5a. Defining the Parameters of Health Communication  

Health communication is a complex topic, encompassing a broad range of strategies, theories, and terminology related to the development of health communication campaigns addressing population health priorities. It’s impossible to capture the scope and breadth of health communication in a single module. So, as always, it’s important to complete your required readings to gain a complete understanding of the role of health communication as a population health strategy. 

Numerous authors have attempted to define health communication. One of the more comprehensive definitions, which was subsequently adopted for use by Public Health Ontario, defines health communication as the process of promoting health by disseminating messages through mass media, interpersonal channels and events.¹ Although this definition is relatively straightforward, it’s important to note that, in practice, effective health communication involves more than the creation of messages or materials; rather, it is a process that involves the use of theory and research-based strategies to shape the products, select the audiences, and determine the channels (e.g., radio, television, the internet) and vehicles (e.g., letters to the editor, PSAs, videos) that will be used to deliver messages to the audiences.^{2, 3}

Health communication campaigns encompass activities such as clinician‐patient interactions, classes, self‐help groups, mailings, hotlines, mass media campaigns, and events. Efforts can be directed toward enabling health-related changes among individuals, networks, small groups, organizations, communities, or entire jurisdictions, such as a province or nation-state.³

You can find out more about the actual steps involved in developing a health communication campaign from the Public Health Ontario document At a glance: The twelve steps to developing a health communication campaign (PDF).

CumbriaCrack.com (2012, December 31). Driving this new Year's Eve? Try a mocktail. Retrieved from https://www.cumbriacrack.com/2012/12/31/driving-this-new-years-eve-try-a-mocktail/

Approaches to Health Communication

There are a range of typologies or approaches to health communication that may be used depending on the goal of the campaign and the level of change desired (e.g., individual behaviour change vs. community or societal level policy change). Let's look at a few of these approaches.

Media Advocacy

Media advocacy is the strategic use of mass media to advance healthy public policies, including those aimed at providing more equitable access to the social determinants of health such as income or housing. Unlike more traditional approaches to health communication, media advocacy shifts the focus from the personal to the social, from the individual to the political, from the behaviour or practice to the policy or environment.⁴

 

The Salvation Army. (2017, February 15). Prayer Day 7 of 7: Dignity for All - A national Anti-Poverty Plan for Canada. Retrieved from https://www.torontohhs.org/prayer-day-7-7-dignity-national-anti-poverty-plan-canada/

 

Risk Communication

Risk communication is the act of conveying or transmitting information between parties about a range of shared concerns including levels of health or environmental risks, the significance or meaning of health or environmental risks and decisions, and actions or policies designed to manage or control health or environmental risks.⁵

 

CDC. (2017, November 14). Pregnant? Protect yourself from mosquito bites. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/pregnancy/zika/pregnancy/documents/Zika-Pregnancy.pdf

 

Social Marketing

Social marketing, which is sometimes incorrectly used as a synonym for health communication, refers to the application of consumer marketing concepts to bring about social change.⁶ Key social marketing concepts, such as the “four Ps” of marketing — product, price, place, and promotion — have been influential in guiding the development of health communication campaigns.⁷

The Limits of Health Communication: What It Can and Cannot Achieve

Regardless of the approach used for health communication or the underlying theory used to develop a campaign message, knowing what communication campaigns can and cannot do is essential.

Health communication is one tool or strategy for improving population health. Changes in health services, environments, and policies are also often necessary to completely address a problem or challenge.

Communication campaigns are useful for several purposes, including:

• increasing audience knowledge and awareness of a health issue, problem, or solution;
• influencing perceptions, beliefs, and/or attitudes that may change social norms;
• demonstrating or illustrating health-enabling skills;
• reinforcing adaptive knowledge, attitudes, or beliefs;
• advocating for a position on a health issue or policy;
• increasing the demand for a health service or product;
• showing the benefit of a particular behaviour change;
• prompting people or organizations or governments to take action; and,
• refuting myths or misconceptions that may inhibit the adoption of healthy behaviours or policies.

In combination with other population health strategies, health communication campaigns can be used to sustain behaviour change or a new health promoting policy.  In addition, health communication techniques can help individuals, groups, or communities to overcome barriers to health when used in tandem with other approaches.⁸

Communication campaigns also have distinct limitations. For example, they cannot compensate for inadequate access to health care, or social environments or policies that are detrimental to population health. They are highly unlikely to reliably produce sustained behaviour change without complementary strategies such as policy or environmental supports.

Communication campaigns are also a relatively blunt instrument. While they can be tailored, mass communication by definition is nearly impossible to tailor to individuals, at least for complex circumstances. As such, communication campaigns are unlikely to have the same effect or benefit for all members of a group, community, or society.⁸

The following table provides a useful summation of what a health communication campaign can and cannot reasonably be expected to achieve when implemented independently of other population health strategies.