Health Communication PDF

HEALTH COMMUNICATION  Introduction Communication is the core of health education and promotion programs. In human society communication can play an important part in daily life. We have the advantage of language, spoken words, songs, and written scripts and so on. This act requires an a...

HEALTH COMMUNICATION  Introduction Communication is the core of health education and promotion programs. In human society communication can play an important part in daily life. We have the advantage of language, spoken words, songs, and written scripts and so on. This act requires an appropriate design so as transmit an effective message.  Health Communication Communication is the process of sharing of ideas, information, knowledge, and experience among people to take action. Communication may take place between one person and another, between an individual and a group or between two groups. Communication facilitates creation of awareness, acceptance and action at individual, group and inter-group level.  Why communication? To have dialogue with communities. Influence decision makers to adopt health promoting policies and laws. Raise awareness among decision makers on issues regarding poverty, human rights, equity, environmental issues, etc... Ensure that the public gives support to government health promoting activities. Communicate new laws and policies to the public Raise public awareness in order to mobilize community participation. Develop community action on health issues.  Types of Communication 1. One-way communication This is a linear type of communication in which information flows from the source to the receiver. There is no input (feedback) from the receiver. It is commonly used in advertising; the message is designed to persuade the receiver to take action prescribed by the sender. The model is best used by organizations when the message is simple and needs to be communicated quickly, for example, the date and time of a public meeting. There is no opportunity to clear up misunderstanding and meaning is controlled by the receiver.  Two-way communication As the message is more complex, two-way communication becomes essential. In this type of communication, information flows from the source to the receiver and back from the receiver to the source. The addition of feedback allows the sender to find out how the message is being received and so it can be monitored and adapted to better suit the receiver’s needs.  Components of communication Source (sender) Originator of message Can be from an individual or groups, an institution or organization. People are exposed to communication from different source but most likely to accept a communication from a person or organization that they trust. Depending on the community, trust and source credibility may come from: Personal qualities or actions e.g. a health worker who always comes out to help people at night. Qualification and training A person’s natural position in the family or community. Message It consists of what is actually communicated including the actual appeals, words, and pictures and sounds that you use to get the ideas across. A message will only be effective if the advice presented is relevant, appropriate, and acceptable and put across in an understandable way.  A message is said to be good if it: Is Epidemiologically correct (evidence based) Is affordable (feasible) Requires minimum time/effort Is realistic Is culturally acceptable Meets a felt need Is easy to understand Channel A Channel is a physical means by which message travels from a source to a receiver. The commonest types of channels are verbal, visual, printed materials or combined audio visual and printed materials. Your choice of channel will depend on what you are trying to achieve, the nature of your audience and what resources are at your disposal.  Receiver (Audience) The person or a group for whom the communication is intended The first step in planning any communication is to consider the intended audience. Before communication, the following characteristics of audiences should be analyzed. Educational factors: can they read? What type of appeals might convince them?  Sociocultural factors: What do they already believe and feel about the topic of communication? Patterns of communication: how people show respect when talking to another person? What time of the day and which programs do they listen? Which places do they pass that might be good places to put up posters?  Effect and feedback Effect is the change in receiver’s knowledge, attitude and practice or behavior. Feedback is the mechanism of assessing what has happened on the receiver after communication has occurred.  Communication stages In health education and health promotion we communicate for a special purpose – to promote improvements in health through the modification of the human, social and political factors that influence behaviors. A successful communication must past through several stages: Stage 1: Reaching the intended audience Communication cannot be effective unless it is seen or heard by its intended audience. A common cause of failure is preaching to the converted. E.g. Posters placed at the health post or talks given at the antenatal clinics. These only reach the people who attend the services and are already motivated. Communications should be directed where people are going to see them or hear them. This requires studying your intended audience to find out where they might see posters, what their listening and reading habits are. Stage 2: Attracting the audience’s attention Any communication must attract attention so that people will make the effort to listen/read it. At any one time we receive a wide range of information from each of our five senses – touch, smell, vision, hearing and taste. It is impossible to concentrate on all these at the same time. Attention is the process by which a person selects part of this complex mixture to focus on (i.e. to pay attention to) while ignoring others for the time being.  Examples of communication failures at this stage are: Walking past the poster without bothering to look at it, Not paying attention to the health talk or demonstration at the clinic, Turning off the radio program or switching over.  Factors that make communications attract attention Physical characteristics Motivational characteristics Size e.g. size of the whole poster Novelty - an unusual Intensity – bold reading in a sentence features, unfamiliar and High pitched sounds e.g. police surprising objects sirens Interest - felt needs of Color-primary colors such as red audience and yellow Entertainment and humor Pictures-photographs and drawing  Stage 3: Understanding the message (perception) Once a person pays attention he/she then tries to understand it. It is a highly subjective process i.e. two people may hear the same radio programme and interpret the message quite differently from each other and from the meaning intended by the sender. Misunderstandings can easily take place when complex language, unfamiliar technical words are used and when too much information is presented. Stage 4: Promoting change (acceptance) A communication should not only be received and understood; it should be believed and accepted. It is easier to change beliefs when they have been acquired only recently and when its effects can be easily demonstrated.  Stage 5: Producing a change in behavior A communication may result in a change in beliefs and attitudes but still may not influence behavior. This can happen when the communication has not been targeted at the belief that has the most influence on the person’s attitude to the behavior, pressure from other people in the family or community and lack of enabling factors.  Stage 6: Improvement in health Improvements in health will only take place if the behaviors have been carefully selected so that they really do influence health. If your messages are based on outdated and incorrect ideas, people could follow your advice but their health would not improve – need accurate advice. Common communication approaches Informing - The new idea is introduced and made familiar to the target audience. Educating - The new idea is explained including its strengths and weaknesses. Persuading- The audience is given convincing argument that motivates them to take an action or accept a new idea. Entertaining - The attention of the audience is drawn to the new idea by stimulating the audience’s emotions  Methods of Communication 1.Intra-Personal communication It takes place inside a person. It includes the beliefs, feelings, thoughts and justification we make for our actions. E.g. a person may look at an object and develop a certain understanding. However, this could be affected by a number of factors including previous experience, language, culture, personal needs, etc. Interpersonal Communication It means interaction between two or more people who are together at the same time and place. E.g. between health extension worker and community member, a teacher and students in a class. The decisive criterion for personal communication is that communication happens at the same time and place. Advantages Two way communication The communication could utilize multi-channels (both verbal and non verbal) i.e. far more channels are involved than is possible in mass communication. Useful when the topic is a taboo or sensitive. Limitations Requires language ability of the source. Requires personal status. Needs professional knowledge and preparation. Mass communication It is a means of transmitting messages to a large audience that usually reaches a large segment of the population. It uses mass media. Mass media includes broadcast media (radio and television) as well as print media (newspapers, books, leaflets and posters) Advantage Limitation Reach many people quickly One sided (linear) They are believable Doesn’t differentiate the specially when the source is target a credible one  Differences between Interpersonal Communication and Mass communication Mass communication Interpersonal Communication 1. Reaches many people at the same 1. Face-to-face in each other’s presence time 2. Reaches unseen audience 2. See each other 3. Limited opportunity for interaction 3. Good opportunity for interaction 4. One-way communication 4. Two-way communication 5. More effective in creating awareness 5. More effective in assessing the attitude and behaviour 6. Feedback is delayed 6. Feedback is immediate  Barriers to Effective Communication Barriers (obstacles) can inhibit communication, resulting in misunderstanding, lack of response or motivation and distortion of the message. This can lead to conflicting of views, insecurity and the inability to make effective decisions. Barriers can also prevent the achievement of project or program goals if we are not aware of them or not prepared for them. Common barriers to effective communication includes ▪ Competition for attention (noise) ▪ Language difference and vocabulary use ▪ Age difference ▪ Attitudes and Beliefs  Competition for attention (noise) Noise is a major distraction during communication. It could be: ▪ Physical noise – avoidable ▪ Internal noise - any physiological or psychological state that could undermine a person’s ability to communicate effectively such as being ill or beset by personal problems. We may or may not be able to do anything to help in this kind of situation. Language difference and vocabulary use This includes whether there is language difference, vocabulary use, different meaning of the same word or sentence.  Age difference Age difference between the sender and receiver is a barrier to effective communication. For example, if the sender is young, inexperienced and not knowledgeable the audience may not give proper attention resulting in a communication barrier.  Attitudes and Beliefs The community may be misguided by expectation on the role of health workers. They either think that health workers are supposed to do every thing for them or that they know too much or do not require services Cultural beliefs of a people influence the rate at which they accept and adopt new ideas and skills. E.g. taboo. For this reason it is necessary for the health extension workers to be aware of the attitudes and beliefs of the communities they are working with. How to overcome barriers of communication The sender must know his/her Interests/problems/needs audience’s: Language Background The messages must be: Age and sex Timely Social status Meaningful/relevant Education Applicable to the situation Job/work  The audience must remove their own barriers. Members of the audience could be: ▪ The non-listener type – who refuse to listen. ▪ The know-it-all type – who thinks he/she knows the answer to everything. ▪ The impatient type – who is reluctant to sit and jumps to conclusion. ▪ The negative personality – who enjoys saying ‘no’ to everyone.  Even if all the barriers have been removed, communication could still be a failure without good presentation. Good presentation requires complete understanding of the subject establishing good relationship with the audience, choosing the right channels or media, proper utilization of the chosen media and using the multimedia approach. Characteristics of effective communication All barriers have been removed. The proper media has been chosen. A good presentation has been made. Two – way communication has been established.  END OF PRESENTATION