Elements of Family Planning Success

      Many health communication practitioners advocate using theory to develop their campaign messages, yet when faced with a "real" project and "real" data, often practitioners are at a loss for how to translate theory into a research study and then how to translate data collected from a research study into campaign recommendations. The purpose of this case study is to demonstrate how a fear appeal theory was used in Ethiopia to design both research and an entertainment education program. This type of research, called formative health communication research, was conducted using a well-tested fear appeal theory, called the Extended Parallel Process Model. Based on theoretical guidance from this model and the data, a 26-week radio serial drama was developed to promote family planning. This case study first describes the Ethiopian context and research project, then the fear appeal theory, and then the results of the formative research.