Thesis (M. A. (Communication Studies)) -- University of Limpopo, 2019 / Globally, over the years, health promotion organisations have developed communication campaigns geared towards addressing most major public health issues with the intention of preventing risky sexual behaviour. Teenage pregnancy is a major health, social, systemic and economic challenge, not only for the basic education sector but also, crucially for national development in general. The use of modern contraceptives, specifically implant contraceptives, has the potential to alleviate unintended teenage pregnancies. Modern contraceptives such as implant contraceptives have proven to be highly effective from 24 hours after insertion up to three years. Theoretically, the Health Belief Model and the Theory of Planned Behaviour have been applied to guide the study. A quantitative, descriptive survey was used in this study, with data collected using questionnaires. Purposive sampling of six secondary schools under the Mankweng Circuit in the Limpopo province where 306 participants were randomly selected was employed. Data were analysed using the SPSS version 26. The study revealed that that 34% of the participants were willing to use the implant contraceptive method based on the benefits found to be associated with the method. However, 66% were not willing to use the method regardless of the benefits found in using the implant contraceptives. In addition, it was found that only 3.9% of the participants were using implant contraceptives as a tool to prevent unintended pregnancies. This study makes a contribution to existing literature on implant contraceptives uptake among young women in South Africa. It would be informative to organisations and the National Department of Health who propose the use of implant contraceptives to stem increasing teenage pregnancies.

Thesis (M.A. (Communication Studies)) -- University of Limpopo, 2020 / Health communication is one of the interventions used to overcome health issues in society. Behavioural change is a process that relies on influence, and carefully designed messages about a desired outcome. These messages are captured from health communication interventions such as health communication campaigns about HIV/AIDS. This study empirically measured behavioural intention and followed the introduction of the health communication campaigns at the University of Limpopo (UL) campus amongst students from all faculties. In order to evaluate these campaigns, a positivist research paradigm was chosen, and the quantitative approach was used to measure and determine the relationship between the constructs of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). The constructs (or predictor variables) of the TPB model are deterministic of behavioural change. They work together to achieve change in behaviour, where the outcome variable is the behavioural intention. This study used the TPB model to guide the literature and methodology when it came to the formulation of questions for data collection. The target population sampled was aged between 18 and 28, and all the participants belonged to various schools across all faculties at the University of Limpopo. The researcher used of the Stratified random sampling method which is classified under probability sampling; 401 questionnaires were coded, and analysed. SPSS® version 25 was used to analyse the data. The results were-drawn descriptively and inferentially. This was done in order to define the relationship between the theory’s variables. The researcher used both Pearson Correlations and Regression Analysis to define the relationship between the variables. Descriptively, the majority of 148 (36.9%) participants strongly agreed while 174 (43.4%) agreed that they intended to participate in health communication campaigns in the future, as the predictor variable. Inferential findings showed that the behavioural intention variable amongst the students proved to be the one that contributed most towards behavioural change. The researcher suggests that further research should focus on message development. Health campaign messages should be developed that trigger intention, in order to achieve behavioural change for individuals so that they can ultimately participate in health campaigns.

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