Estimating the impact of a television campaign on tuberculosis knowledge and intention to test for TB in South Korea

Abstract

OBJECTIVE : To examine the effectiveness of a television campaign for preventing tuberculosis (TB) executed in South Korea in 2015. DESIGN: We used a genetic matching method to accurately test the effect of the campaign on changing people's knowledge and behaviour in a nationwide sample of 1000 adults; information was collected using face-to-face interviews. RESULTS : After matching individuals in treatment and controlled conditions using 11 covariates, we found that the campaign significantly improved people's knowledge about TB, and enhanced people's intention to undertake a TB test when they recognised the signs of TB. CONCLUSION: These data highlight the potential usefulness of genetic matching for enhancing statistical rigour when evaluating the effectiveness of a health campaign using a cross-sectional observational study.