Role of Health Education and Communication Part 3

Role of Health Education and Communication Part 3 Content Part 1 1. Introduction 2. Health 3. Health Education introduction 4. Health Promotion 5. Perception Part 2 6. Health Behaviour 7. Learning 8. Attribution 1 2 Content Part 3 9. 10. Social Influence 11. Health Communication 12. Part 4 13. Designing Health Education and Health Promotion Part 5 14. Traditional Communication Technique 15. Contemporary Approach to Health Communication 16. Bibliography 3 4 There are certain motivational factors that determine whether a person will perform in a desired manner to improve health The most influential theory has been the theory of reasoned action This was later expanded to the theory of planned behaviour Best predictor of behaviour is a person s intention to perform that behaviour Example: Whether a person will do physical exercise will depend on underlying intention The simplest approach to predict whether a person will perform physical exercise, is to ask whether he/she intends to do so It is important to know the reasons underlying that intention A person s intention is a function of three basic determinants: Attitude Social influence Perceived difficulty of performing the behaviour 5 6 1

The personal factor, attitude toward the behaviour reflects the person s judgement that performing the behaviour is good or bad Attitudes are a function of behavioural beliefs If a person believes that performing a particular behaviour will have a positive outcome, the person will have a positive attitude towards that behaviour The contrary is also true The second determinant of intention is the subjective norm This is the perception of person of the social pressures from the important others A person may have a positive attitude towards a particular behaviour But if the person entertains serious concerns whether they are able to perform the necessary activities, they will not take these course of action The attribution theory and the theory of planned behaviour are general theories These theories belong to the domain of social psychology To address health related behaviour other theories are as under: 7 8 The health belief model As per this model, Behaviour is determined by belief in personal health threat, and Belief in effectiveness of a health behaviour Belief of the threat is effected by the personal susceptibility to a disease The second aspect is perceived severity of a disease Perceived severity and perceived susceptibility to disease determine the belief in a personal health threat This invoke a general motivation of action 9 10 The Health Belief Model 11 12 2

Belief in the effectiveness of a health behaviour is a function of two beliefs: Firstly, The perceived degree to which preventive behaviour will reduce the threat of particular health risk This is perceived benefits of preventive behaviour Secondly, It is perceived barriers to perform the preventive behaviour These perceptions are the negative aspects of a particular preventive behaviour These could be financial costs, social costs and effort Perceived benefits and perceived barriers determine the belief in effectiveness of a particular health measure to reduce risks Fundamental to HBM is the existence of some form of awareness of a threat This is known as cue to action This is a precipitating force that makes the person feel the need to take action Cues to action include a diverse range of triggers They can be internal (e.g. individual perception of symptoms), or External e.g. social influence or health education campaign 13 14 Theories on Health Behaviour Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) This model partially resembles the health belief model (HBM) Some interesting concepts may be added HBM describes the factors that positively influence the motivation to health-enhancing behaviour The PMT describes forces that negatively influence this motivation The theory begins with the result of two appraisal processes 1. A process of threat appraisal 2. A process of coping appraisal In this the responses place the individual in health risk situation These appraisal processes are: 1. A process of threat appraisal 2. A process of coping appraisal In this the options diminish the threat are evaluated The processes together result in either high or low protection motivation High motivation produces the intention to perform adaptive responses Low motivation may lead to maladaptive responses Low motivation place an individual in a health risk situation 15 16 The Nature of Communication Communication involves transfer of information from a human sender to a human receiver The purpose of communication is for increasing the receiver s knowledge, enabling him to carryout tasks, or influencing his attitudes and behaviours Health communication can be used to: Initiate action Make known needs and requirements The Nature of Communication Exchange information, ideas, attitudes or beliefs Establish understanding Establish and maintain relations Components of communication Context Message Channels Timing 17 18 3

Attributes of Effective health Communication The attributes include the following: Accuracy Availability Balance Consistency Cultural competence Evidence based Reach Reliability Repetition Timeliness Understandability Health Communication Definition health communication encompasses the study and use of communication strategies to inform and influence individual and community decisions that enhance health. Conventional mass media omass media include all media where the communication process is public, diverse, indirect, via a technical medium oit is basically one sided, and usually addressed to a large and more or less anonymous audience 19 20 Example: Radio, television, and print media Primary purpose of these media is not to serve a public health goal but for bringing news or entertainment Health related issues receive considerable attention in the news media Public mass media are being increasingly used for education campaign An interesting possibility for using public mass media is entertainment education This is purposefully designed message both to entertain and educate In this people can learn by observing and imitating the behaviour of others in real life or on film and television This method has been successfully applied in varieties of issues E.g., drunk driving, drug abuse, nutrition and cardiovascular disease, HIV/AIDS and family planning 21 22 Posters and leaflets These are printed mass media and are specifically designed to communicate specific health-related topic These are often used as stand alone mass media They can also be used in addition to interpersonal communication There use is very popular Posters Posters mainly have an attention drawing function Amount of information that c an be displayed is limited Usually people will not stop to read complicated texts on a poster Poster (contd.) Posters can be used as an introduction to interpersonal communication This means that message has to be clear and concise & attractive It should stimulate viewer to think about the content of the message Posters can function as an introduction to interpersonal communication Leaflets can contain more information and enable the receiver to re-read the information at his/her own pace Alone the leaflets are less effective Effectiveness can be increased if used in combination with interpersonal communication leaflets 23 24 4

Effects of conventional mass media How much effect the mass media has is still controversial Some countries indicate that they are powerful influence on behaviour, but other hold different views The issue is far from resolved The discussion about its effectiveness oscillate between the view that the mass media have no direct impact at all, and If there is any influence it is mediated through personal communication of opinion leaders The opposing view is that they: Are our central source of knowledge Determine our view of the world and consequently our behaviour However, the mass media fulfil certain functions in our societies and in changing these societies. These functions include setting the agenda of important discussion topics; transferring knowledge; forming and changing opinions; and changing behaviour. 25 26 Mass media choice by receivers In general, there is an increasing tendency to spend more time with television and radio than with printed world Media exposure does not occur equally among all social groups People with higher education tend to pay more attention to news and information programmes and less to entertainment programme than the less educated Interpersonal methods Most of the conventional mass media are characterised by a one-sided flow of information There is no direct contact between the sender and the receiver There is no direct feedback whether or not the receiver sees that message and will use that information in any way Direct feedback is a major advantage of interpersonal communication 27 28 Dialogue In health communication, this is the method most commonly used Dialogue has several advantages over other less personalised methods Health professionals get to know the other person well, get first hand information on problems and their possible causes Dialogue is a more effective method in stimulating people to change Lecture Lectures are oldest means of transferring information Lectures have some specific advantages Firstly, The speaker can modify the content to meet the specific needs and interests of the audience as well as their level of education Secondly, The audience gets to know the speaker better Thirdly, Lectures provide an opportunity for the audience to ask questions 29 30 5

The disadvantage is that the spoken words are usually forgotten more easily than the written words It is difficult to maintain an audiences attention for much longer than 15 minutes Peoples thought keep on wandering to other unrelated matter Written words can be reread, if something is not clear Lectures are also poor methods for teaching how to apply information It is good to combine lecture with other techniques ( Demonstration Demonstration is a performance oriented method This stimulates the audience to try out the innovations themselves It is a helpful method for skill building activities Demonstrations can be used to show results of certain actions They can be used to show methods Examples: Showing parents how to play with their children Instruction for breast self palpation Teeth brushing lessons for children 31 32 Group methods These are used for many different purposes Committee meetings are used at political level to achieve consensus or unanimous decisions In health promotion, group methods may be used to involve people in community coalitions In health education, group methods are used to help people identify and find solutions to their problems Advantage of obtaining direct feedback is available in this Thank you 33 34 6