Components and Theories of Public Health Communication

The report investigates critical theories and practices within public healthcare systems. It explores how various theoretical frameworks such as protection motivation theory and the transactional model of stress can influence public health outcomes. Additionally, it details a six-step process for effective health communication, emphasizing the importance of each step in achieving behavioral change and improving overall health. The ultimate goal is to enhance societal health by applying these models and practices effectively.

Public Health
Resource

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK A...........................................................................................................................................1
TASK B...........................................................................................................................................2
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................4

INTRODUCTION
Improving and protecting the health and well being of community is the main aim of
public health. A public health resource consists of various processes, models and theories of
communication in relation with public health practice (Crisp and Chen, 2014). This report will
discuss about components of communication process, knowledge of communication theory,
theoretical models of health communication to the public health settings and it will all help in
developing a public health resource.
TASK A
The various theoretical models of health communication that can be successfully applied
in public health settings are as follows :-
 HEALTH BELIEF MODEL – It is a psychological model that tries to explain and
predict the health behaviour of individuals. Here, they try to focus on the attitude and
behaviours of people so as to understand them properly. This model is basically studied
in four parts namely; perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived susceptibility,
perceived barriers. All these concepts are used for reading behaviour of people.
 PROTECTION MOTIVATION THEORY – This theory was developed in 1975 and
tries to solve the problems of fear cause to people. It is a process that brings in various
behavioural options so as to remove the threat. The appraisals related to health threat and
the appraisal of coping responses can result in protection and motivation otherwise it may
lead to maladaptive responses. These are the kind of responses that has the possibility to
place an individual at health risk. The kind of behaviour that is included in this are
smoking, drinking etc.
 TRANSACTIONAL MODEL OF STRESS AND COPING – This theory was
developed for evaluating the process of coping with stressful events . The stressful
experiences that are faced by a person is framed as person-environment transactions.
Whenever a person faces a stress, they can immediately evaluate a potential threat which
is also called as Primary appraisal (DiCenso, Guyatt and Ciliska, 2014). In this, the
person judges the importance of events in terms of stressful, positive, controllable etc. In
the Second Appraisal, what resources will be used by person for coping up with the stress
will be assessed.
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TASK B
The process of health communication is a complicated process which is divided into
discrete steps. This process is used for spreading awareness of health risk and solutions and also
tries to provide motivation and skills that is required to reduce those risks. It is also used to
promote improvement or change in health related factors (Hanna-Attisha and et. al., 2016). The
components included in health communication process for promoting mental health are :-
STEP 1 – Reaching the Audience
Communication is considered effective only when it is heard by the people . So, if
government wants to communicate something about the health care issues then they have to use
effective places or programmes so that it gets noticed by people. So, in case of promoting mental
health , the government will organise various programmes so that students can be made aware of
this.
STEP 2 – Attracting the audience’s attention
If there is any kind of communication being done then it is very important that it has
attention of both the parties. If people will not pay attention then correct message will not be
delivered. While conducting programmes, the organisation should to gather the attention of
students so that they understand about the issues
STEP 3 – Understanding the message
Once attention is paid then the concerned person will try to understand it . So, the main
task is that the person should correctly interpret the meaning associated with the message
otherwise wrong interpretation may create problems. So, for promoting mental health in
university it is very important that the students understand the message.
STEP 4 – Accepting the change
Receiving the message is important but even more important is to believe and accept it.
So, the sender should try that the receiver should believe the message that has been sent to him
(Kassebaum and et. al., 2014).
STEP 5 – Producing behaviour change
A communication may result in a change in beliefs and attitudes, but still not influence
behaviour or action. This can happen when the communication has not been aimed at the factor
that has most influence on the person’s behaviour.
STEP 6 – Improvement in Health
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The improvement in health will be seen only when the changed behaviour is seen in a
positive manner. In case of spreading awareness about mental health, correct advices should only
be given because if wrong advices are chosen by students then they may have to face many
discrepancies in future (Levesque, Harris and Russell, 2013).
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that it is very important to take care of health
of people because it affects their productivity and efficiency. So, in this report several theories
and practices of healthcare system is studied so as to bring improvements in society related to
health of individuals.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Crisp, N. and Chen, L., 2014. Global supply of health professionals. New England Journal of
Medicine. 370(10). pp.950-957.
DiCenso, A., Guyatt, G. and Ciliska, D., 2014. Evidence-Based Nursing-E-Book: A Guide to
Clinical Practice. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Hanna-Attisha, M. and et. al., 2016. Elevated blood lead levels in children associated with the
Flint drinking water crisis: a spatial analysis of risk and public health response.
American journal of public health. 106(2). pp.283-290.
Kassebaum, N. J. and et. al., 2014. Global burden of severe periodontitis in 1990-2010: a
systematic review and meta-regression. Journal of dental research. 93(11). pp.1045-
1053.
Levesque, J. F., Harris, M. F. and Russell, G., 2013. Patient-centred access to health care:
conceptualising access at the interface of health systems and populations. International
journal for equity in health. 12(1). p.18.
McMichael, A. J., 2013. Globalization, climate change, and human health. New England Journal
of Medicine. 368(14). pp.1335-1343.
Pescosolido, B. A., 2013. The public stigma of mental illness: What do we think; what do we
know; what can we prove?. Journal of Health and Social behavior. 54(1). pp.1-21.
Online
Theories of health communication.2018.[Online].Available
through:<https://www.utwente.nl/en/bms/communication-theories/sorted-by-cluster/Health
%20Communication/transactional_model_of_stress_and_coping/>.
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