A History of the Ministry of Information, 1939-46
PREFACE TO THE INQUIRY ON VENEREAL DISEASES
DO PEOPLE NOTICE MINISTRY OF HEALTH PUBLICITY?
The inquiry opened with a general question about Ministry of Health publicity. “Have you come across any information or advice put out by the Ministry of Health in the last few months about avoiding illness or disease?”
This question was a good introduction to the subject of health, and allowed a relationship between the interviewer and informant to be established before the specific questions on V.D. and the two other Ministry of Health Campaigns were broached.
Table 1
“Have you come across any information or advice put out by the Ministry of Health in the last few months about avoiding illness or disease? ”
| % | |
|---|---|
| Yes | 62 |
| No | 35 |
| No answer | 3 |
| SAMPLE | 2,587 |
There are no significant differences in the proportions in different regions who had come across M.O.H. publicity, except that the percentage in the London area answering “Yes” was somewhat higher than in the other regions, 68% as against 60-61%.
On the other hand very marked differences can be seen when the answers are analysed by educational standard. People whose education had terminated at an elementary school had noticed the health publicity with significantly lower frequency than those who had gone on to secondary, technical and public schools.
Table 2
“Have you come across any information or advice put out by the Ministry of Health in the last few months about avoiding illness or disease? ”
| Lower Education | Higher Education | |
|---|---|---|
| % | % | |
| Yes | 56 | 77 |
| No | 41 | 21 |
| No answer | 3 | 2 |
| SAMPLE | 1,745 | 668 |
(For 174 informants no educational standard was recorded)
A similar difference was shown in analysis by income. A greater proportion of people in the higher group had come across publicity.
When the answers are analysed by age groups it can be seen that significantly higher proportions of the people between 21 and 40 than of the youngest and oldest groups had come across the M.O.H. publicity.
Table 3
“Have you come across any information or advice put out by the Ministry of Health in the last few months about avoiding illness or disease? ”
| 16-20 | 21-30 | 31-40 | 41-50 | 51-60 years | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | % | % | |
| Yes | 54 | 69 | 66 | 59 | 54 |
| No | 43 | 29 | 32 | 33 | 41 |
| No answer | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| SAMPLE | 307 | 567 | 720 | 696 | 276 |
There are no significant differences between the proportions of men and women who had come across advice or information put out by the M.O.H.