A qualitative study on implementer’s perspective of success and challenges: Interactive Popular Theatre (IPT) component of BRAC CST

Abstract

Interactive popular theater (IPT) has been used as a public health education tool for decades in different countries of the world. Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) conducted IPTs in the Cox’s bazar districts of Bangladesh to build awareness about COVID-19 and cervical cancer prevention. This study aimed to explore the experience of the IPT implementers and understand their perspective on the success and challenges of BRAC IPT implementation at Cox’s Bazar. A qualitative approach with exploratory research design was employed and in-depth interviews were done to with the managerial level and field level implementers of IPT to conduct the study. The study finding indicated that the IPT implementers had overall positive experience about the implementation and they considered the IPTs successful due to the positive feedback they received from beneficiaries and positive behavior change they observed in the community after conducting IPTs. However, this study also discovered that the implementers faced certain challenges during the IPT implementation. The challenges found were lack of acceptance of IPT among Muslim conservative people and Muslim religious leaders, difficulty of conducting IPTs in hard-to-reach areas, no sitting arrangement done for the audience in the IPT conducting site, difficulty in crowd management and short duration of training for the actors. These challenges can be overcome by involving the Muslim religious leaders in the consultation meetings prior to conducting IPTs, developing specific plan focusing on timing and transportation process to conduct IPTs in hard-to-reach areas, provide logistic support for the sitting arrangement of audience and trainers assessing the need of extending the training period through close supervision and discussion with the actors.