The Philippines' Department of Health implemented several communication programmes from 1993-1996 that were based on the Steps to Behavior Change (SBC) model, which was specifically created for the design and evaluation of family planning communication projects.

Evaluation of the 1995-1996 communication programmes was conducted by means of a national panel survey of 1,563 women ages 15-49 years interviewed first in September 1995 and then again 6 months later.

82.3% of respondents recalled at least 1 of 10 television spots of the campaign. Range of recall of individual spots ranged from 60.5% to 30.4%. Two-thirds of the population that was sampled remembered being exposed to the mass media campaign.

Women with high-level exposure were found to be 3.43 times more likely to have high levels of ideation; of those with 5 or 6 six applicable ideation factors, 71.1% practice family planning.

Modern contraceptive prevalence increased from 24.9% to 30.2% and the average rate of increase had doubled to 1.67% points during the 1993-1996 period from the 1968-1993 average of 0.84% points. Overall, 9 months after the introduction of the program, the prevalence of contraceptive use had increased from 66% to 74.9%. Non-modern methods increased from 38.5% to 41.4%. A large increase occurred for modern methods such as the pill - from 27.5% to 33.5%. Contraceptive use among women with high recall levels was 52.8%, 43.2% for medium exposure, and 34% among women with low level recalls. Women with high-level recall were 1.57 times more likely to have visited a family planning provider, and 1.65 times more likely to use modern contraceptives.

The authors believe that the impact that the communication programmes have had on the attitudes and usage of contraceptives demonstrates the potential effectiveness of such projects.

"Philippines Communication Outreach Accelerates Family Planning Use in 1993-1996," [PDF] Communication Impact!, August 1998.