Methods and Media

of Health Education
 Methods and Media of Health Education
Methods of health education are the
techniques or ways in which series of
activities are carried out to communicate
ideas, information, and develop necessary
attitudes and skills. Broadly we can classify
the methods into three different categories,
which are described below:
1. Individual method
2. Group method
3. Mass method
 Contd.
1. Individual method
This method involves person-person
or face-to face communication, which
provides maximum opportunity for
two-way flow of ideas, knowledge,
and information. Adequate
interaction between the health
educator and his client help provide
health education successfully
resulting and expected behavior
change. The examples of individual
 Contd..
2. Group Method
This method involves a group of limited persons in
teaching-learning situation who have some kind of
health education need about certain health
problem. This small group also can get some
opportunity to ask questions and shares ideas,
information and experiences. In spite of the
advantage of individual methods a health educator
cannot use them because of time limitation and
shortage of manpower. So it will be more
practicable for him to provide health education in
group situations as well. Examples of group
methods are, demonstration, group discussion,
role playing, panel discussion, study trip, project
assignment, symposium, case study, mini lecture,
training workshop etc
 Contd.
3. Mass Method
This method is especially meant for a large
number of heterogeneous people. Such group of
people is commonly termed as mass. Because
of the nature of mass a health educator may
have quite a problem to provide health
education by this method. Because of its
complexity there is no opportunity for two-way
communication between the teacher and
learners. This methods helps in reaching broad
section of the target population at a time and
makes them aware of their health problem.
Example of mass method are lecture or public
speech, exhibition, campaign etc.
Methods of Health
Education
Individual
Methods
Interview
Counselling
Group Methods Symposium
Demonstration Brain Storming
Role Playing Buzz Session
Group Discussion Workshop
Panel Discussion Study trip
Project
assisgnment
Mass Methods
6
Lecture
Interview

7
 Contd..
Interview
Interview means to meet and talk
each other and collect information
and provide suggestion tactfully. In
this process there occurs some
exchange of ideas between the
interviewer and interviewee. In a way
it is the process of providing health
education through question and
answer between the health educator
and learner.
 5. Advantages -
Disatvantages
Advantages
Helpful to know individuals knowledge, attitudes and
behaviour
Helpful for Intensive and systematic teaching with
exchange of ideas and feelings
Easy to conduct with less cost and limited fascilities
except in few extensive formal interview.
Even illiterate person can be interviewed and taught
Helpful to reach a better conclusion for the solution of
the problem
Diadvantages
Time consuming
Small range of people covered
Some extensive formal interview may be costly 9
Counselling

10
Counselling
Definition
..is the process of encouraging and
helping individuals in identifying:
his or her health problem,
the cause of the problem,
the ways of the solution
and also encourages taking necessary
actions to solve it.

11
Settings
Hospital
Important for chronic or uncureable diseases,
or psychosocial problems
School
Important in connection with drug abuse or
excessive dinking and smoking
Home
Important for e.g. breastfeeding, immunization,
family planning, sanitation, smoking, drinking
and even HIV-Aids

12
Techniques of counselling
Building rapport
Identifying clients need or problem
No advice, but provision of information
to facilitate the decicion of the client
Maintaining patience
Keeping secret
Maintaining confidence
Follow up
To be planned with the client

13
Approach /Method of
counseling
GATHER
G-Greet the client
A-Ask about their problem
T- tell the client about detail
information
H-Help to make decisions
E-Explain about any
misunderstanding
R-Return to follow up
ABHIBADAN
A-
BHI-
BA-
DA-
N-
ABHIBADAN approach:-
A:- Abhibatan i.e. to greet
namaskar .
Bhi:- bhinna nathani sodhpuch
garne i.e. asking without
discrimination .
By :- Baadha hataune i.e. to
deal with problems .
D:- Dutta chitta bhai sahyog
garhe i.e. help whole heartedly.
N:- Namaskar gardai punnah
auna anurodh garne i.e. big
Qualities of counsellor
she/he should be:
Friendly, sincere, cooperative and social
Capabel of judging things closely and in
detail
Patient to listen
Dealing with problem with respect
Able to convince his client to take necessary
actions to solve his health problem

17
 Advantages - Disatvantages
Advantages
Counselling is helpful in dealing with the individual
client and motivate him to take necessary action to
solve his health problem.
Provides maximum opportunity for feed back and
helps to maintain two way communication process.
Enables to solve even serious or complicated health
problems
Even illiterate people can be taught by this method
Easy to make follow-up studies on the basis of
counselling records
Disadvantages
Time consuming
Small range of people covered
Difficult to maintain patience 18
GROUP METHOD
 Demonstration
..process of providing knowledge and
skills as well as developing attitudes
through the manipulation of
appropriate teaching device or
materials.
Teaching by demonstration involves
Verbal and visual explanation of facts
And process which takes about 45
Minutes to complete the demons-
tration but depends upon the nature
20
Of topic and number of learners.
Examples for
Demonstrations
On:
Food preparation
Preparation of oral rehydration solution
Artificial respiration
Proper bathing of child
Correct use of contraceptives

21
Organizing and conducting
1. Slection of topic
2. Preparation for demonstration
Check list
Procedure
3. Starting and conducting
4. End
Summary

22
 Advantages - Disatvantages

Advantages
Demonstration is very much helpful to know individual
knowledge,attitude and practice.
Develops skills
It is very effective teaching learning method due to various
learning experiences like seeing,hearing,tasting, feeling
and smelling depending upon the topic of demonstration.
It is cheap,practicable,accessible and useful for different
categories of learners.
It is helpful to reach a better coclusion for problem solving.
Disadvantages
Time consuming
Difficult to find necessary equipment
Not appropriate in case of cognitive topic
Sometime teaching may not be effective due to lack of
attractive and interesting materials
23
Role playing

24
Role playing

Role playing is a acting out of real life

situation through conversation and
use of skill.
Role is the set of expectations with
regard to position
E.g.: teacher, doctor, mother....
Ideally 5-6 characters and 15-20
audience
Role playing is also known as social
drama. 25
Conducting role play
Selecting topic
Determine time, place, situation
Set stage
Selecting the characters:
Prepare material
Discuss about role play

26
Advantages - Disatvanages
Advantages
Gives learners opportunity to express ideas
Enables learners to see things through the
eyes of others
Develops power of quick thinking and
expression
Active learning opportunity
Inexpensive
Suitable in different situations...
Disadvantages
Taken as a recreational activity and no
educational effect
Not everybody is an actor
Not everybody can participate 27
Group discussion

28
Group discussion
Verbal exchange of knowledge, ideas,
experiences to achieve the objectives..
to identify health problems and solve them
Max. 1 hour
Ideal group: 6-12 members,
according to J. James: 8-9
enough to get a variety of opinions

29
Process of Group Discussion
Introduction
Getting familar with topic
Establish good norms (rules and
procedures)
Participation
Reaching consensus in goal
achievment

30
Members of group and their
role
Leader or Chairperson
Recorder
General Members

31
Advantages - Disadvantages
Advantages
Develops creativity
Helps learners to a group decision and solve
their common problem
Lerners are active
Helps to develop positive attitude to working
together
Disadvantages
Self-conscious members may not have a chance
Prolonged discussion without being fruitful

32
 Panel discussion
Panel discussion is one of the methods of
group teaching. It can beadopted both for
school students and community people in
order toprovide health education.
The panel members will be a group of
expertsnormally 3 or 4 persons who
themselves enter into question and
answerprocess regarding a specific topic of
discussion.
The health educatorcan manage to identify
and bring the experts. He can work as
acoordinator to introduce topic and the
experts, and also help conductthe discussion.
Advantages
1.Provides varied knowledge, ideas and
experiences about thesubject of concern to
the learners.
2.Interesting and .can draw attention of the
audience or learners.
3.Learners get opportunity to ask questions
and pass comments, which help,in teaching-
learning process.
Disadvantages
1.Sometimes it is difficult to get the
appropriate experts.
2.Difficult to set definite time to suit the
experts.
 Symposium
A series of formal lectures/speech/ talks
presented as a systematic manner by different
experts/speakers by dividing and convening
subject matter into many phases of the same
subject matter is called symposium.
The numbers of speakers may vary from 2-5. Each
speaker is expected to highlight his/her point
within the stipulated time which takes normally 15
to 25 minutes
In a ideal symposium there is no discussion in
between the presentation of speakers. usually the
audience are passive and are expected to raise
the questions or queries at the end of the session.
 Contd.
Advantages
The symposium provides concise information to the
audience at a time.
The frequent change of speakers keeps the audience alert
during presentation.
It develops the habit of listening and critical thinking.
It doesnt require special kinds of materials and equipment.
Disadvantages
Symposium method of teaching is a non participation of
the audiences.
Difficulty to get appropriate experts
It may be more time consuming
It needs more planning.
Difficult to adjust time at the convenience of the experts.
Study Trip
What is study trip?
A study trip is a planned visit to a place outside the
classroom to provide practical knowledge in real
situation. It is also called a field trip or an educational
excursion or an educational tour.
The participants of a study trip are
primarily observers and not doers. They
learn through observation of real situation.
This is learning through direct experience
in real life situation.
What should be done during the
study trip?
1. Brief the guide on the purpose of the trip,
points of interest, and the nature of the
student group
2. Make sure that every student can hear what
the guide has said. Students must also see the
things and ask question to clarify their doubts.
3. Teacher should regularly check the group to
make sure that nobody has been left behind
4. Provide short rest after the tour.
5. Arrange on-the-spot discussion during the
trip to exchange knowledge, ideas and
experiences.
6. The trip should not be heavily instructional
and dull. Some entertainments through
songs, dances and games could be
encouraged.
What should be done after the study
trip?
1. Follow-up discussion to evaluate the
achievements. Give students a chance
to talk about their experience and to
exchange their ideas and views. See if
the objectives are met. Both the
students and supervisor teacher should
join the discussion session.
2. Encourage students to put into practice
of what has been learnt. Learning
should have practical implication.
3. Prepare a brief report of the trip to help
improve future trip.
 Problems and limitations of study
trip
1. Difficult to organize in terms of money,
time and other facilities.
2. There may be problem in establishing
coordination with concerned agencies or
authorities.
3. Cannot be organized for every kind of
learning group, for every kind of topic or
subject, and in all situations.
 Buzz session
Buzz session is just brief meeting of few
people to bring quick ideas and help the group
to make a decision. The Whole group will be
divided into smaller buzz groups to buzz
together about a problem and produce some
ideas to solve it. The collected ideas are
brought forth to the original group by the
leader of each buzz group .
A health educator can adopt this method of
buzz session to encourage the learners to think
and express quickly .It is also a good teaching
method with learners active participation.
 Contd..
Advantages
Help to pull out different ideas from
different member of the learner group.
Helps to reach to fruitful group discussion.
Practicable to conduct. No need of special
arrangement and pre-planning.
Disadvantages
Does not provide adequate time to think
and discuss
Sometimes the ideas collected may not be
relevant to the solution of the problem.
 Brainstorming
Brain storming is also called Creative
Ideation. This is a modern method of
eliciting from the participants , their ideas
and solutions on debatable issues or
current problems .
Instead of discussing a problem at great
length the participants in brain storming
session are encouraged to make a list in a
short period of time all the ideas that come
to their mind regarding some problems
without debating amongst themselves
about the pros and cons of their own ideas.
 Advantages
Brainstorming is helpful for exploring the
ideas openly without fear of criticism.
It makes perfect or qualified to learner for
problem solving
It makes success participants to exchange
the idea.
Disadvantages
Brainstorming process is time consuming.
It may be difficult to conduct because of
immediately collect the explorer ideas by
participants.
Workshop

Workshop is a type of group methods of health

education intended to train or educate a group of
people who belong to a specific discipline or allied
disciplines.
A workshop may consist of about fifteen participants.
Objectives are predetermined and intended to be
achieved within few days time period.
Techniques of conducting workshop
1. Receive the participants
2. Discuss on the purpose and schedule of
the workshop.
3. Give the participants an opportunity to
know each other.
4. Conduct workshop session. There may
be one or two sessions a day.
Chairperson is elected for each session
or for whole day by the participants.
5. Chairperson encourages the participants
to take active part in the discussion.
6. The workshop organizer may throw some light on
the objectives of the workshop. The experts or the
consultants may also express their opinion and
provide necessary information during the discussion
period whenever needed.

7. Sometimes a full discussion may be necessary and it

will be done through small group discussions. Small
group discussions are more alive with adequate
exchange of ideas and experiences.
8. The decisions made by the small groups
will be reported to the plenary session.
Plenary discussion provides wide range of
knowledge and experiences and help to
reach to a better decision.

9. Some brain storming exercises can be

made both in the small group discussion
and plenary session to pull quick ideas.

10.After the conduction of workshop prepare

a workshop report to be made available
to the sponsor, organizing office,
participants and consultant.
Advantages
1. Helps to provide up-to-date knowledge
and skills as well as to develop
appropriate attitude.
2. Provides opportunity for participatory
learning with maximum interactions
and encourages for team approach in
learning and solving health problems.
3. Provides varied learning experiences
like listening, speaking, seeing,
discussing etc.
4. Enhances participants power of
thinking and critical learning.
Disadvantages

Takes long time to organize the workshop.

Needs more money, materials and
physical facilities.
Sometimes it may be difficult to get
appropriate consultant.
 Contd..
The flow of action and reactions among the panel
members constantly provide necessary health
knowledge to the audience gathered in front of
them at a particular time and place.
Advantages
1. Provides varied knowledge, ideas and
experiences about the subject of concern to the
learners.
2. Interesting and can draw attention of the
audience or learners.
3. Learners can get opportunity to ask questions
and pass comments, which help in teaching
learning process.
Mass Methods
Lecture
Exhibition
Campaign
 Lecture
Meaning and definition

Lecture is an oral presentation of

information and ideas by a person to a
large group of people or mass and
generally in a face-to-face situation at a
particular place.

Lecture is organized at a particular time

usually for the people gathered together
at a determined place for a common
purpose.
Advantages

One person can teach or provide health

education to many people at a time
even without the help of any other
teaching materials.
Not expensive.
Message can be made systematic for
presentation in case of written speech.
Disadvantages

Lecture is one-way communication method.

There is no provision for interpersonal
reaction between the speaker and the
audience. The lecturer cannot observe the
gestures of the individuals in the mass.

Message learnt from lecture will be retained

only for short period of time, so may not
lead to expected behaviour change.
 Cannot be evaluated if the audience has
understood the lecture and put it into
practice.

It is difficult to draw the attention of the

audience for longer period of time.

It is abstract representation of what it

symbolizes, and so difficult to understand.

No skill development like, for constructing

a pit latrine, for making diagnosis of a
disease, etc.
Exhibition
Definition
Exhibition is the systematic and
meaningful display of educational
materials with an intention to educate
large number of people within a limited
period of time and at a particular place.

Exhibition consists of the use of different

teaching materials and methods to
illustrate and explain the points of
teaching.
Advantages
Provide better learning through varieties of
experiences like hearing, seeing, touching,
feeling and tasting.
Opportunity may be provided for practical
learning through demonstration, manipulation
of objects and through practice.
Interesting and attractive because of
decorations, good setting, and other lively
displays.
Helps students to develop creativity.
Organizing exhibition can also help learn some
new knowledge and skills.

Disadvantages

Difficult to organize in terms of money,

materials and manpower.
Difficult to organize to suit different kinds of
people with different needs, background,
interest, etc.
Difficult to get appropriate place and adjust to
the available time due to lack of resources,
unfavourable weather, etc.
 Campaign
What is health education campaign?
Health education campaign is often
termed as health campaign.
It is organized to create public awareness
on a particular health issue.
It is conducted on a mass scale with an
intention of motivating large number of
community people to take necessary
actions to solve their health problem.
Importance of Campaign
Health education campaign helps to
inform people about health problem.
Campaign encourages community
people to actively participate in action
programmes conducted in the
community.
In the campaign the information is
provided through series of activities
using different channels of
communication and varied methods of
health education.
 Health education campaign can be
organized on different subject areas of
health as necessary. For example:
No smoking campaign
Children nutrition campaign
Pit latrine construction campaign
Children immunization campaign
Cleaning campaign

Each method of teaching will be

adaptable to various learning situations.
Health Education
Media
 Media are the teaching aids through which
knowledge, information and ideas are
communicated. No widespread change of
knowledge, attitude and practices is possible
without the active and serious involvement and
participation of the community as a whole and this
is not possible without innovative use of media.
The play important role in creating awareness, and
in enforcing learning. They provides varieties of
learning experiences . The are used in different
ways and at different situations of individual, group
and mass teaching. Media are commonly used
while providing health education
 The media are also called audio
visual aids. Audio visual aids can be
broadly be categorized into three
different types. The are
Audio aids
Visual aids
Audio-visual aids
 Audio Aids
They compromise aids through which
learning occur by hearing. The
examples of audio aids are radio,
tape recorder or cassette player
etc.Radio is mostly used in mass
teaching where cassette player is
used in individual and group
teaching. Audio aids are considered
less effective for providing health
education.
 Visual aids
Visual aids are the media through which people
learn by seeing. Poster, bulletin board, flannel
graph, model, slides, wall chart, graph, pamphlets,
flash cards, film strips, overhead transparencies,

epidiascope,photographs,displays,diagra etc are

the examples of visual aids. Visual aids are more
effective than audio aids. Learning by seeing is
better than learning by hearing. Visual aids are
used to present things in appropriate size to
compare between two or more things, to present
steps of doing a task, to show something which
cannot be seen in real life situation. Visual aids
are used in individual, group and mass teaching.
 Audio-visual aids
These are the aids through which
learning occurs both by seeing and
hearing. Examples are television,
videotape and movie -film with sound.
Audio aids are more effective to give
health education than audio or visual
media alone because they only
involve more sensory experiences at
a time e.g. hearing and seeing
together. Teaching by the use of
audio-visual aids help to present a
 Audio aids
Radio

Radio is the audio aid through message are

relayed to a heterogeneous and large group
of people who are not physically present
before the communicator. It is a mass media
which provided one-sided communication.
Health educators recommend and practice
radio channel with an intention of creating
awareness about the health problem. Health
message can be relayed in the form of
lecture, story songs,news,drama,dialouge etc.
 Contd
Advantages
1. Listening to radio message is helpful to the illiterate people. The
message should be simple to understand.
2. One can give up-to date information to a large number of
people in a very short period of time.
3. It leaps the barriers of distance and space.
4. Radio transistor can be carried with and attend the radio health
programme anywhere the individual goes.
Disadvantages
5. It is a one-way communication system. Not good for education
and behavior change.
6. The communicator cannot be sure if people are listening to and
understanding his message
7. Sometimes there may be problems of electricity and batteries
8. Sometime there may be language barrier to certain group of
audience
Tape Recorder
Tape recorder is a small portable machine or
equipment ,which is operated with the help
of electricity or batteries. It is used for the
purpose of providing health education to the
group of audience. These days cassette tape
and cassette player is commonly used for
the same purpose of providing health
education. Different cassettes can be
recorded with different health message and
be used according to the need and interest
of the audience group. Even some music can
be recorded to make the presentation
attractive.
 Advantages-Disadvantages
Advantages
1.It can be used to open a discussion ,which lead to giving health
education to a group.
2. It can be played at learners speed of learning by stopping in
between or by playing over and over repeatedly as needed.
3. Message can be recorded and played easily at various places at
home, in the office, in the school, in the community place et.
Message can be saved for future use.
4. It can be played with the help of batteries where there is no
electricity supply.
Disadvantages
1. Cassette player or tape recorder may be costly to afford.
2. There is added problem of repairing.
3. Break of electricity supply or lack of batteries might pose
problem.Management for recording may take more time.
4. Learning by hearing only is not effective.
 Visual aids
a. Poster
A poster is a picture or drawing designed for
public display to convey a message on
certain subject. Usually a relevant caption is
also included to explain the meaning of the
picture. In fact a poster must contain the
following four basic parts.
. Caption
. Picture
. Course of action suggested
. Logo( official symbol or name of the
office for validity of the poster
 Advantages-Disadvantages
Advantages
1. Poster is useful for catching the attention of reader.
2. It is an attractive and effective teaching material.
3. It covers the larger number of people.
4. It encourages the people to put knowledge into practice.
5. It can be easy to carry from one place to another place.
6. Even illiterate people can learn something by looking at the
picture of the posters.
Disadvantages
7. Posters communicates very limited information and provides one
way communication.
8. Colour printing every posters is very expensive and printing
services may not be available everywhere especially in rural area.
9. The poster can get damaged through improper storage or
transported.
10.You cannot be sure if the intended group have seen or read the
displayed posters.
Pamphlet
Pamphlets are visual media which are
considered as mass media of health education.
A pamphlet give a short description of different
aspects of specific topic. The message can also
be written in the form of poem or song. It can
also be written in the form of dialogue.
Pamphlets can be produced in the form of
leaflets or folder to convey health message. A
leaflet is also called the handbill .Some
pamphlets may also includes relevant pictures
to illustrate the point of teaching. It should not
exceed more than four pages.
 Advantages-Disadvantages
Advantages
Help in propagating message rapidly in mass scale through
wide distribution. They are easy to carry with from one place
to another.
People can read them at free time and understand the
message well.
Easier to prepare and produce in large scale at low cost.
Can be kept safe to read again which help as remainder of the
message.
Disadvantages
Provide only one-way communication.
No t useful for illiterates.
Printing service may not be available everywhere especially in
rural places and small towns.
Cannot be sure if people or target population have read and
understood the distributed pamphlets.
Flip Chart
Flip chart is a simple visual aid, which is
just like a photo album. It is the series of
related chart or posters assembled in a
booklet form .It is also called flipbook or
turnover chart. They are meant to be
shown one after another. Each chart is
"flashed" or displayed before a group as
the talk is being given. The message on
the charts must be brief and to the point.
These charts are primarily designed to
hold attention of the group and help the
lecture to proceed.
Flannel graph
Consists of flannel board and a series of cut pieces.
Made from flannel cloth and the rigid cardboard sheet .
Size of cloth- preferably 40cm*30 cm.
Size of cut piece- 8cm*6 cm.
Not more than 12 pieces.
Bulletin Board

Display board which uses pictures, graphs, charts, cuttings etc.

Board size- 60 cm*40 cm
Usually kept in the common public location where target group
can see.
Materials can be replaced as per peoples need and interest.
Thus, economical.
Overhead Projector

Often used in educational classes and training sessions.

Visual messages can be projected in the screen.
Use of a reusable transparent plastic sheet
Need of appropriate message size
Distance between screen and projector (2-3)meters
Puppet Show

Types: Hand or glove/ String/Shadow/ Stick or rod

The movement of the puppet and speech/dialogue adjusted
accordingly.
 Audio-Visual aids

Television
Television has become the most popular of all
media. It is effective not only creating
awareness, but also to an extent influencing
public opinion and introducing new ways of
life. It is raising levels of understanding and
helping people familiarise with things they
have not seen before, including crime and
violence which are shown as part of feature
programmes. TV is a one - way channel. It can
only be an aid to teaching. It cannot cover all
areas of learning. It has much potential for
health communication.