title: The impact of mass media interventions on tuberculosis awareness, health-seeking behaviour and health service utilisation: a systematic review protocol.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Tuberculosis (TB) is a serious public health problem in many parts of the world. Strategies to curb the spread of TB must match the multifaceted nature of the epidemic. The use of mass media is one of the important strategies in communicating behavioural change in relation to TB prevention and the treatment. However, the benefits of this intervention are unclear. We, therefore, plan to conduct a systematic review on the effects of mass media interventions on TB awareness, health-seeking behaviour and health service utilisation.
  
  
  METHODS
  We will preferably include randomised controlled trials (RCTs) in this systematic review. However, non-randomised studies will be included if there is an inadequate number of RCTs. We will perform electronic searches in PubMed, Scopus and other databases, along with manual searches. Articles written (or translated) in English and French and published between 1 January 1980 and 31 October 2013 will be eligible for inclusion in this review. The primary outcomes will be TB knowledge, attitudes and awareness, healthcare-seeking behaviour and service utilisation. The secondary outcomes will include stigma and discrimination against people with TB and the costs of the interventions. We will investigate clinical and statistical heterogeneity and pool studies judged to be clinically and statistically homogeneous. Relative risks will be calculated for dichotomous outcomes and mean differences for continuous outcomes, both with their corresponding 95% CIs.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  The systematic review will use data that is not linked to individuals. The review findings may have implications for clinical practice and future research, and will be disseminated electronically and in print through peer-reviewed publications.
  PROSPERO CRD42013005867.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine and the Department of Medicine, The Desmond Tutu HIV Centre, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
authors.forename: Mweete D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Nglazi
authors.forename: Linda-Gail
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Bekker
authors.forename: Robin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wood
authors.forename: Muki S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Shey
authors.forename: Olalekan A
authors.initials: OA
authors.lastname: Uthman
authors.forename: Charles S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Wiysonge
mesh_terms: D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D033181:Information Dissemination / Q000379:methods; D008402:Mass Media; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D011314:Preventive Health Services / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D000078202:Systematic Reviews as Topic; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy
keywords: BIOTECHNOLOGY & BIOINFORMATICS; PUBLIC HEALTH