Aap Ki Antara

7/29/2019 Aap Ki Antara

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IMFAR, 21 May 2010, Philadelphia

Nidhi Singhal, PhD

Tamara Daley, PhDMerry Barua

Action For AutismNational Centre for Advocacy, Research, Rehabilitation and Training

New Delhi, India

COI: None

The Impact of the Popular Media on

Awareness: Aap Ki Antara


2/22

Autism in India

Considered rare; an illness of modern civilization

Delays and misdiagnosis

High use of pharmacological and alternate therapies:

Pranic healing, Reflexology, Astrology, Acupressure, Yoga,

Ayurveda, Homeopathy

Lack of appropriate and adequate intervention centers

Schools not geared to meet special needs

Significant economically disadvantaged population

Low awareness levels and high stigmatization

www.autism-india.org


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Media Penetration

1998 2004 2005

Television sets

Cable connections

70 million

25 million

105 million

52 million

119 million

62 million

Total television viewership: 415 million; amongst world'shighest

(CII-KPMG, 2007)



4/22

June 2009:

An Indian television

network with a reach ofabout 120 countries andaccess to over 500 millionviewers globally

launched a nightly soapopera called

Aap Ki Antara

(Yours truly, Antara)
http://localhost/var/www/DATA/AFA/Research/Aap%20Ki%20Antara/AAK%20videos/-Aapki%20Antara%20September%2001,%202009.flv


5/22


6/22


Three minute

'testimonial' from afamily member of aperson with autism

Number of a seven-hour

telephone helpline

(MonFri, 1pm8pm)

Address for website of

national Indian autismorganization: Action forAutism

Each episode concluded with


7/22

Selected a five-week sample period(Sep-Oct 09) after the initial launch

Documented calls

Coded content and background data aboutcaller/child

Used website analytics to compare sampleperiod and pre-launch period


Method


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Documentation of basic information

a. Location of the caller

b. Age of the person of concern

c. Sex of the person of concern

d. Relationship of caller to person of concern

Additional information

a. Purpose of the call

b. Knowledge of autism prior to the serial

c. Nature of services person of concern currently

receives



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Results:Call Summary

During initial months:

(JunAug 09) > 50 calls / day

During the five week sample period:(SepOct 09) = 336 calls total

Average of approx 15 calls / day



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Who is Calling

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Mother

Father

Grandparent

A

unt/uncle

Sibling

Self

Other

relative

No

n-relative

37.9

30.7

2.5

5.9 6.2

0.9

3.4

12.4Per

centage


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North, 38.9

South, 6.5Central, 16.4

East, 17.9

West, 18.5

OutsideIndia, 1.9

All figures are in percentage

Location of Caller

(including Dubai, Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand, & Italy)


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Location of Caller

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

2.5

0.3

3.14

0.3

2.8

0.6

16.4

0.3

4

5.6

0.60.6

2.23.1

0.9

2.8

13.6

0.3

2.8

7.4

4.3

10.8

0.9

8

1.9


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Reason for Call


14/22


15/22

Diagnosis

Don't know

No diagnosis

CP

"Delay, slow, will be OK with age"

Other (seizures, blind, braindamage)

MR, Down's

ASD

0 10 20 30 40 50

3.6

28.6

3.1

7.1

8.5

14.3

34.8

Percentage


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Of the callers with a child diagnosed withautism

48% of children did not attend any school 36% attended a special school

16% attended a regular school

Services


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65% of all callers reported that they were notaware of autism prior to watching

Aap Ki Antara

Awareness



18/22

During sample period (Sep Oct 09) sitereceived 7,781 visits from:

129 countries and territories

79% of these were new visitors

42% of the visits were from India (79 cities)

27% were from the U.S. (51 states)

Website Traffic



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Compared to a five week period before showwas launched (Apr May 09):

An increase of 35% total number of visitors

An increase of 30% of first time visitors

97% increase in people accessing the site

through direct entry of website address

Website Traffic



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Television as a medium can be a powerfulsource for raising awareness

Includes penetration in rural areas where access toservices is limited

Popularity of show independent of accuracy ofportrayal

Can serve as a reference point

Validation of personal experience


Implications


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Next Steps

Documenting awareness of AAK through intakeinformation sheets

Small awareness study on My Name is Khan

Applied for funding for an IVR+phonecounseling helpline

Developing 30 second spots for TV and theaters



22/22

Thank You!

Nidhi [email protected]

Tamara [email protected]

Action For [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]

Documents

Aap Ki Antara