Communication for Health Education_18072024.pptx

Effective communication can have a positive impact on the patient-provider dynamic in numerous ways. It can allow patients to be better educated about their own health, which could enable them to embrace proactive health and wellness strategies.

1. Communication for Health Education Dr. Shubha DB Community Medicine JJMMC

2. Contents Contents of HE Principles of HE

3. Contents of Health Education The scope of health education extends beyond the conventional health sector. It covers every aspect of family and community health. Since health education has a limited impact when directed from general education, most of the needed information must be integrated into the educational system (by way of books, class-room material, etc.) and must have the young population as the principal target.

4. Contents of HE Human biology Nutrition Hygiene Family health Disease prevention and control Mental health Prevention of accidents Use of health services

5. 1. Human biology Structure and functions of the body Physical fitness - adequate exercise, sleep, rest Healthy life-styles - Effects of alcohol, smoking Reproductive biology Best place for teaching human biology is school Sequential health curriculum. In-depth learning experiences

6. 2. Nutrition Guide people for optimum and balanced diets Promote good dietary habits More calories does not mean good health Nutritional problems such as ignorance about the value of breast feeding beyond the first year of life, misconceptions about proper weaning, ignorance of the appropriateness of certain diets for infants and pregnant women, traditional food allocation pattern within the families, etc. can be best solved by nutrition education. In recent years, the link between dietary habits and chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes and cardio-vascular diseases has been established.

7. 3. Hygiene Personal and Environmental. Personal hygiene - to promote standards of personal cleanliness Environmental hygiene has two aspects - domestic and community Domestic hygiene : home, use of soap, need for fresh air, light and ventilation; hygienic storage of foods; hygienic disposal of wastes, need to avoid pests, rats, mice and insects. Community hygiene : emphasis is on the improvement of basic sanitary services consisting of water supply, disposal of human excreta, other solid and liquid wastes, vector control, food sanitation and housing which are fundamental to health. In many areas, poor sanitary practices among the people have their roots in centuries - old customs, styles of living and habits. These are not easily altered

8. 4. Family health The family is the first defense, as well as the chief reliance for the well-being of its members. Health largely depends on the family's social and physical environment and its lifestyle and behavior. The role of the family in health promotion and in prevention of disease, early diagnosis and care of the sick is of crucial importance. One of the main tasks of health education is to promote the family's self-reliance, especially regarding the family's responsibilities in childbearing, child rearing, self-care and in influencing their children adopt a healthy lifestyle.

9. 5. Disease prevention and control Drugs alone will not solve health problems without health education, a person may fall sick again and again from the same disease. The experiences of western countries have shown the role of education in the eradication of cholera, typhoid, malaria and tuberculosis etc. Education of the people about the prevention and control of locally endemic diseases is the first of eight essential elements in primary health care.

10. 6. Mental health Mental health problems occur everywhere. There is a tendency to an increase in the prevalence of mental diseases when there is a change in the society from an agricultural to an industrial economy, and when people move from the warm intimacy of a village community to the isolation found in big cities. The aim of education in mental health is to help people to keep mentally healthy and to prevent a mental breakdown.

11. 6. Mental health There are certain special situations when mental health is of great importance Mother after child birth Child at entry into school for the first time School child entering the secondary school Decision about a future career Starting a new family At the time of widowhood These are critical periods of life when external pressure tends to breakdown mental health.

12. 7. Prevention of accidents Accidents occur in three main areas: the home, road and the place of work. Safety education should be directed to these areas. Management must provide a safe environment and promote general order and cleanliness. There should be a place for everything. and everything should be in its place in the factory, in the home, and in the office. The predominant factor in accidents is carelessness and the problem can be tackled through health education.

13. 8. Use of health services Many people particularly in rural areas do not know what health services are available in their community, and many more do not know what signs to look for that indicate a visit to the doctor is necessary. One of the declared aims of health education is to inform the people about the health services that are available in the community and how they can utilize them (e.g., screening programmes, immunization, family planning services etc.) and use the health care resources.

14. Principles of Health Education

15. Principles of health education Credibility Interest Participation Motivation Comprehension Reinforcement Learning by doing Known to unknown Setting an example Good human relation Feedback Leaders

16. Credibility : It is the degree to which the message to be communicated is perceived as trustworthy by the receiver. Good health education should be consistent and compatible with scientific knowledge and also with local culture, education system and social goals.

17. Motivation : defined at its simplest, involves inducing individuals to behave in desired and predetermined patterns. Types, endogenous exogenous motivation is contagious.

18. Interest : health teaching should relate to the interests of the people. ‘FELT NEEDS’ i.e. needs the people feel about themselves. People gladly participate in such programmes. EXAMPLE: HIV Counseling Antenatal & postnatal care by the mother

19. Participation : the aim is to encourage the people to work actively in identifying their problems, developing solutions and plans to work on them. A high degree of participation tends to create a sense of involvement, personal acceptance and decision making.

20. Reinforcement : repetition at intervals is necessary as there is every possibility of an individual going back to the pre awareness stage. People are more likely to remember when message is repeated in different ways. SMOKING IS INJURIOUS TO HEALTH

21. Comprehension : communicating with people in their own language and with in their mental capacity is always helpful.

22. Known to unknown : this is an important rule of education. In this the people knowledge is built up by giving them more information. This develops in them a new, enlarged understanding, to have an insight into the problem Atherosclerosis Obesity Hypertension Coronary Artery Disease

23. Learning by doing : a Chinese proverb quotes ‘ if I hear I forget, if I see I remember, if I do I know’ Bloom's taxonomy hierarchical models used to classify educational learning

24. Setting an example : The health educator should set a good example in the things he is teaching. The health educator should not have the habit of smoking when propagating about the ill effects of smoking.

25. Good human relations : As sharing of information, ideas and feelings happens most easily between people who have a good relationship, it helps, in propagating health education.

26. LEADERS : In work of health education, we try to penetrate the community through the local leaders – the village headman, school teachers or political workers who can reach the public more easily.

27. Thank You