Chapter 4 Edna adan university healtheducation.pptx
- 3. Health Communication Objectives At the end of this chapter, the students will be able to: Define communication Discuss the components of communication Explore methods of communication Explain stages of communication Identify barriers to effective communication and how to overcome them
- 4. Introduction Communication is the fundamental of health education and promotion programs. In 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.
- 5. Cont.… It is by communication that an individual makes himself/herself to understood by others. This act requires an appropriate design so as transmit an effective message
- 7. What is 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.
- 8. Cont.. Communication facilitates creation of awareness, acceptance and action at individual, group. The process always involves a sender and a receiver regardless of the number of people concerned.
- 9. Why we need communication? To have dialogue with communities. Influence decision makers to adopt health promoting policies and laws. Communication helps us build relationships by allowing us to share our experiences, and needs, and helps us connect to others.
- 10. Cont.… To raise public awareness in order to mobilize community participation. To develop community action on health issues
- 11. 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 feed back from the receiver. It is commonly used in advertising; the message is designed to persuade the receiver to take action prescribed by the sender.
- 12. 1. One-way communication Cont. Fig.4.1. One way communication Sender message Channel Receiver
- 14. 2. 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.
- 15. 2. Two-way communication con’t Sender Message Channel Receiver Feedback
- 17. Components of communication 1) Source (sender) Originator of message Can be from an individual or groups, 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 reliability may come from:
- 18. Cont.. Personal qualities or actions e.g. a health worker who always comes out to help people . Qualification and training A person’s natural position in the family or community, e.g. village chief or elder. The level to which the source shares characteristics such as culture, education, experiences with the receiver.
- 19. Cont.… A person from a similar background to the community is more likely to share the same language, ideas and motivations and thus be a more effective communicator.
- 20. CONT.. • One of the main reasons for communication failure is when the source comes from a different background from the receiver and uses inappropriate message content. • This principle that people who share similar backgrounds communicate better with each other–has important effects for health education
- 21. Cont.. • It explains why health workers who are strangers to the local community are not always effective in their health education work. Because of this, the health extension package program emphasizes employment of health extension workers from the local community.
- 22. Cont.. 2) Message • It consists of what is actually communicated including the actual words, and pictures and sounds that you use to get the ideas across.
- 23. Cont.. A message will only be effective if the advice presented is relevant, appropriate, and acceptable and put across in an understandable way.
- 24. Cont.. 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
- 25. 3) Channel • A Channel is where 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.
- 26. 4) 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 demands might convince them?
- 27. Cont.. • 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?
- 28. 5) 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.
- 29. 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. To achieve these objectives, a successful communication must past through several stages:
- 30. Cont.. • SENDER RECEIVER Influences senses Gain attention Message understood Acceptance /change
- 31. Stage 1: Reaching the intended audience Communication cannot be effective unless it is seen or heard by its intended audience.
- 32. Cont.. • E.g. Posters placed at the health post or at the antenatal or clinics. These only reach the people who attend the services and are already motivated. • But the groups you are trying to reach may not attend clinics, nor have radios or newspapers.
- 33. Cont.. • 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
- 34. Stage 2: Attracting the audience’s attention • Any communication must attract attention so that people will make the effort to listen/read it. • At 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.
- 35. Cont.. • 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.
- 36. Factors that make communications attract attention 1. Physical characteristics • Size e.g. size of the whole poster • Intensity – bold reading in a sentence High pitched sounds e.g. police danger signal • Color-primary colors such as red and yellow • Pictures-photographs and drawing
- 37. Cont.. 2:- Motivational characteristics:- Innovation - an unusual features, unfamiliar and surprising objects Interest - felt needs of audience entertainment and humor.
- 38. Cont.. In general for successful communication, a health extension worker should: Consider the design of the poster, including color, size, lettering and use of pictures which increase the likelihood of gaining attention and being noticed.
- 39. Cont.… Deal with subjects that the target group wants to know something about i.e. which fit with their affected needs and interests. Stimulate interest by including something unusual in the communication. Explore ways of making educational works interesting and fun
- 40. 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.
- 41. Cont.. • Misunderstandings can easily take place when complex language, unfamiliar technical words are used and when too much information is presented.
- 42. 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
- 43. 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
- 44. 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 – We need accurate advice.
- 45. 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
- 46. Cont.. • Entertaining - The attention of the audience is drawn to the new idea by stimulating the audience’s emotions
- 47. Methods of Communication 1. Intra - Personal communication 2. Inter - Personal communication 3. Mass communication
- 48. Intra-Personal communication 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 expérience, language, culture, personale needs, etc.
- 49. Interpersonal Communication 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 interpersonal communication is that communication happens at the same time and place.
- 50. 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)
- 51. Cont.… Advantage: • Reach many people quickly • They are believable specially when the source is a credible one
- 52. Barriers to Effective Communication • A breakdown can occur at any point in the communication process. • Barriers (obstacles) can inhibit communication, resulting in misunderstanding, lack of response or motivation and misrepresentation 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
- 53. Common barriers to effective communication • Competition for attention (noise) • Language difference and vocabulary use • Age difference • Attitudes and Beliefs We cannot avoid or overcome all these barriers but we have to find ways of minimizing them
- 54. 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 be set by personal problems. We may or may not be able to do anything to help in this kind of situation.
- 55. Language difference and vocabulary use • This includes whether there is language difference, vocabulary use, different meaning of the same word or sentence.
- 56. Age difference • Age difference between the sender and receiver is a barrier to effective communication. For example, if the sender is young, in-experienced and not knowledgeable the audience may not give proper attention resulting in a communication barrier
- 57. Attitudes and Beliefs The community may be misguided by expectation on the role of health extension workers. They either think that health extension workers are supposed to do every thing for them, or that they know too much or do not require services,
- 58. Cont.. • Cultural beliefs of a people influence the rate at which they accept and adopt new ideas and skills.
- 59. Cont.. • In such circumstances it will be very difficult for a health worker to convince the mothers to feed their children on certain food despite their nutritional values. 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.
- 60. How to overcome barriers of communication The sender must know his/her audience’s: Background Age and sex Social status Education Job/work Interests/problems/needs Language
- 61. Cont.. The messages must be: Timely Meaningful/relevant Applicable to the situation
- 62. 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 then answer to everything. The annoyed type – who is reluctant to sit and jumps to conclusion. The negative personality – who enjoys saying ‘no’ to everyone.
- 63. Cont.. • 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
- 64. 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