Pretesting a Poster on Recommended Stress Management During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Indonesia: Qualitative Study

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 Peritraumatic Distress Index (CPDI) is a self-report questionnaire developed to evaluate the frequency of anxiety and depression symptoms among individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic. A recent study in China showed high CPDI scores among individuals in the 18-30 years age group and those over 60 years. During the COVID-19 outbreak, people were expected to maintain their mental health conditions, especially stress levels. Therefore, many national governments actively published health promotion media in an effort to educate the public. One such media developed by the Ministry of Health, Republic of Indonesia, was a poster titled “Hindari Stres dan Tetap Optimis dengan Melakukan Aktivitas Sehari-hari dan Tetap Menjaga Jarak.” OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to conduct a test on a stress management recommendation poster developed by the Ministry of Health, Republic of Indonesia, in response to the COVID-19 outbreak by using pretesting communication theory. METHODS: In-depth interviews were conducted among 8 key informants and 1 graphic design expert. RESULTS: Pretesting can identify the strengths and weaknesses of media. The large amount of text and the lack of illustrations made the poster less attractive to readers. Moreover, there was a discrepancy between the title and contents of the poster. The poster was not able to persuade the informants to change their behavior in the near future. CONCLUSIONS: The poster was understood and accepted by the informants, but there was still much to be improved considering the poster was a product of the Ministry of Health, Republic of Indonesia.