TESTING THE EFFICACY, AWARENESS AND ADOPTION LEVELS OF SOCIAL MEDIA LOCAL COMEDY SKITS AS ALTERNATIVE MEDICINES FOR HYPERTENSION IN NIGERIA

This research tests the efficacy, awareness and adoption levels of social media local comedy skits (SMLCS) as alternative medicines for the control of stress hypertension in Nigeria. The study anchors on media and technology determinism, uses and gratifications, and dependency frameworks. The focus group, quasi-experiment, and oral interview are used for the study. 50 adult social media users with stress hypertension are purposively selected and interviewed separately. Another 50 participants form the control group, on whom medical experts administer only antihypertensive drugs and allow them to have some rest. On the other hand, to ascertain their positivity to reactive hypertension, the blood pressure of the experiment group is first taken by experts and recorded. Afterwards, they are exposed to various SMLCS for 30 minutes at the same time and environment. This is repeated after about 3 hours of the previous exposure(s). After each exposure, experts take the participants’ blood pressure, and record the readings for comparisons. Findings reveal that, although SMLCS are efficacious in treating stress hypertension, the level of its awareness and adoption are still very low. Hypertension patients in Nigeria prefer using antihypertensive drugs. Again, despite their low adoption, SMLCS are efficacious because they produce laughter which normalises stress hypertension, improves patients’ mood, and allays their anxiety. The blood pressure of the control group actually normalises but without bringing under control their mood, or making them laugh. The major demerits of SMLCS are time consumption and high cost of operation. The study recommends that the ministry of health, doctors, hospitals, and hypertension patients should adopt SMLCS. The education ministry should create a curriculum containing SMLCS as an alternative medicine for reactive hypertension.