Departmentof Communication, Purdue University, 100 N. University Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907-2098, USA.
Health Commun. 2012;27(1):19-29. doi: 10.1080/10410236.2011.567448. Epub 2011 Jun 14.
Over the last decade, Botswana has been identified as a model for countries fighting against annihilation from HIV/AIDS. The country had the highest rate of HIV infections in the world in 2000, but by the end of Festus G. Mogae's presidential term in 2008 Botswana's situation had improved significantly, as residents were increasingly likely to get tested, obtain treatment, and discontinue practices of discrimination against the infected. This study seeks to contribute to a growing body of literature focusing on the communicative elements that played a role in Botswana's successes. More specifically, the purpose of this study is to explore Mogae's national speeches about HIV/AIDS to consider how his rhetoric may have encouraged Botswana's residents to alter their health-related beliefs and behaviors. We find that Mogae used a narrative of secular conversion (i.e., discourse with a pseudoreligious structure that positions problems as rooted in existing values and offers a new guiding principle as an antidote), and we identify such narratives as persuasive health communication tools. The analysis offers public health advocates, scholars, and opinion leaders a framework for persuasively communicating about diseases such as HIV/AIDS without drawing exclusively from a biomedical framework.
在过去的十年中，博茨瓦纳已被视为抗击艾滋病毒/艾滋病的典范国家。2000 年，该国的艾滋病毒感染率位居世界之首，但到 2008 年费斯图斯·格瓦伊·乔贝总统任期结束时，博茨瓦纳的情况已明显改善，因为居民越来越有可能接受检测、获得治疗，并停止对感染者的歧视。本研究旨在为越来越多的关注博茨瓦纳成功经验中交际因素的文献做出贡献。更具体地说，本研究的目的是探讨乔贝关于艾滋病毒/艾滋病的全国演讲，以了解他的言论如何鼓励博茨瓦纳居民改变与健康相关的信仰和行为。我们发现，乔贝使用了一种世俗皈依的叙述（即具有伪宗教结构的论述，将问题定位为根植于现有价值观，并提供新的指导原则作为解毒剂），我们将这种叙述视为有说服力的健康传播工具。该分析为公共卫生倡导者、学者和意见领袖提供了一个框架，用于在不完全依赖生物医学框架的情况下，就艾滋病毒/艾滋病等疾病进行有说服力的沟通。
