The Durban University of Technology’s (DUT’s) Journalism programme conferred its Masters Degree to the first female candidate since the inception of this programme, when Melissa Mungroo obtained her Masters Degree in Journalism on Thursday, 09 May 2019 at the Fred Crookes Sports Centre, Steve Biko Campus in Durban.

Mungroo is excited to be the first female to be conferred with a Masters degree in Journalism at DUT, and to be the first person in her family to obtain a Masters degree. “I hope my achievement spurs other young women to pursue their degrees and make a success of themselves. I plan to pursue my PhD in the future looking at gender construction in media particularly in literature and movies,” she said.

Her study focused on the First Things First campaign and the responses of first-year University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) students to the campaign posters. The campaign is a project of the Higher Education and Training HIV and AIDS Programme (HEAIDS) that emphasises counselling and testing to reduce HIV and AIDS prevalence amongst students. The campaign posters encourage students to get tested and know their HIV status.

“The majority of participants understood the campaign messages, which they cite as ‘get tested’ and ‘know your HIV status’. The findings indicate that students accepted that the posters encourage them to test for HIV but that stigma, personal fears and the social environment could deter them from testing,” said Mungroo.

According to Mungroo themes generated were gender construction, peer pressure and sexual identity; stigma attached to HIV Counselling and Testing (HCT) and alternative media for HIV and HCT awareness. “Themes were indicative of what students found to be important factors that future HIV programmes could reflect on and incorporate into their campaigns,” she added.

Although Mungroo’s study found that the majority of the intended audience appears to have understood the intended meanings of the campaign. “Students feel that the First Things First campaign posters could be improved to further and better communicate the intended message to fellow students by incorporating various factors such as gender construction, culture, language and more visual elements,” she said.

She argues that considering that first-year students frequent social media platforms, this presents an additional opportunity for improved communication on the First Things First campaign specifically. “This is a vital platform in displaying the campaign posters, thus stimulating feedback and interactive communication amongst the student population. Students could interact and make comments on the campaign messaging that could possibly provide helpful peer-to-peer advice amongst first-year students through a moderated online platform,” advised Mungroo.

In her study, students strongly believe in the power of theatre. Mungroo suggests that various student bodies could consider performing monologues, plays, dance pieces and songs that would train volunteers in aspects of theatre aimed at health promotion.

“The performances could take place around the campuses and focus on communal spaces at student residences. This could be one of the innovative ways to get students talking about HIV,” she said.

“By using theatre as an innovative practice to inform students about HCT and HIV, new health developments around this issue can also be re-enacted through plays and musical compositions, to inform students. This in turn could lead to possible re-design of the campaign poster, based on audience feedback,” she added.

Mungroo believes that while the extent to which the First Things First campaign has achieved its objectives nationally, this is yet to be determined. “It is hoped the campaign organisers and health promoters consider this study’s findings on the significance of HCT campaign posters and the need for active social media and marketing campaigns for HCT promotion and adoption,” she said.

She added that she is also currently working on publishing her Masters research in an accredited academic journal and plans to contribute towards knowledge production.

Pictured: Melissa Mungroo.

Nduduzo Ndlovu