Planning, Implementation and Evaluation of Health Education Programs -HPSM Flashcards
From the previous discussions/sessions, we have gone through important points related to knowing how human behavior influences health, relevance of participation of beneficiaries in every steps of health education programs, communication channels and teaching methods and materials.
•We will continue with planning through to evaluation of health programmes
What is the planning process?
What is the planning process cycle
The planning Process
•Planning a health education programme is like planning a journey.
•In planning a journey, you know where you are and have to decide where to go.
•Then you must decide the best way of getting to your destination.
• If you do not arrive at the place you wanted to go, you realize that you are lost.
Cycle:
Define your objectives
Develop premises
Evaluate alternatives
Identify resources
Establish tasks
Determine tracking and evaluation methods
What are the steps in planning?
Information gathering
Defining and prioritizing problems
Setting goals and objectives
Identifying and obtaining resources
Selecting appropriate methods
Explain The community and its general physical characteristics as part of information gathering as a step in planning
- Information gathering
•A good way of finding out the present situation is to carry out a community profile or diagnosis.
•Following are some types of information, which may be helpful in understanding the community and its health problems.
1.1. The community and its general physical characteristics
•Efforts in health education must be based on a clear understanding of the community and its problems. These include:
•The size of the community
•The kind of crops, food, natural resources existing
•The transportation routes
•Localization of existing schools, religious institutions, market places, recreational facilities, health facilities and other public and private services.
Explain Information on the number of people and their characteristics as part of information gathering as a step in planning
1.2. Information on the number of people and their characteristics - may be from available records.
•Number of people who live in the area
•Their sex and age group
•Average size of a household
•Average number of pregnancies, children alive, and children died in the last one year.
•Literacy status of the adults
1.2. Community groups and their impact on the health care system
•Learn the existence of various social groups and the nature of relationships both within and between those groups. E.g. Ethnic class, religious groups etc.
Explain the communication network as part of information gathering as a step in planning
1.3. The communication network
•To reach the people in the community, it is necessary for you to know how information and rumors spread within the community.
•What the formal and informal channels are
•Who the participants in those channels are
•Who the communicators are and how effective they are
•Learn how various leaders communicate their ideas and opinions and note to what extent their messages are accepted.
Explain the family structure and political structure as part of information gathering as a step in planning
1.5. The family structure
•As we look about a society, we encounters good many differences in the ways in which families are organized.
•Families vary in their composition and in their descent, residence and authority patterns
•An understanding of the family structure, the status of various members of the family and who is involved in the decision-making process within the family on all major decisions as well as those related to health is valuable to work with community.
•Without this knowledge, you may direct your educational activities toward the wrong member of the family
1.6. The political structure in the community
• Explore the basis for leadership and power within the community.
Explain the economy and its impact on health as part of information gathering as a step in planning
1.7. The economy and its impact on health
•Know about businesses, industries, agricultural conditions, unemployment, family debts, and how the land is distributed.
•This information will increase your knowledge of what is important to the people and what resources are available to them.
Explain the religion and its impact on health as part of information gathering as a step in planning
1.8. Religion and its impact on health
•Religion may have a great influence on the lifestyle of the community including the health practices and beliefs of individuals. A mother may believe that her child is sick because it is GOD’S desire. It is important, therefore, to know:
•Who the major religious groups in the community, their leaders and their roles in the community life
•Whether there is any conflict between them
•The attitude of the government and the community towards religious affiliated programs.
Explain health beliefs and practices as part of information gathering as a step in planning
- Health beliefs and practices
•How people define good health and disease
•Some people may believe that prevention of illness is impossible, or very difficult
•Others may value only a particular method.
•What methods are used to help maintain their health?
•What are people’s attitudes towards such services as vaccinations, Family Planning, insecticide spray etc.
•What are local attitudes and practices regarding personal hygiene?
•Are there special beliefs concerning food? When child is ill, for pregnant ladies etc.
1.9. Health beliefs and practices 2
•Breast feeding and weaning practice for infants
•Where do most women give birth? Who assists in delivery?
•What methods are used to cut the umbilical cord?
•Are mothers confined in darkroom after delivery?
•Sources of water, excreta disposal, do they know that certain diseases may be contracted through human feces?
Explain defining and prioritizing of problems as a step in planning
- Defining and prioritizing problems
•The first requirement in bringing about change is to agree that there is a problem and that something should be done about it.
•Defining of specific health problems must involve the community members. Ask questions in an attempt to find out how they view the health situations. Start from the general and work down to the specific problems you have in mind.
•For example, if you found a very unsanitary environment in your survey of the community you might contact the leaders and proceed as follows:
•What needs to be done in this village to improve their life?
•What are the illnesses most common in this village? - Defining and prioritizing problems
•What is the extent of the problem? How bad is the situation?
•What do people die of? Which groups or individuals are most affected?
•Do they have diarrhea, febrile illnesses, or worms in this village?
•What causes these illnesses?
•Are there any latrines in the village? What do people use?
•Has any thought been given to building latrines?
•Why some people refuse to use them?
•Do people in the village plan together to get rid of these problems?
Explain setting goals and objectives as a step in planning
- Setting goals and Objectives
•For a program to succeed, we must know clearly what we want to do and how we are going to do it. After people have decided upon their priority needs, they must spell out exactly what they want, i.e. their objectives.
•An Objective is a statement of proposed change over a fixed time period. It should be measurable, relevant and possible to achieve. It has to describe:
•What you want to change?
•How much change you want?
•For whom or for what you want the change?
•When?
•By what time or date?
Explain the types of objectives in health education
1.Health Objectives
•If measles is a serious problem in a community, a primary health care program to solve the problem might have the following as its health objective.
• Fewer children will get measles
• Those who do get measles will recover quickly and suffer no disabilities
•No children will die from measles.
- Educational Objectives
•Since people’s behavior affects their health, there will be certain actions that people must carry out to solve their health problems. Such are educational objectives of a program.
•Some examples of educational objectives for a program against measles include:
•Mothers will bring their children for immunization
•Mothers whose children get measles will bring them quickly to the health worker for care.
•Children who get measles will be fed as well as possible to help them recover more quickly
Explain how to identify and obtain resources as a step in planning
- Identifying and Obtaining Resources
4.1. Resources inside the community
•It is best to find resources inside your community for two reasons: For one thing, it saves money. More importantly, people are proud to be able to help themselves, which in turn encourage people to try to solve more problems by their own efforts. Some of them include:
•Places to hold meetings, discussions, and trainings, such as schools, and halls
•Some people may be able to donate money to buy materials.
•Some have skills to contribute, e.g. carpenters, teachers, masons, artists, traditional healers, weavers and potters
•Many can provide labour.
•Some may support transport: bicycle, motor cycle or vehicle
4.2. Resources outside the community
•If resources within are not adequate one may seek from outside:
•Some agencies and ministries can donate funds
•People with special skills, such as finding under ground water for wells, may come from outside.
•Educational materials such as films and posters could be given from outside agencies.
Explain the local media as a health education resource
Health education Resources
Local Media
•One should be able to identify local and traditional means of communication such as proverbs, stories, and fables, which elders use to pass traditional values on to the young.
• Local leaders may use village criers or bell-ringers to announce upcoming events.
•Traditional songs or plays may communicate important ideas and values.
•Local artists, printers, and photographers can be involved in designing, and producing educational materials.
Outside sources
•These may include mass media such as newspapers and radio.
•Ministries of health and information could supply or loan films, posters, and vans with loudspeakers.
•A local school teacher who is a subscriber of newspaper can use to teach pupils and inform parents.
Explain selecting appropriate methods as a step. In planning
Selecting appropriate Methods
• How fast do people change?
• How many people are involved?
• Is the method appropriate to the local culture?
• What resources are available?
• What combined methods are needed?
• What methods fit the characteristics (age, sex, religion etc) of the target group?
5.1. How fast do people change?
•Some people are ready for change and are economically able to do the advice easily. For such people provision of information through posters, radio, songs, plays, stories or displays could suffice.
•Some are ready but influence from others could hinder. Direct contact with such people is the preferred method. E.g. convincing grandmother for immunization.
•For those who are economically unable, linking them with sectors that help them earn money is a remedy
5.2. How many people are involved?
•Providing good ideas quickly to a large number of people is a very helpful step in health education. It creates awareness of a problem or idea. But it may not be enough to change health behavior. Posters, lectures, display, plays, newspapers, radio, films and village criers are appropriate for large groups.
•Activities such as practicing new skills, discussing personal feelings, values and money matters, and sharing difficult experiences are best done person-to-person, or in small groups using story-telling, demonstrations, role-playing, case studies, discussions and educational games.
5.3. Is the method appropriate for the local culture?
•From the Previous sections, we know that culture is the way of life of people in a community.
•Culture will determine the educational methods that will be acceptable and understandable to people.
•Some methods may not be accepted in one culture while it may be effective in the others.
•For example Role-playing, photographs, or films may not be adaptive to illiterate community. In such communities we can use the most natural way of communication such as proverbs, village criers, plays, songs and so on.
•Practical demonstrations are good ways of teaching skills. For example, instead of just talking about hygiene, a health worker can show mothers how to bath their babies.
5.4. What resources are needed?
•Some methods require the use of machines:
•Tape recorders, films or slide projectors, which at the same time require electricity.
•Other methods require the use of teaching aids such as posters, flannel graphs, demonstrations, models, flip charts and the like.
5.5. What combined methods are needed?
•Story telling and asking the audience to role-play in which they act out the story for all to see.
•Lecture assisted with posters, films or demonstrations.
•Community meeting with displays or short play.
5.6. Which methods fit the group best?
•Health education could be designed for various groups of people:
•Old, young, women groups, children and so on. Select and adapt your methods to fit the type of people you meet.
•Fables using animals might be better for children than for adults.
•Lectures are more applied for educated. If the people belong to one religion, select proverbs from the scriptures on books of that religion.
