Health Communication in a Global Context: Can e-health provide better health experiences and outcomes for patients?

This essay discusses the role of e-health in providing better health experiences and outcomes for patients. It also highlights the importance of health communication in a global context and the potential of media technologies in improving health literacy. The essay evaluates the need of health communication via conventional methods like media, social media and traditional media to assist the public in crisis like Covid-19. The current media technologies are popular among public and can be an essential tool for establishing a successful health communication.

Health Communication in a
Global Context

Table of Content.
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Can e-health provide better health experiences and outcomes for patients? Discuss with
evidence and examples................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Health is the concern for all the people throughout their life, from birth to old age. The
prevalence of communicable disease and pandemic like situations demands more awareness
among people regarding their health and wellness. The health communications are necessary in
order to communicate the possible effects of a disease including symptoms, types, severity,
precaution, care and treatment in general public. Methods of health communication involve
direct conservations with health practitioners, health awareness campaigns, media, self-
diagnosing by online resources like social media and other platforms. The essay is based on
understanding of media for health communication. Online social networking is being used daily
for communication as well as in the free time, in UK 57.6 million people are active on social
media by February, 2022 (Active social media users in the United Kingdom (UK), 2022). The
essay describes e- health in providing better outcomes in patient health experience. The social
media can increase the reach of people and can be beneficial in influencing the people regarding
their health and well being. The Covid-19 pandemic have witnessed the necessity for creating
awareness in public regarding health and well ness which is further elaborated in essay.
MAIN BODY
Can e-health provide better health experiences and outcomes for patients? Discuss with evidence
and examples
e- health have emerged as the only beneficial technological tool in delivering the health
care to patients during pandemic situations like Covid-19. The large portion of Population was
staying at home during Covid-19 pandemic. People were dependent on social media and other
media technologies for keeping the update and to staying connected with each other. The
information regarding the progression of Covid disease, its signs and symptoms, precautions,
treatments plans and interventions along with its rate of prevalence was not accessible to all via
during the pandemic. Traditional media including magazines, TV, radios and newspaper along
with social media were the only accessible methods for public. The magazine and newspapers
were restricted in many cities in order to stop the chain of prevalence of virus. Newspapers due
to their prolong use are trustable by many people so the communication regarding health and
creating awareness in general public about health and wellness could be effective with the help
of newspapers (Finset and et. al., 2020). The traditional media like Radio have not been used
1

much but people use it for their entertainment, the information to public could reach through
radio but the accessibility coverage was not expanded. Television was one of the effective way
for keeping the track of the disease and for awaking the public regarding effective precautions
and treatment plans. The new information related to virus and its transformation was necessary
to be spread among general public (Wang, Wang, Zhang and Jiang, 2019). The conventional
media like social media is associated with up to date information along with every detail but the
drawbacks associated with this was the spread of misinformation and lies. The drawbacks of
conventional media were not the part of traditional media(s) as the information included in
newspapers, radios, TV were from the authorised channels and sources.
Health literacy is a necessary requirement in today's world which is accessible because of
e- health technologies. Health literacy is beneficial in improving health outcomes and can
provide better health related experience. Health literacy can be defined as the extent of an
individual's ability to identify, understand and interpret the information and services in order to
take health related decision as well as the actions for themselves and for others. Health literacy is
necessary in current era of digitalisation where all the information regarding health and wellness
are available on one click. Appropriate skills are necessary in order to assess and evaluate the
correct information sources of health and identify the misleading information. Health literacy
which is circulated through digital media sources are referred as media health literacy or e-
health literacy. e- health literacy can be defined as the capability of one to seek, identify,
understand and evaluate the information on health and well ness from electronic sources and
application of that knowledge in addressing the health problem (Teichmann and et. al., 2020).
The concept of health literacy have been emerged progressively after Covid-19. The access to
information is easy and a variety of information is available on internet which can be health
influencing or compromising, the reader needs to evaluate the correct source of information from
the rest. Concept of health literacy in age of digital media can be developed with four categories:
first, identifying the health related content on various types of media. Second, recognition of
influence of such information on health behaviour. Third, critically analysis of health literacy
concept and fourth, to express the intention through the measured actions. The four categories
validates the measure of health literacy through media and help in its successful development
(Wiederhold, 2020). Media health literacy is relevant to both non- digital media which includes
2

television, radio, magazines, newspapers etc. and digital media which includes internet, social
media and mobile tools.
e- health can provide better patient related outcomes and improve health experiences by
providing information and through communication on health related topics via the use of
technologies. A majority of proportion of young adults use social media on their daily basis. The
social media trends and attention span have also contributed in increased attractiveness of people
towards social media. The media can contribute in health care providence too by means of
educating the people, using different strategy for transforming the tools of healthcare providence.
Articles, advice of experts, research and medical articles and patients sharing their reviews and
experiences can also contribute in strategy development for e- health care. Media can become
effective tool for transforming health related information when health care professional get
involved in the process (Liu and Chen, 2019). If physicians start using tools for e- health
providence then their will an automatic rise in users using the tool. In addition to this the health
care professionals can use blog for transferring the information. Blogs can be an efficient way to
reach the audience and aware them. Media sharing sites are useful too. E-health using media can
improve quality of health in several ways like in effectiveness to the cost, accessibility to online
informations, in self management of treatment and at last via self monitoring. e-health provide
education on prevention, diagnosis and therapy and care that can be delivered to the patient. The
concept of e-health involves telemedicine, m Health, tele-care, e Mental health etc. e- health
provide reliable access to every user that assist in diagnosing the problems of patient sooner
(Bonfadelli, 2022). It is beneficial in reducing the errors, improving the safety of patients and
providing the support in better outcomes of patients. e- health tools provide alerts and reminders,
improve analysis and patient communication, it makes easy in considering the patient's
condition. e- health can provide support to patient in taking therapeutic decisions as well. A
study conducted on e- health care an e- healthcare tools showed:
 92% of service user were happy with their e- prescription.
 90% of people reported that they are rarely using any pharmacy via offline mode after e-
medicine stores.
 76% of people reported that e- health made medications accessibility easy.
 63% of people reported that there are fewer errors in medications.
3

 The majority claimed that their rate of long hours clinic calls reduced (Improved
Diagnostics & Patient Outcomes, 2020).
The similar study further showed that the e-health provided improved care quality
screening in breast cancer, diabetes, chlamydia etc. The services which were shown to be
increased by e-health were controlled blood pressure in hypertensive patients, breast cancer
screening, body mass index. e- health have potential of improving care by allowing providers
and policy makers to coordinate and facilitate better care to patient via improving the
communication methods and allowing sharing of information in between the health care
professionals and patients using e- health tools. It support the patients in self management via use
of tools and technology (Giroux and Moreau, 2020). e- health technologies make sure that the
patients are adhered to their treatment or not. It improves the decision making process of
clinicians and improve the quality of care along with reduced error chances. These tools and
technologies monitor and analyse the risk and improve accessibility to health care services
among people especially in the rural and deprived areas via mHealth applications and telehealth
services.
Along with better health outcomes and improved patient conditions, the e-health is
associated with various misinformation too. Such information can be harmful as well as
misleading for the user. Media health literacy and e- health literacy needs to identify and
distinguish the misleading informations which can effect the health and can show some
unwanted effects. The misinformation had created a confusion among people and a conflict
during Covid-19 which effected the vaccination as well as effected the public health measures.
The misinformation during the pandemic exposed people towards some unproven treatments
(Poirier, Ouellet, Rancourt, Béchard and Dufresne, , 2020). The misinformation can be spread
unintentionally or intentionally due to several advantages. The methods that can be taken to
address health related misinformation on media includes:
 With the support of trusted members of community like health care professionals,
leaders, educators who can address the correct information and answer the public's
questions, misinformation prevalence can be stopped.
 Identification of particular sources of misinformation and keeping a lock on it.
 Using technologies to monitor and address the sources of misinformation and directing
the users to go for credible sources (Hennessy, Royer, Meyer and Smith, 2020).
4

 Using trusted messengers and social media to evaluate the correct information.
 Aware the public to take a moment in verification of information before sharing it.
 Implementation in policies to slow down the spread of misinformation.
 Take help from federal, state, local, territorial, tribal, private organisations to identify
their best practices in issues related to spread of misinformation.
 Legal legislations for addressing the health misinformation prevalence.
 The individuals and communities can help with avoiding the sharing of health related
misinformation.
 Individuals can address the health related misinformation in their community to clear the
wrong perceptions of people (Chen and et. al., 2018).
 Educators and the educational institutes can organise several educational programmes for
students and their family members. The evidence based educational programmes should
be implemented among all educational settings.
 Educational institutes should focus on educating its students regarding the pros and cons
of spreading misinformation online.
 Health professional can effectively engage with their patients and public regarding health
misinformation by understanding their knowledge and believes related to their disease
state or health condition.
 Health professionals can participate with other communities and local organisations to
address an prevent the health misinformation (Harrington, 2015).
Health information through media can be misleading but there are several informations
which are effective in measuring patient's health conditions. e- health have both negative and
positive aspects. The service user needs to identify the correct information in order to achieve the
better outcomes and patient care. A majority of e- health initiatives are being taken by health are
leaders, government, hi-tech industries and higher organisations in order to combine the health
care services, health care service providers, internet and technology together. Expansion of e-
health technologies and services will help in merging the medicines and technology together.
The combination will be beneficial for conquering the challenges that are emerging on the daily
basis within health sector and are responsible for high rates of mortalities. The challenges that
are faced by individuals in e- health are the difficulty in finding the correct information online
and also the data exchange possibilities. e- health tools are not only beneficial for patients
5

compliance but also have effectiveness for providers. These tools will help provider to establish
more efficient communication with their patients along with accessibility to more accurate
informations, these informations will have a positive effect on overall healthcare experience and
outcome of patients (Ghani, Hamid, Hashem and Ahmed, 2019). The periodic changes have
shown that electronic systems have contributed significantly in improvement of health
conditions. The changes in patient care results have shown that the electronic tools and
technologies within the healthcare have broaden the accessibility of applications and facilitated
the exchange of informations. The expansion of e- health technology should be in a way to
achieve a transformation and modernize the health care system.
CONCLUSION
The overall essay concludes that health communication is necessary in order to inform
and guide the general public about their health and wellness. The essay evaluates the need of
health communication via conventional methods like media, social media and traditional media
to assist the public in crisis like Covid-19. The current media technologies are popular among
public and can be an essential tool for establishing a successful health communication. The
accessibility through media is easy but may spread misinformation regarding health and wellness
which may cause sever harms along with the good outcomes. It is the duty of general public,
health practitioners, media, journal, individuals and communities to perform their part in
effective management of health communication within all and in minimizing the spread of any
kind of misinformation. In addition the report concludes that the e- health media is a useful
technology in providing health literacy as well as in getting the better health related outcomes.
Their are several evidences which states that health information through media (e-health) have
created awareness among the people as well as it has contributed significantly in improving the
patient's health.
6

REFERENCES
Bonfadelli, H., 2022. Theoretical Approaches of Health Campaigns and Practical Applications to
COVID-19 Campaigns. Science Journal of Public Health, 10(1), pp.60-72.
Books and Journals:
Chen, X. and et. al., 2018. Health literacy and use and trust in health information. Journal of
health communication, 23(8), pp.724-734.
Finset, A. and et. al., 2020. Effective health communication–a key factor in fighting the COVID-
19 pandemic. Patient education and counseling, 103(5), p.873.
Ghani, N.A., Hamid, S., Hashem, I.A.T. and Ahmed, E., 2019. Social media big data analytics: A
survey. Computers in Human Behavior, 101, pp.417-428.
Giroux, C.M. and Moreau, K.A., 2020. Leveraging social media for medical education: Learning
from patients in online spaces. Medical teacher, 42(9), pp.970-972.
Harrington, N., 2015 Health Communication: Theory, Method and Application, London and New
York: Routledge. Chapter 13 pp. 364-396. (E-book)
Hennessy, C.M., Royer, D.F., Meyer, A.J. and Smith, C.F., 2020. Social media guidelines for
anatomists. Anatomical sciences education, 13(4), pp.527-539.
Li, J., Xu, Q., Cuomo, R., Purushothaman, V., & Mackey, T. (2020). Data mining and content
analysis of the Chinese social media platform Weibo during the early COVID-19
outbreak: retrospective observational infoveillance study. JMIR Public Health and
Surveillance, 6(2), e18700.
Liu, K. and Chen, L., 2019. Medical social media text classification integrating consumer health
terminology. IEEE Access, 7, pp.78185-78193.
Mheidly, N. and Fares, J., 2020. Leveraging media and health communication strategies to
overcome the COVID-19 infodemic. Journal of public health policy, 41(4), pp.410-420.
Poirier, W., Ouellet, C., Rancourt, M., Béchard, J. and Dufresne, Y. (2020) '(Un)covering the
COVID-19 pandemic: Framing analysis of the crisis in canada', Canadian Journal of
Political Science, 53(2), pp. 365-371.
Pollett, S. and Rivers, C., 2020. Social media and the new world of scientific communication
during the COVID-19 pandemic. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 71(16), pp.2184-2186.
Stellefson, M., Paige, S.R., Chaney, B.H. and Chaney, J.D., 2020. Evolving role of social media
in health promotion: updated responsibilities for health education
specialists. International journal of environmental research and public health, 17(4),
p.1153.
Teichmann, L. and et. al., 2020. Public health communication and engagement on social media
during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Wang, Z., Wang, S., Zhang, Y. and Jiang, X., 2019. Social media usage and online
professionalism among registered nurses: A cross-sectional survey. International
journal of nursing studies, 98, pp.19-26.
Wiederhold, B.K., 2020. Using social media to our advantage: Alleviating anxiety during a
pandemic. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 23(4), pp.197-198.
7

Online Source:
Active social media users in the United Kingdom (UK), 2022 [Online] Available through
<https://www.statista.com/statistics/507405/uk-active-social-media-and-mobile-social-media-
users/#:~:text=The%20United%20Kingdom%20(UK)%20was,the%20population%20of%20the
%20UK.>
Improved Diagnostics & Patient Outcomes, 2020 [Online] Available through:
<https://www.healthit.gov/topic/health-it-and-health-information-exchange-basics/improved-
diagnostics-patient-outcomes>
8