Multimedia Health Communication

This essay explores the use of multimedia in raising awareness about asthma in the UK. It discusses the communication tools and role of media in health campaigns, as well as the impact of asthma on different population segments. The aim and objectives of the campaign are outlined, along with the chosen intervention methods and the communication theory used. The conclusion highlights the potential success of the Asthma UK campaign on Facebook.

MULTIMEDIA HEALTH
COMMUNICATION

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Background..................................................................................................................................3
Problem........................................................................................................................................4
Aim and Objectives.....................................................................................................................5
Discussion....................................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Multimedia can be basically defined as the use of different mediums that can be used for
communicating a particular thing (Ainsworth and et.al., 2019). There are various mediums such
as TV, Radio, Social media channels etc. that can be used in order to communicate and these are
often artistic in nature. The multimedia is generally done for a mass audience i.e. through radio,
TV etc. and therefore mass media can be termed as a part of multimedia. Mass media is a major
conveyer of all types of information to a larger section of the audience and despite this being
categorised as traditional media; it is still a significant aspect. In particular context with health
and well being of the majority of the population, the role of mass media is significant where they
are informed about all the latest developments in the medicinal fields, raises awareness regarding
the outbreak of diseases if there is any etc. This also assists the people in suggesting correct
actions that should be adopted by them. Asthma is one such highly prevalent disease in United
Kingdom where majority of the people are found to be afflicted with asthma (Farzandipour and
et.al., 2019). In order to raise awareness regarding this disease, there are various multimedia
channels on which different campaigns, videos etc. can be used in order to assist the process of
increasing awareness.
In the current essay, the use of multimedia in order to raise the awareness of the public
regarding asthma will be evaluated. Firstly, this essay will identify the major communication
tools and role of media in increasing the awareness of the health issues and then in the next
section, the impact of asthma on different population segments of UK will be evaluated. This
will be followed by development of aims and objectives of the campaign that will be formulated
followed by the discussion on the selected campaign mechanism. Lastly, appropriate conclusion
summarising all the key facts will be presented in the essay.
MAIN BODY
Background
There are a variety of communication channels that can be used in order to communicate
with the people regarding awareness of their health and well being. Asthma has long been one of
the most prevalent diseases in UK and people regularly need updates regarding the treatment
methods, stories of other patients, coping mechanisms etc. (Pauletto and Walus, 2018). The use
of radio helps in verbal communication, use of newspaper etc. helps in visual communication,
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use of TV helps in audio and visual communication and use of social medial help in setting up an
interactive platform using all the communication methods.
TV is one of the traditional communication media that is still prevalent and acts as a major
source of information as it is present in almost every single household today but it is not an
interactive platform for different asthma patients which is the major disadvantage of this
communication medium. On the other hand, it is exactly opposite with social media where the
interaction and interexchange of views is the major benefit of this communication medium but it
is not highly operated by the majority of the people (Hill, 2020). However, Face book as a social
media platform is emerging as a widely acceptable and frequently operated social media tool.
This can be used in order to develop correct communication strategies for even a wider public
base as compared to television.
Problem
In UK, majority of the components of population are suffering from asthma related
diseases. Amongst the 5.4 million people in UK that are currently suffering from Asthma in UK,
1.1 million of them are children and 4.3 million approximately are adults. The NHS which is the
largest healthcare service provider in UK spends annually an approximate £ 1 billion on the
treatment of the NHS patients spread in the entire UK (Asthma facts and statistics, 2020). Adults
and the children are found to be major contributors in the segments of population that is suffering
from Asthma. The major reason behind the rise of Asthma is also due to the lack of awareness
amongst the public regarding the measures that can be adopted to prevent Asthma and other
related diseases. Also, the lifestyle choices are not well reasoned thus increasing the risk further.
The multimedia channel that has been selected in order to increase the awareness is
basically the social media platform Face book and the major section of population that will be
targeted will be adults as well as teenagers. The reason that this multimedia channel has been
selected is because of its major strength as interactive platforms where the different patients can
exchange information with each other communicate with each other. This leads to the
formulation of a better knowledge related to the symptoms, causes etc. Although the older people
constituting as adults are not very active on this platform but there has been an increasing trends
of the older people registering on Face book (Roberts and et.al, 2019). Additionally, the adults
and teenagers who are already active on social media can enlighten the older generation who is
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not active on Face book. This is ultimately the best platform for people come together and
interact on the Asthma.
Aim and Objectives
Aim: The aim is to launch an Asthma UK campaign on face book that will be solely focused on
improving the knowledge and state of Asthma amongst the patients based in UK.
Objectives:
 Asthma UK will be focused on the curing and reducing the stigma around the asthma that
is based amongst the patients in UK.
 This campaign will regularly publish all the relevant news, the schemes offered by
different, the causes and symptoms that lead to the asthma, the manner in which it can be
avoided etc.
 Face book community created by Asthma UK will also develop a common platform
where all the interested asthma patients based in UK can share their stories regarding the
manner in which they fought or contracted Asthma, how they are treating themselves,
other important information etc.
 Campaign will regularly track the number of people that are associated on the face book
page and the number of people that have been affected by the campaign.
 The campaign will also publish accurate data related to the trends of Asthmatic patients
in UK that can be used by other bodies as well.
 Ultimately, to improve the life of the majority of the people in UK that are suffering from
UK is the major objective behind launching this campaign on face book.
Discussion
The chosen health intervention that will be used for Asthma UK is community based method
and information and advice method. Authors, Makuru, Simba and Kalinga ( 2019), have said that
community based intervention is the best intervention that can be used to increase the awareness
related to any disease collectively where the different members of a community can learn the
accurate facts related to the disease and burst the myths that are surrounded to that disease.
Another research paper by Carroll and et.al., (2019), states that information and advices is an
effective mechanism that can be followed by the health and wellbeing related campaigns that are
mainly developed on social media platforms.
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Therefore, these interventions collectively will help in fulfilling the purpose of the campaign
Asthma UK where the community will get the correct knowledge related to the asthma and they
will be able to gather information, facts and advices form the doctors that are related to presence
of Asthma in UK.
The chosen intervention is community based and information and advice method and the
most suitable health theory here will be the use of communication theory. The communication
theory helps in the resolution of the manner in which information is to be spread through the face
book campaign. Authors, Burgess (2019), state that the communication theory is the best strategy
for addressing the social issues and can be used to improve the intercommunication skills that
can be used to develop better interpersonal communication strategies. This helps in increasing
the two way communication where a person can communicate and then immediately receive
feedbacks as well. In another research paper published by authors, Iacobucci (2018), the
technological assistance can be effectively used in order to enhance the communication strategies
and the reach of such communication. The authors have emphasised the rising use of social
media platforms is an effective technological tool that can be used to increase the reach towards
correct and authentic communication.
In the present context, of choosing face book in order to develop a campaign for asthmatic
patients in UK, communication is the key where the members of users who are joining the
campaign must be patiently made understood that what are the correct facts or information rather
than blaming them. This will also help in increasing the platforms for discussion where the
correct and positive news is being learnt and spread. The campaign will solely focus on
improving the present conditions (Opstad and et.al., 2019). Since the platform that has been
selected as multimedia channel is face book, the prevalence and popularity of this social media
platform will help in easily capturing the audience. Additionally, the interactive characteristic
where two or more persons can interact with each other and exchange views rather than just one
way communication was the major reason why this platform was chosen amongst all other
multimedia channels that are popular specifically television.
Collectively it can be said that the Asthma UK campaign on the face book using the
community based and information and advice intervention methods with the communication
theory as a base is the most effective strategy that can be developed in the present context
(Crossman-Barnes and et.al., 2019). The increased access to face book and the increased need of
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awareness and communication of correct and relevant facts will help in achieving the ultimate
goal that is to extensively reduce the number of asthmatic patients in UK and to present the
correct cure.
The chances that this campaign can either succeed or fail are more inclined towards the
former. Levy and et.al., (2019), argue that the increased use of social media and the added
benefits that it provides such as interexchange of communication, sharing the experiences,
finding peer groups etc. are some of the major contributories in the expected success of this
campaign. The better discussion and the increased accessibility increase the chances of the
success of this campaign.
On the other hand, Roberts (2017), state that the chances of failure can also arise for the
portrayed campaign because the majority of the asthmatic patients are adults who are older and
they are not adaptable with the use of social media. They are not used to this technology and this
is the only major barrier of this multi media channel that has been selected for them. Therefore,
other channels such as TV, radio etc. might prove to be a more feasible option for the campaign
but still, the increased compatibility and awareness of the children and adults will overweigh the
chances of success.
CONCLUSION
The research conducted in the essay above helps in concluding that the selection of face book as
multimedia channel of campaign is the correct medium that is more likely to yield greater
success results for the asthma related campaign in UK. The essay highlighted that the number of
patients suffering from asthma is very high in UK where the children and the adults were found
to be special targets of this disease. Through the essay, the need for launching an extensive
campaign for this disease was identified and the effectiveness of face book as a multimedia
channel was identified. The essay also concluded that the best interventions for this campaign
would be the use of community based intervention and the information and advice intervention
where the communication can be done in an enhanced way. Additionally, the communication
theory was found to be a comprehensive approach for face book campaign that was being
planned. Overall, it can be concluded that the aim with which Asthma UK campaigning has been
launched will be extremely successful and face book will prove to be a successful platform that
can be used to integrate millions of patients and other concerned family on one single platform.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Ainsworth, B., and et.al., 2019. Feasibility trial of a digital self-management intervention ‘My
Breathing Matters’ to improve asthma-related quality of life for UK primary care patients
with asthma. BMJ open. 9(11).
Burgess, A., 2019. Limiting Exposure to Traffic-Related Air Pollution Near Denver Public
Schools Through Anti-Idling Campaigns.
Carroll, W., and et.al., 2019. If it’s ‘only’asthma, why are children still dying?. Archives of
Disease in Childhood.
Crossman-Barnes, C.J., and et.al., 2019. Estimating loss in quality of life associated with asthma-
related crisis events (ESQUARE): a cohort, observational study. Health and quality of
life outcomes. 17(1). p.58.
Farzandipour, M., and et.al., 2019. Enhancing Asthma Patients' Self-Management through
Smartphone-Based Application: Design, Usability Evaluation, and Educational
Intervention. Applied clinical informatics. 10(05). pp.870-878.
Hill, C., 2020. Managing asthma at school: The perceptions of children and school
staff (Doctoral dissertation).
Iacobucci, G., 2018. “Conflicting” UK asthma guidelines should be streamlined, experts say.
Levy, M.L., and et.al., 2019. Paediatric asthma care in the UK: fragmented and fatally
fallible. British Journal of General Practice. 69(685). pp.405-406.
Makuru, P., Simba, F. and Kalinga, E., 2019, May. Developing Multimedia Enhanced Content to
Raise HIV/AIDS Awareness to Children. In International Conference on Social
Implications of Computers in Developing Countries (pp. 433-444). Springer, Cham.
Opstad, H.S., and et.al., 2019. G372 (P) Can we do more to prevent picu admissions for children
presenting with severe asthma? what are the modifiable factors.
Pauletto, S. and Walus, B.P., 2018. Reflecting on the Role of Sound in an Immersive Multimedia
Intervention for Health Communication. Reflecting on the Role of Sound in an Immersive
Multimedia Intervention for Health Communication.
Roberts, C., and et.al, A.J., 2019. Modern Innovative Solutions to Improve Outcomes in Severe
Asthma: Protocol for a Mixed Methods Observational Comparison of Clinical Outcomes
in MISSION Versus Current Care Delivery. JMIR research protocols. 8(10). p.e9585.
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Roberts, G., 2017. A new approach to specific IgE testing, asthma and auto‐injectors in
schools. Clinical & Experimental Allergy. 47(8). pp.986-987.
Online
Asthma facts and statistics. 2020. [ONLINE] Available through :<
https://www.asthma.org.uk/about/media/facts-and-statistics/ >
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