HEALTH COMMUNICATION

Health communication is process by which people became aware about health issue. This health related massages people will get from experts. To make a successful a communication program it must be based on the desire of the audience. Clear communication is essential to successful public health practice at every level of the ecological model; intrapersonal, interpersonal, group, organizational. To help with planning and developing a health communication program, National Cancer instute have divided the process into four stages:

1. Planning and Strategy Development;

2. Developing and Pretesting Concepts, Messages, and Materials;

3. Implementing the Program; and

4. Assessing Effectiveness and Making Refinements.

(Source-www.cancer.gov)

The stages constitute a circular process in which the last stage feeds back into the first as it work through a continuous loop of planning, implementation, and improvement.

Behavior Change Communication (BCC):

BCCis a process of working with individuals, communities and societies to:

- develop communication strategies to promote positive behaviors;

AND

- Provide a supportive environment which will help people to get positive behaviors.

Different target groups will require different approaches. Therefore, when making decisions about which target groups and which factors to address, it is necessary to consider:
 which target groups are most vulnerable;

 which risk / vulnerability factors are most important;

 which factors may be related to the impact of conflict and displacement;

 which target groups and risk / vulnerability factors the community wants to address;

 what could be motivators for behavior change;

 what could be barriers to behavior change;

 what type of messages will be meaningful to each target group;

 which communication media would best reach the target group;

 which services/resources are accessible to the target group;

 which target groups and risk / vulnerability factors are feasible in terms of expertise, resources and time.

Source - Control of Sexually Transmitted Diseases. Chapter 4: An approach to effective communication.)

A recent analysis by UNHCR of behavioral studies in a number of refugee camps found that the methodology often needed improvement.
“…Research and proper planning form the foundation of an effective communication campaign. Knowing the needs of the population and the best means of reaching that audience are crucial in achieving the goal of raising awareness and, ultimately, changing attitudes and behaviors…The key is to determine the needs and desires of the audience, then deliver messages and products that offer real benefits. Many social change campaigns fail because the message is not meaningful or relevant and consequently not motivating to members of the target audience…” (Source - Control of Sexually Transmitted Diseases. Chapter 4: An approach to effective communication.)

PORTRAIT of WOMEN in BANGLADESHI MEDIA

Women of Bangladesh are running forward with enthusiasm and eagerness. Basically in media, where few years back only a small number of women work now the area is changed drastically. It’s encouraging that females are coming ahead. But the question is; are they playing the role of policy maker? Is it the picture of whole Bangladesh? And the answer will without any doubt ‘NO’. Still all the big post is grabbed by male because a common picture of thinking is are women able to play the key role, whereas they are doing very good job. Outside of Dhaka only few newspaper and other media office has few female journalist where they are not able to do the job. The attitude of the guardian are also affected their children to chose it as a profession. In electronic media women’s are portrait as a only a product for an example in the promotion program of ‘Bablu tooth pest’ in NTV, it was hard to notify which one is the commodity the female models or the tooth pest.

SOCIAL MARKETING:

Social marketing is the systematic application of marketing, along with other concepts and techniques, to achieve specific behavioral goals for a social good. Social marketing can be applied to promote merit goods, or to make a society avoid demerit goods and thus to promote society's well being as a whole (source-Wikipedia). For example, this may include asking people not to smoke in public areas, asking them to use seat belts, or prompting to make them follow speed limits.So Social marketing implies the technique of marketing to sell their social commodities among the community people to make awareness against any harmful activities. And their aim is to change the behavior according to their product.
4ps of social marketing:

Here let’s imagine a society where we work as ‘B’ organization. And our goal is to bring change the behavior towards smoking. And it’s obviously a trail version-

Place: Any city of Bangladesh.

Product: Anti-smoking chocolate.

Price: Free for trail version.

Promotion: The procedure will be made aware of the product and its availability as well as the evil effect of smoking and thus the awareness will make the society members be going to accept the product..

Entertainment education:

Entertainment education is the process to make people conscious about a specific issue. And it is known as the most effective and easiest way to provoke people about the concerning matter. To promote entertainment education both media advocacy and social marketing can be used as a tool to informed people the information. There are several examples of entertainment education in our country, they are- Sisimpur, Best shot.
Sisimpur:

it is a puppet show for children education. It is on air in every Friday in the morning. Producers set the goal as to teach different manners, how to build playing stuffs, education related gossip including many information to educate our children.
Best shot:

it is a movie related program on RTV. The team work for educate people as well as to create interest among the people about compact cinema. They show different best clips with film aesthetics and film language to make people aware about cinema.

MEDIA ADVOCACY

Media advocacy refers to the policy change alliance with mass media. In addition, the change is related to community development focusing issues on health, social, environment, education sector etc. Media advocacy are not work for individual change; it is working for the change of social environment.

ELEMENTS OF MEDIA ADVOCACY

• Object’s goal to create awareness

• Target audience

• An existing massage for mass people

• Looking for opinion leaders, famous personalities, religion leaders etc who can create pressure on law maker

• Alliance with mass media

Issue:

• Many young people are drag addicted.

• Policy maker:

• The government

• Strict law for drag dealers as well as for the addicts

• Looking for a person or group of people for an example rich, dominant class of the society who have the power to motivate the lawmaker

Policy key:

• To control the fair the law should be implementing strongly. Make barriers or arrested the drag dealers and addicts on the spot can be an effective solution. In this case, DMP (DHAKA METRO POLITAN POLICE) can apply this policy firmly. A formal proposal can be send to the police commission to finalize. To persuade the people mass media can play a crucial role. To expose the problem mass media can be an effective support. Involving mass media the people will acknowledge about the government policy. The police will be more conscious about their work.

Implication of adoption or not adoption the policy:

• Involving the police we have to notice whether the law is maintaining strictly or not. The addicts as well as the dealers are obeying the policy or they are trying to convince the police to help them. In this case, govt. should have a law for police also.

Recognized the issue:

• Through the mass media, people will get to know about the law. If the mass audience knows the fact, they will become conscious about drags. The common people will be benefited, if the police maintain the law.

Policy consensus:

• The mass people will come forward to observe the law. The law is made for their own betterment. They will consensus with the action of the police.

Message source:

• The mass media will be television, newspaper, radio, hanging leaflet inside the vehicle.

Effective mass media:

• Most people love to watch Television. It also broadcast news event. To convey the policy message the mass media should scroll the news repeatedly on air. They can also have an aggressive social message. Through televisions, the problem can expose visibly. Hanging leaflet inside the vehicle can be successful medium.
• Proper plan and direction can be a successful project. Media advocacy works for the community. The plan and preparation has to be sketched before implementing. For a successful change in the society and to win the attraction of the audience media advocacy plan and preparation should be followed systematically.

Sunsmart Victoria: Skin cancer

In 1980, Cancer Council Victoria launched the Slip! Slop! Slap! campaign. It featured a singing, dancing Sid Seagull encouraging people to reduce sun exposure. This successful program was funded by public donations.

By 1988, SunSmart, a broader, multi-faceted skin cancer control program, had been introduced with support from the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (VicHealth) and Cancer Council Victoria.

Today the sun protection message has expanded to Slip! Slop! Slap! Seek! Slide! We seek to influence individual sun protection behaviours, those with responsibilities for protecting others and broader environmental change. SunSmart has also taken a leadership role by promoting a balance between the risks of skin cancer from too much sun exposure and maintaining adequate vitamin D levels.


Research


SunSmart is an evidence-based health promotion program. The results of research are used to guide program development and activities are regularly evaluated.
Researchers at the Cancer Council Victoria's Centre for Behavioural Research in Cancer contribute to the evidence base by studying behaviours and what encourages people to be sun smart.

Future directions
SunSmart aims to continue building for past successes. A strong research base provides clear direction for interventions that most effectively reduce skin cancer among Australians.

In coming years their future direction:
1.lobbying for increased funding for public education campaigns, especially television advertising

2.investing in initiatives for adolescents and young adults given their low compliance with sun protective measures and higher sunburn incidence on summer weekends

3.focusing on settings and activities where people mostly get burnt, including sport, water/beach-related activities and active and passive recreation

4.improving environmental protection strategies, such as shade audits, options for built and natural shade and promoting the SunSmart UV Alert

5.ensuring a tailored response with sections of the community more likely to be at risk of vitamin D deficiency

6.continuing to deliver core activities such as working with schools, early childhood services,

Media campaign

From the early days of raising awareness and providing sun protection advice, media messages have evolved to meet public demand for harder hitting campaigns.

1.Clare Oliver's No tan is worth dying for campaign (2008) [mpg 3M]
2.Go to the Protect yourself in 5 ways national campaign (2007-08)
3.Tattoo campaign: Skin cancer its killer body art (2004/05) [wmv 1.18M]
4.Timebomb campaign: Every time you get sunburnt you are putting a time bomb under
5.your skin – time bombs that can turn into skin cancers (2000/01) [wmv 1.23M]
6.How to remove a skin cancer campaign (1996–98) [wmv 1.53M]
7.Leave your hat on campaign for a look at sun protection in the nineties (1991–93) [wmv 1.49M]
Slip! Slop! Slap! Sid Seagull campaign (1980s) [wmv 2.1M]

Achievements

Twenty years of commitment and partnerships with government, commercial and community agencies has seen changes in social norms and health including:

1.decreased rates of melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer in young people
2.Victoria becoming the national leader in solarium legislation across Australia
increased use of hats and sunscreens, reductions in sunburn and a decrease in people's desire for a tan.

Focusing on awareness, education and structural and environmental approaches to sun protection.

Over the next 20 years, is predicted to:
1.prevent 1,900 premature deaths
2.reduce the number of cases of melanoma by 20,000
3.reduce non-melanoma skin cancer by 49,000.

SunSmart is not only about sun protection. It's an investment in prevention that brings health and economic benefits to Victoria.


Reference: ="http://www.sunsmart.com.au

The new
P-Process: Steps in Strategic Communication
It requires a clearly defined strategy with specific goals established in advanced. The P-Process is a framework especially designed to guide communication professional as they develop strategic communication programs. This step by step road maps leads communication professionals from a loosely defined concept about changing behavior to a strategic and participatory program with a measurable impact on the intended audience. Used successfully around the world to design health program science 1982, the original P-Process has now been revised to reflect better both the goals of HCP and the overall evolution in the field of strategic communication in the past decade.


Steps in Strategic Communication:
Step 1 Analysis
Step 2 Strategic design
Step 3 Developments & Testing
Step 4 Implementation & Monitoring
Step 5 Evaluations & Replanning



Step 1

Analysis:

Analysis is the first step in developing effective communication programs, but this step does not need to be long and detailed if the program is built upon well documented past experience. Program staffs need to understand the problem, the people, their culture, existing policies and programs, active organizations and available communication channels.

Situation Analysis:

Conduct a situation analysis resulting in a dept description of the major health and development problems being addressed.

Determine severity and cause of problems:

Review existing health and demographic data, survey results, study findings and any other information available on the problem.

Identity factors inhibiting or facilitating desired changes:

Consider the basic social, cultural and economic challenges facing the people the program would like to reach.

Develop a problem statement:

Develop a clear statement that sums up the problems to be addressed.

Carry out formative research:
Listen to understand the audience need and priorities. Conduct baseline research, both quantitative and qualitative to establish the current status and accurately measure the programs and final impact.

Audience/Communication Analysis:

From the overall situation analysis carry out a detailed audiences and communication analysis.

Step: 2

Strategy design:

Establish communication objectives:

Select key audience segment and quantity the changes in the knowledge, attitudes , skills, behaviors, policies, or process changes expected within a specific time.

Develop program approaches & positioning:

Select a behavior change model upon which to base the program.

Determine Channels:

Consider a co- ordinate, multimedia approach for a synergistic impact. Achieve scale by including mass media tied to community mobilization and interpersonal communication.
Draw up an implementation plan:

Develop a work schedule with regular benchmark to monitor progress.

Develop a monitoring and evaluation plan:

Identify indicators and data sources to monitor program implementation as well as audience creation to it.

Step: 3

Development and Testing:

Developing concepts, materials, stores messages and participatory process combines science and arts. It must be creative to evoke innovation that motives audiences.

Develop:
Involve key stakeholders managers, field workers and members of the audience in design workshops to ensure that end products meet their need.

Test;

Follow concepts with testing in dept, pretesting of materials messages, processes with primary, secondary and tertiary test.
Revise:

Make changes based on pretest result for messages, stories which are not understood, not remembered or not society acceptable.

Retest:
Retest materials to ensure revisions are done well and make final adjustment before replication, printing or production.

Step: 4

Implementation and Monitoring:

Implementation emphasizes maximum participation, flexibility and training. Monitoring involves tracking outputs to be sure that all activities take place as planned and potential problems are promptly addressed.

Produce and disseminate:

Develop and implementation a dissemination plan that may include local government NGO’s, the private sector and the media for maximum coverage.

Train trainers and field workers:

Plan for training at all levels. Begin with training of trainers. Provide continuing opportunities for more training.
Mobilize key participants:

Share information, results and credits with partners, allies and communities.

Manage and monitor program:

Check program outputs to ensure quality and consistency while maximum participation.

Adjust program based on monitoring:

Use data from monitoring to make mid-course corrections or adjustments in activities, materials and procedures and to fine-tune program components.

Step: 5

Evaluation & Replanning:

Evaluation measures how well a program achieves its objectives. It can explain why a program is effective, including the effects of different activities on different audience. Sound program evaluation stimulates program improvements and redesign, guides cost-effective future funding allocation and support advocacy. Steps of Evaluation and Replanning are given below:

Measure outcomes and assess impact
Disseminate results
Determine future needs
Redesign program

This paper examines and compares the perceptions of two indigenous cohorts of people in Nepal and Australia. It is revealed that none of the focus group participants in either in Nepal or central Australia had any full participatory experiences. For this reason group discussion is the most appropriate way to involve them in health development program.

In Nepal, the vitamin A program was implemented in their communities and in Australia Aboriginal communities carried out Nutrition program under the governmental health program. Contrasts between these two projects are as follows-

Village of Nepal

10 to 15 people (both male and female, age 20-50) are participated.
Two research assistant were employed to help the author and carry out the discussion.
English language creates problems to communicate.
Group discussion took place either in a public meeting area or under the big tree.
They implemented Vitamin A program

Aboriginal community of Australia

Only males are participated
A local Aboriginal nutrition worker facilitated the author.
Language was not creating any problems.
Project discussion took place on the local sandy creek side or in the women’s centre.
They implemented Nutrition program


Focus On Group Project:

Communities carried out Nutrition program under the governmental health program. And the feedback or the views of the participants are as follows

1. The Vitamin A protects in Nepal had had only a partial precipitation because of lack of communication with the villagers. Many people did not get any benefit from the Vitamin A distribution project. This project was handed over to female volunteers and they did not pass it on to the villagers.
On the other hand Aboriginal participants in Australia also reported that they did not get the information of delivery process, diabetics, and heart-related diseases.
In both societies they need information and communication as well as assistance such as tablets, injections and other services.
2. Health service program creates some confusion like- Aboriginal participants was get similar pill of dilutes from local clinic. They also admitted that they didn’t get any help from government for a vegetable garden project. In central Australia a big problem for health is Aboriginal people wants separate clinic for both male and female.
In Nepal, before the project start people thought that the government will provide money to the poor children. At the end of the project instead of giving money health workers just informed them about the date and the Vitamin A. That means they were totally miss informed.
3. The villagers of Nepal preferred two ways interactions in order to induce their participation in a health program. So, Nutritional development and objectives, a project should always have an interaction with the village people. A very similar view was expressed by many of the Aboriginal participations of the group of discussions.
For like an example: One of the Aboriginal participations strongly believed that there should the two ways dialogue.
Above all, both Nepalese and Central Australia Aboriginal participants preferred ‘group discussion’ as the best way of achieving participatory communication which is as Cohen believes can operate as ‘a forum to get people involved to help create awareness of issues and to subsequently find a consensus on solutions’.
It may also gradually build up confidence in people to directly control affairs affecting their lives, for instance, building up confidence among Aboriginal people in controlling the local community stores without help of an outsider.

Communication

WHAT is COMMUNICATION?

Communication has different face or image like mass communication, health communication also included are international communication speech communication, intercultural communication, communication education, applied communication, organizational communication, political communication, this list could be more expanded even farther to include journalism, media production, information and communication technologies, public relations, corporate communication, and development communication, indicating the diversified and multifaceted nature of communication.

Dictionaries, websites, and other sources confirm the richness but they can causes misconception about the term “communication”. As noted by Mattelart, this is not a recent development: in 1973 Denis Dadirot was already written in encyclopedia, “communication: a term with a great number of meanings”. This kind of diversity is not sign of weakness it’s considered as strength.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF COMMUNICATION:

Lack of clarity and confusion, that many develop managers think the main challenge for development communication because they often failed to differentiate among the various areas of mass communication. The practical differences are often significant and are rooted not only in the rational, functions’ and applications of the different fields, but also in the theories behind those applications and the methods being used.

The four basic types of communication frequently encountered in the development context. Although some functions may be overlap to a degree, the different type of communication and the way they are used require different bodies of knowledge. Each type of communication are listed as follows

Common types of communication in development communication:

1. Corporate Communication:

Definition: Communication the mission and activities of the organization mostly for external audiences.

Main functions: Use media outputs products to promote the mission and values of the institution, inform selected audiences about relevant activities.

2. Internal Communication:

Definition: Facilitate the flow of information within an institution project. Sometimes this area can be included in corporate communication.

Main functions: Ensure timely and effective sharing of relevant information within the staff and institution units. It enhances synergies and avoids duplication.

3. Advocacy Communication:

Definition: Influence change of the public or policy level and promote issues related of development.

Main functions: Raise awareness on hot development issues, use communication methods and media to influence specific audiences and support the intended change.

4. Development Communication:

Support sustainable change in development operations by engaging key stakeholders.

Main functions: Establish conclusion environments for assessing analysis and opportunities disseminate information, induce behavior and social change.

A brief history of Development Communication:

If we want to build a better understanding in the field if development communication then we have to be enlighten about different purpose and functions of various types of communication. This will also help us to build an effective way of quality standards.

The Dominant Paradigm: Modernization

The old paradigm rooted in the concepts of development as modernization. After 2nd World war it has been called the dominant paradigm because of its pervasive impact on most aspects of development . The central idea of this old paradigm was to solve development problems by modernizing underdeveloped countries.

The Opposing Paradigm: Dependency

An alternative theoretical model was emerged in 1960, the dependency theory. Some of the core assumption of dominant paradigm was criticized because it implicitly put the responsibility, and the blame; neglecting external, social, historical, and economic factors. It also accused dominant paradigm of being very western-centric, refusing any alternative route of development. The dependency theory emphasized on link between communication and culture as well as equitable exchange of communication, information, cultural programs among rich and poor countries. But in 1980 it started lose relevance gradually in tandem with the failure of the alternative economic models proposed by its proponents.

The Emerging Paradigm: Participation

When the promise of the modernization paradigm failed to materialized, and its methods came increasingly under fire, and the dependency theorist failed to provide a successful alternative model, a different approach focusing on people’s participation began to emerge. This participatory is less oriented to the political-economic dimension and more rooted in the cultural realities of development. Sustainability and people’s participation became key elements of this new vision as acknowledged. Meaningful participation cannot occur without communication. To be truly significant and meaningful, participation needs to be based on the application of genuine two-way communication principles and practices. The new paradigm is also changing the way communication is conceived and applied.