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Contemporary Issues on Health and Social Care 1
CONTEMPORARY ISSUES ON HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE
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Contemporary Issues on Health and Social Care 2
Contemporary Issues on Health and Social Care
Introduction
Information is a vital element, which has the capacity to promote positive transformations
in a manner that citizens live their lives. The health and social care (HSC) is an instrumental
health approach towards offering efficient healthcare to people with different diseases. In order
to offer the information that are related to HSC, media plays a central role towards disseminating
information to the public. This report purposes to examine the importance of disseminating
accurate information, as well as correct HSC information to the public to prevent confusion
along with misunderstanding because of inaccurate information. In addition, the report will
explore ways and methods that may be utilized to disseminate health and social care information
to the people. It will further examine the various means and outlets of the media. Furthermore,
the report will investigate the impact of the information on the attitudes along with the behaviour
of individuals and assess the validity and reliability of the HSC information. Finally, the report
will examine the contemporary issues in HSC towards the development of appropriate care.
TASK 1
Task 1.1
The dissemination of information can be defined as communicating successfully
information that is related to HSC to the general public. In order to disseminate information to
the public, related to the health issues, such as diabetes and smoking, the sources and means of
this information is crucial. Unreliable and invalid information regarding health and social care

Contemporary Issues on Health and Social Care 3
issues will result in ineffective dissemination of the information to the public1. It exist a number
of methods and resources that may be utilized to disseminate information to the public. Mass
media avenues, like television, radio, the internet, magazines and newspapers have been eminent
in disseminating information towards solving health public problem like cancer and have been
successful in bridging the information gap of the public2. Social media (Twitter, MySpace,
Facebook among others) has too played a leading role in disseminating information that is
pertinent to the public. The UK government has been very instrumental in helping the
community in the contemporary health along with social care issues that include financial
immobility concerns, growing HSC outcome, and the growing costs of health and social care.
Newspapers, such as the Mirror and the Sun are important media outlets towards informing the
society on HSC issues3. For example, if any novel vaccine has been discovered and introduced
relating to cancer, then the mass media and social media will collaborate to disseminate
information to individuals affected by cancer and the general public all around the United
Kingdom4.
Task 1.2
Disseminating information is defined as the spread out or transmission of information
regarding HSC to people in the society. Information may be disseminated to the public via
1 McSherry, R. & Warr, J. An introduction to excellence in practice development in health and social care.
Maidenhead, England: Open University Press, 2008.
2 Munn-Giddings, C & Winter.R. A handbook for action research in health and social care.
Routledge, 2013.
3 Glasby, J. Understanding health and social care. Policy Press, 2012.
4 Cooper, C., Rogers, M., Bethel, A., Briscoe, S., & Lowe, J. A mapping review of the literature on UK-
focused health and social care databases. Health Information & Libraries Journal, 32(1), 2015; 5-22.

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posters, pamphlets, visual posts, newspapers, television, radio, health websites and social media.
Thus, these sources play a primary role in fashioning responsiveness to the public on important
HSC matters. The use of report cards in addition to accreditation is two approaches are the most
widespread methods used to disseminate data concerned with HSC issues5. With the assistance
of the tabloid newspapers, such as the Mirror and Sun; television and the internet, particularly
the health sites and social media sites main information may be easily disseminated to the public.
For instance, data concerning preventative measures from the swine flue was disseminated via
newspapers, TV, as well as social media sites when the pandemic of the illness broke out in the
world. The internet has transformed the world and the HSC may broadcast information
concerning diseases, like diabetes via presenting a small video ad to the social network through
the internet to promote individuals’ awareness regarding the signs of diabetes6. These techniques
of spreading information are effective; however, the information disseminated may cause panic
situations among the publics through exaggerating the figures along with facts plus promote fear
in the people. The information can be meant to sponsor website or sell of newspapers; however,
have damaging effects on individuals7.
In addition, a small video may be provided through TV ad to promote awareness of the
people regarding diseases. However, pamphlets have been effective methods in dissemination of
HSC issues in the UK when compared to other methods, such as television, radio, and
newspapers.
5 Daniel, B, & Julie T. Engaging with Fathers: Practice Issues for Health and Social Care. London: Jessica
Kingsley, 2001.
6 Kivits, J. Informed patients and the internet: a mediated context for consultations with health
professionals. Journal of Health Psychology. 11(2), 2006: 269 282.
7 Alterman , E. What Liberal Media?: The Truth About Bias and the News . Basic Books, 2003.

Contemporary Issues on Health and Social Care 5
Task 1.3
Disseminating health and social care information is crucial; however, more vital is the
means in which the information is presented and disseminated to the general public. The method
of disseminating information may exert a primary impact on the attitude, behaviour, as well as
thoughts of individuals and thus, the important information should be disseminated utilizing
suitable source and proper way based on preference plus needs of diverse audience. Thus, the
needs along with the favoured layout changes with demographics, such as gender, age, class
among others8. For example, older people could prefer television, radio, pamphlets and
newspapers, whilst to target youthful persons; social networking sites, such as Facebook,
MySpace, and Twitter should be utilized to influence their attitudes and behaviours. For offering
information to parents; leaflets, posters and pamphlets should be utilized on locations, such as
early childcare centres, educational centres, paediatricians ‘ clinic and in order to target women,
information can be presented in magazine, television or via the assistance of midwives of
gynaecologists. Another important component is style of presentation that includes colours,
fonts, pictures and size9. Children’s’ behaviours, and attitudes can be influenced through bright
colours, animated photos, or via cartoon videos that contain visual along with sound effects. In
order to target aged persons, the font along with magnitude of the content should be offered
using simple English to be easily interpreted by everybody. According to Carpenter (2010), the
8 Brownson, R C., Graham A. C, & Enola K. P. Dissemination and implementation research in health:
translating science to practice. Oxford University Press, 2017.
9 Glasby, J. & Dickinson, H. Partnership working in health and social care: what is integrated care and how
can we deliver it?. Policy Press, 2014.

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content should not be too detailed or lengthy that will make the main points to be missed, as well
as individuals targeted may be misinterpreted where they might get confused10.
In my view, my attitudes have greatly changed in many occasions on the manner the
content regarding HSC issues are communicated in the media. I have positive attitudes on
precise and short messages on contemporary issues, like HIV disease in the UK11.
TASK 2
Task 2.1
The media plays a leading role to provide information related to HSC issues. In several
instances, the significance of the information to the public relies on the way the media present
news to the public. There are many means along with the sources of media, which are readily
accessible to disseminate information on health in addition to social care to people. The local
along with national newspapers, television channels, ads, short videos, documentaries, , health
websites, and social networking sites are widely utilized media sources. The media majorly
shape the attitude along with the behaviour of individuals12. The media sources primarily
influence the opinion along with the views of people and affect their behaviour and attitudes13.
10 Carpenter, J. A meta-analysis of the effectiveness of health belief model variables in predicting
behaviour. Health Communication. 25 (8), 2010: 661–669.
11 Hudson B. Dealing with market failure: A new dilemma in UK health and social care policy?. Critical
Social Policy. 35(2), 2015:281-292.
12Katsuno, T. Dementia from the inside how people with early-stage dementia evaluate their 1uality of
life. Aging and Scoiety, 25 (2), 2005; 197-214.
13 McClimens, A., Bosworth, D., Brewster, J. & Nutting, C. Contemporary issues in the training of UK health
and social care professionals—looking after people with a learning disability. Nurse education today, 32(7),
2012,817-821.