thematic analysis whereby key ideas derived from the data were organized to answer the research questions formulated. The findings revealed that; messages about sexual harassment were designed and create some awareness about sexual harassment in the two schools. However, the consequences of sexual harassment were not included in the messages designed. Specific vehicles or media of communication were employed but only a few of those that would have been used were utilized. Only speeches e.g. in school parades, writings on school notice boards, posters and warnings by teachers and peer support groups were used. The schools did not hold debates or drama or publish magazines related to the problem. The finds further revealed that school administration had some idea about how effective the messages on sexual harassment were but did not have a specific monitoring and evaluation mechanism that would have completed their communication strategy and made it more effective. The study recommended that there is need to improve the design of the message to create awareness of the consequences of sexual harassment, include more vehicles or media for communicating the messages and a need for the schools to institute a monitoring and evaluation mechanism to ensure that the strategy is assessed to make modifications that can improve it. There is need for further research in the schools particularly experimental studies.
Description
A Thesis Submitted To the Directorate of Higher Degrees and Research in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Award of a Master of Science in Mass Communication of Kampala International University
Keywords
Communication Strategies, Students’, Awareness, Sexual Harassment, Wakiso District