U nit 9: Health Education and

Health Communication
 OBJECTIVES
At the end of this unit ,the student should be able to:-
 Define the important concepts in health education
 Describe the process of health education and health
communication
 Discuss the factors that promote or prevent effective
health education and health communication
 Introduction
 Health education is any combination of learning
experiences designed to help individuals and
communities improve their health, by increasing their
knowledge or influencing their attitudes.(WHO)
 Health communication is the study and practice of
disseminating health promotion information
What is health?
 Health is a state of complete physical ,mental and
social well-being and not merely the absence of
disease or infirmity (WHO)
Importance of Health communication

 Communication is at the heart of who we are as a

people
 It is a way of exchanging information
 It signifies our capability
 Plays a role in acquiring knowledge and information
exchange
 Promotes change behaviour
 Dynamic process in which sources and receivers of
information continuously interchange roles
 Who provides health education?

 People specialised in health education trained or

certified/ have adequate knowledge on a specific health
topic
 People who perform health education as a primary
responsibility(nurses, social workers, parents,teachers)
 Lay workers learn on the job to do specific ,limited
educational tasks to encourage healthy behaviour
(expert patients, CHW,HEW)
 In schools life skills teachers take the role of
educating students and promoting good health with
the assistance of school health programmes
Who provides health education? Cont..

 In companies wellness officers perform and coordinate

employees wellness programmes and health screening
 Where to give health education?
 Everywhere, home, school, church, shops, community
gatherings, meeting
 Why give health education?

 To promote health
 To maintain health
 To prevent illness
 To cope with illness
 To restitute/restore lost aspects of health
 Characteristics of a good educator

 Rounded approach to teaching

 Knowledge /clinical competence- know the subject matter
and is eager to share what they know
 Consistency
 Patient -should be willing to repeat
 Good communicator
 Barriers to effective Health education

 Failure to the planning and communication processes,

 problems in the organization of health education, and
inadequate program evaluation.
 Common errors in the planning stage include the
selection of inappropriate behaviour for change
 Over emphasis on behavioural changes without
consideration of the need for socioeconomic reform
 failure to provide necessary resources and accessible
services
Barriers to effective Health education
 lack of community participation in the health
education planning process,
 Failure in the communication process can result from a
lack of a strategy to reach the poorest sectors of the
population,
 the use of health education materials that are not
culturally appropriate,
 emphasis on communication hardware rather than the
relationship between the health educator and the
community
 a general overreliance on the mass media
 use of formal teaching methods that are not as effective as
group meetings and role plays in producing change.
 The organization of health education programs has been
hindered by a lack in most countries of a clear government
commitment and national policy for health education.
 Barriers to effective Health education

 Programs are rarely coordinated, and the potential role of

agencies outside the health sector-schools, adult education,
community development and agriculture, and the mass
media is ignored. Too many people doing the same thing
 failure to carry out evaluative research and to learn from
experience compounds all of these problems.
 Barriers to effective Health education

 Attitudes-may prevent acceptance

 Values- community beliefs
 Insensitive to clients needs and not involving the audience
 Lifestyle of the educator /client
 Client’s health status-if ill
 Importance of giving health education
 Helps people to achieve health by their own actions and
efforts
 To empower the clients with skills and knowledge on health
issues
 Socialisation for future health roles
 Enable others to keep themselves healthy and free of
preventable diseases
 Improved client and family coping
 Importance of giving health education
 Diseases can be minimised if everyone is preventing
them to occur
 Create self-care attitudes among communities
 Adoption of healthier lifestyles
 Increased participation in continuing care for specific
conditions
Components of health education
 Components of a health education system
 Involvement and support of influential people and organisations-
e.g. NGO
 Policy and philosophy-sound government supporting health
education
 Resources- availability of materials
 System design
 Multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary teaching
Components of a health education system(2)

 Coordination- of the content and types of H/E

 Caregiver involvement
 Client involvement/channels of communication
 Ease of implementation
 Education phases
 Feedback and evaluation
 Types of Health education
 The body and how it works and how to look after it-health
promotion
 Provision of information and advice on human biology and
hygiene- prevention
 Education about policies ,service provision –curative and
rehabilitation
 System theory and Health education
 Systems approach offers a perspective for looking at
individuals and their environments as interacting wholes
with integrated sets of characteristics and relationships
 Offers a chance to organise and examine relationships
holistically
 Teaching and Learning process
 Health education be a systemic process
Assessment
 Identify the clients needs
 Personal bio data
 Client’s beliefs and expectations
 Establish point of reference for learning
 Stress factors
 Prior knowledge and experiences
 Physical and mental abilities
 Assessment cont..
 Cultural influences
 Language
 Economical readiness
 Emotional readiness
 Planning
 Depends on the results of the assessment you want to
address the gaps identified
 Objectives of the session
 Methods to be used –talk, role play/ drama
 Teaching aids
 Planning cont..
 Place
 Time (duration)
 Implementation
 Conduct health education session
 Pre-test knowledge ( questions/test/drama etc)
 Carry out your teaching activities
 Use teaching Aids/models
 Keep asking questions and let your audience
ask questions too
 Be sensitive on language use
 Observe acceptance
 Summarise your session
 Post test : ask questions based on your
objectives or in a form of a test
 Factors to consider when conducting health education

 Audience- is your message targeting the right people

 Time of health talk
 Language and choice of words
 Media to use as teaching aid
 Topics should be of interest to the audience
 Be sure to have self confidence
 Answer questions and if you do not know admit, promise to
come back with an answer
 Conclusion
 Health education is an integral part of health care and the
responsibility lies with everyone
 It requires one to be
 Knowledgeable
 Punctual
 Well prepared
 Sensitive to the audience’s needs
 Open minded and ready to learn
 References

 1.Dennil & Rendall-Mkosi 2017, Primary Health Care in

Southern Africa 3rd Ed ,Oxford press
 2. Clark M 2008, Community Health Nursing ,Pearson
Education