Health Communication Lecture Notes PDF

19/05/1446 Health Communication ‫اﻻعﻼم والتواصل الصحي‬ Dr Hanan Abuabaid Introduction to communication Communication is an essential part of human life; all meaningful social interaction can be lab...

19/05/1446 Health Communication ‫اﻻعﻼم والتواصل الصحي‬ Dr Hanan Abuabaid Introduction to communication Communication is an essential part of human life; all meaningful social interaction can be labelled ‘communication’. Without communication an individual could never become a fully functioning human being. Reading, writing, listening, speaking, viewing and creating images are all acts of communication Through communication people transfer facts, ideas, emotions, knowledge, attitudes and skills to make informed decisions about their health. 1  19/05/1446  Concepts of communication  Communication implies the sharing of meaning among those who are communicating. To engage in communication is therefore to engage in the process by which two or more people exchange ideas, facts, feelings or impressions, so that each gains a common or mutual understanding of the meaning and use of a message. Health communication  Health communication is the art and technique of informing, influencing and motivating individuals or larger audiences about important health issues based on scientific and ethical considerations. It includes the study and use of communication strategies to inform and influence individual and community decisions that enhance health. Health communication is recognized as a necessary part of efforts to improve personal and public health. In other words, health communication encompasses the study and use of communication strategies to inform and influence individual and community knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) with regard to health and healthcare.. 2  19/05/1446 Elements of health communication Health communication:  initiates action  makes needs known  exchanges knowledge, attitudes and practices  helps people understand issues and may change their health beliefs establishes and maintains relationships with health providers Objectives of health communication  In any type of communication, whether you are writing or speaking, trying to persuade, inform or educate, there are several general objectives. These include being understood, being accepted, and influencing an action such as a change of behaviour. Health communication can be both complex and subtle and different people may focus on different areas. For example one person might generate action through helping people to understand health-related issues, and another by helping them express their needs. Both of these roles will help people to think that bringing about change is a good idea. 3  19/05/1446 Importance of Health Communication Effective health communication can lead to positive health outcomes  Better use of the health care system  Better medical outcomes  Improved patient-provider relationships. Poor health communication can lead to negative outcomes  Low patients compliance  Low patient participation  Weak patient-provider relationships  The role of health communication in health education and promotion  Increases knowledge and awareness of a health issue, problem, or its solution  Influences perceptions, beliefs, attitudes and social norms about health  Generates effective action  Demonstrates or illustrates health related skills  Shows the benefit of behaviour change  Increases appropriate use and demand for health services  Reinforces knowledge, attitudes and behaviour  Refutes myths and misconceptions  Advocates for a health issue or a population group. 4  19/05/1446 Principles of communication  1. Shared perception: for communication to be effective the perception of the sender should be as close as possible to the perception of the receiver. The extent of understanding depends on the extent to which the two minds come together.  2. Sensory involvement: the more senses involved in communication, the more effective it will be. If I hear, I forget. If I see, I remember. If I do, I know.  3. Face to face: when communication takes place face-to-face it is more effective.  4. Two-way feedback: any communication without a two-way process is less effective because of lack of opportunity for concurrent, timely and appropriate feedback.  5. Clarity: ideas, facts and opinions should be clear to the sender before communication happens. Communication should always use direct, simple and easily understandable language.  6. Correct information: the sender should have at hand correct, current and scientific information before communicating it.  7. Completeness: subject matter must be adequate and full. This enables the receiver to understand the central theme or idea of a message. Incomplete messages may result in misunderstandings. Levels of health communication  Individuals  The individual is the most fundamental target for health-related change, since it is individual behaviours that affect health status. Communication can affect an individual’s awareness, knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy, and skills for behaviour change. For example, counselling on sexual risk reduction as well as HIV testing is an effective way to change behaviour and protect health. 5  19/05/1446  Social networks: An individual’s relationships and the groups (including family), to which they belong can have a significant impact on his or her health. Health communication programs can work to shape the information a group receives and may attempt to change communication patterns within the group. Opinion leaders within a network are often a point of entry for health programs such as family-based HIV counselling and testing, or peer education. Targeting health communication at social networks may result in a diffusion of innovations and network-based health strategies. It can also provide opportunities for voluntary counselling and health tests for all network members  Organizations include formal groups with a defined structure such as associations, clubs, worksites or schools. Organizations can disseminate health messages to their members, provide support for individuals and make policy changes that enable individual change. Examples include institution-based health programs providing services such as voluntary counselling and health testing, or antenatal and child health services. These are often available within workplaces, schools and other institutional settings. 6  19/05/1446  Communities: The collective wellbeing of communities can be fostered by creating structures and policies that support healthy lifestyles and reduce or eliminate hazards in social and physical environments. Community-level initiatives are planned and led by organizations and institutions that can influence health such as schools, worksites, healthcare settings, community groups and government agencies  Society  Society as a whole has many influences on individual and community behaviour, including norms and values, attitudes and opinions, and laws and policies. Society also creates a physical, economic and cultural environment.  Communicating at the society level can include using the mass media and other types of social mobilisation. For example, HIV or TB educational programmes can be achieved through school, church and workplace education programmes 7  19/05/1446 Types of communication  One-way communication: If the flow of information from the sender to the receiver is one-way the communication is dominated by the sender’s knowledge and information is poured out towards the receiver.  This model does not consider feedback and interaction with the sender. A familiar example of this model is the lecture method used in a classroom, where the teacher stands at the front of the class and lectures on a subject without any interaction or activities. Unless mechanisms are put in place to get feedback from the audience, many mass media communication methods are one-way.  Advantages and disadvantages of one-way communication  Advantages Disadvantages Faster Little audience participation orderly No feedback Learning of facts is authoritative Does not influence behaviour 8  19/05/1446  Two-way communication  In this model the information flows from the sender to the receiver and back from receiver to the sender again in the other direction. Two-way communication is reciprocal, the communicant (receiver) becomes the communicator (sender) and the communicator (sender) in turn becomes a communicant (receiver). Most ordinary conversations are along the lines of this model. Two-way communication is usually more appropriate for problem-solving situations. Advantages Disadvantages More audience participation Learning is more democratic Slower, takes more time Open to feedback May influence behaviour change 9  19/05/1446 Key terms for two-way communication  Sender: the originator of each message — this could be an individual, group or organization.  Message: the idea being communicated.  Channel: the means by which a message travels from sender to receiver.  Receiver: the person for whom the communication is intended.  Effect: the change in the receiver’s knowledge, attitude or practice.  Feedback: telling what they have done well or how to improve. Two- way feedback means that members of the community can tell you what you communicated well and what didn’t work so well.  Body Mass Index (BMI) is a measure of a person’s weight, taking their height into account. Very low or very high BMI is a health History of health communication Hippocrates (4th century BC): wrote about the causal relationship between human diseases and the environment; it was the basis for understanding communicable disease until the 19th century. John Graunt (1662): developed and compiled census statistics for the causes and number of deaths by examining local records; he was also one of the founders of the field of epidemiology. John Pringle (mid 1700s): was a military physician who studied and wrote about typhus, ventilation in army barracks, and provisions of latrines.  Modern health communication began at the same time as the modern public health field, in the late 1800s, as the need arose to communicate health information from government and charitable organizations to a larger and more urban society. Some of the people who spearheaded these initiatives were:  Thomas Southwood Smith (1848): provided reports on the effectiveness of quarantine for cholera and yellow fever..  Margaret Sanger (1921): provided education on birth control and family planning. 10  19/05/1446 Types of Health Communication  Health Promotion: Health promotion is defined as the design and development of health campaigns aimed at reaching certain audiences and communicating important health information. This type of health communication often employs strategies from mass communication, marketing communication, and strategic communication, among other disciplines.  Patient-Provider-Family Caregiver Communication: The communications between a patient and his or her health care team and family are an essential part of a patient’s overall health care experience and well-being. Effective and empathetic communication between doctors and nurses and their patients have been the subject of recent and growing study, in an effort to improve quality of care and patient outcomes. In this area of health communication, interpersonal communication, family communication, and organizational communication and team dynamics play prominent roles.  Health Care Interventions: The field of health care interventions combines patient-provider-family caregiver communication and health promotion, in that it entails developing educational content and/or behavior change programming that focuses on changing a specific health care behavior or addressing a specific health care need  Health Communication Technologies: Health communication technology encompasses not only health care services that use communication technology, such as mobile health applications and Telehealth services, but also the information technologies that help health care organizations run more efficiently and effectively, such as electronic medical records. Health communication technology can support everything from patient-provider interactions to health care promotions and interventions, by streamlining the communication process between health care experts and the public, between patients and their health care team, and between medical professionals. 11  19/05/1446 Cultural Competency in Health communication Cultural Bias is Everywhere Research shows that individuals who are culturally different from their providers are less likely to: Establish a connection and trust with providers Receive sufficient information Be encouraged to participate in medical decision- making Culture and Health Culture is also a central issue in people’s health care. A person's culture can affect:  How health care information is received  How rights and protections are exercised  What is considered to be a health problem  How symptoms and concerns about the problem are expressed  Who provides treatment for the problem  What types of treatment should be given 12  19/05/1446 Cultural Factors Influencing Patient- Provider Communication Nonverbal Communication Varies greatly among people, often leading to cross- cultural misunderstanding.  Facial Expressions  Head Movements  Hand and Arm Gestures  Personal Space  Touching  Eye Contact  Physical Postures Cultural Factors Influencing Patient- Provider Communication  Many cultures feel providers have a higher status and will therefore expect the provider to take charge. The patient may not wish to participate in making decisions about his/her treatment, and may appear passive in the process 13  19/05/1446 Developing Cultural Competency Fact-Centered Approach What to do: Gain cultural information about specific ethnic groups How to do it: Learn culture-specific information, such as an ethnic group’s historical context, cultural concepts of illness and disease, health-seeking behaviors, health- oriented data and disease patterns, and so on. Developing Cultural Competency Attitude/Skill-Centered Approach What to do: Enhance communication skills and focus on the cultural values and beliefs of individuals (including yourself) How to do it: Recognize and acknowledge your own biases; understand yourself and others in terms of culture; understand how race, ethnicity, gender, spirituality, and other issues play a role in delivery and in perceptions of health care; and acquire and apply culturally competent communication skills 14  19/05/1446 An effective communication strategy should be based on: 1. Interpersonal skills: interpersonal skills are those skills that enable us to interact with another person, allowing us to communicate successfully with them, 2. Positive relationships with work colleagues and other professionals 3. You should be assertive and calm not aggressive during communication with patients and his family members. An effective communication strategy should based on: 5.Language barriers are a common challenge. Overcome this dilemma with best possible way. Speak clearly and slowly during your communication with patients and his family members. 7. Define the basics purpose of your meeting with the patients. Be specific. NO long stories required. Give example if required. 8. Be careful of jargon. (Technical language with interacting with patients) 15  19/05/1446 video https://vod.video.cornell.edu/media/Pu blic+Health+Communications+Lecture +Series+- +Day+2%2C+April+7%2C+2021/1_aw hzzpn6/209163763 16