The Role of Health Education Campaigns in Promoting Preventive Care and Early Screening in Rural China

Objectives: Chronic diseases often result in deadly outcomes if not prevented or diagnosed early. This emphasizes the integration of effective health education campaigns in order to improve the knowledge among rural people regarding the chronic diseases in order to promote preventive care and early screening. This study also aims to determine the role of health education campaigns in promoting preventive care and early screening within rural China. Methods: For this purpose, a multi-staged mixed method approach was used. A health education campaign of 30 days was carried out in rural areas of China for the prevention of chronic diseases. In this regard, the subjects were categorized into two distinct groups which included: control group (including 105 participants) and intervention group (including 100 participants). A questionnaire proposed by the researcher was used for gathering the required data and SPSS was used for analysis purpose. Results: The results obtained show that the mean scores of attitudes, practice and knowledge were insignificant between the groups before the intervention (p > 0.005). However, the total mean scores were found to be higher within the intervention group in context of attitude and knowledge (p < 0.001) after the intervention. Conclusion: However, the preventive behaviors were still found to attain insignificant mean scores. Intra-group comparison also showed that the mean scores of attitudes, knowledge, and practice increased in intervention group after the intervention as compared to control group. The current research has also been effective in presenting different practical as well as theoretical implications which can be crucial for improving preventive behaviors and early screening of chronic diseases in rural areas of China.