What Is Health Communication? Flashcards
(18 cards)
What is health communication?
The study and use of communication strategies to inform and influence individual decisions that enhance health.
Health communication interventions can…
- create awareness
- educate
- change attitudes
- change behaviors/prompt action
- demonstrate healthy behaviors
- create support for a health initiative
- PREVENT BAD, PROMOTE GOOD, TREAT A PROBLEM
Health communication interventions cannot…
- be effective without environmental support, this includes social and economic support
- communicate complex messages
- make up for lack of healthcare access
Health communication should be…
- accessible
- relevant
- actionable
- timely
- credible
- understandable
Upstream interventions
PREVENTION
- Upstream interventions change social and economic structures that negatively affect people
- Makes policies that improve health of a whole population, enact policies at the top
- ex. make a tax policy on cigarettes = people are incentivized not to buy them
Midstream interventions
PROMOTE
- Promote healthy behaviors at the neighborhood, organizational, or groups level
- Local level change: workplaces, schools, neighborhoods
Downstream interventions
TREATMENT
- Assist people in need and connect people to health resources
- Addresses immediate needs
Intervention example
Using all 3 interventions set you up for success.
ex. TOBACCO CONTROL
Upstream: state laws that ban smoking in public spaces
Midstream: private workplaces that ban smoking
Downstream: ads that discourage smoking and connect them to anti-smoking help
The health communication environment
Any health intervention exists with the buy-in of important communities and groups.
- political and social environment affects everything
- buy-in affects the effectiveness of the health intervention
Health communication strategies: mass media health campaigns
- Attempts to inform/influence behavior in large audiences
- Mediated messages in multiple channels
- Show noncommercial benefits to the people
Health communication strategies: entertainment education
- Health-promoting messages embedded in storylines/entertainment/news programs
Health communication strategies: media advocacy
Working with media like journalists, documentary filmmakers:
- inform the public
- show how things can affect everyone
- encourage community participation in solutions to a problem
- create support for solutions to a problem
Health communication strategies: interactive health communication
Using comm technology to inform, encourage healthy behaviors, and connect ppl to health resources
e.x. fitness apps, headspace
Health communication strategies: interpersonal communication
Encouraging talk about health issues between people.
Interventions include:
- help improve doctor-patient comm
- stimulate conversation about a health issue
- more effective than talking w professionals
e.x. talk to your kids about vaping
Barriers to effective health communication: low health literacy
The extent that someone has the capacity to obtain, communication, process and understand basic health info and services to make health decisions. This includes
- reading skills
- understanding of risk/probability
- knowledge of the healthcare system
- knowing medical terms
Barriers to effective health communication: limited or unreliable internet access
- Those in rural areas/cannot afford a phone are left out of health discourse
Barriers to effective health communication: fake news
There’s low quality and false health info online
e.x. vaccine misinfo
Barriers to effective health communication: healthcare worker comm
Many healthcare workers don’t know how to communicate with patients and vice versa
- basic comm and cultural competency
