Summary
Contents
Subject index
How do you design an effective message for a health campaign? This book explores this question from both practical and theoretical perspectives. The contributors demonstrate the necessity of basing message design decisions on appropriate theories of human behavior and communication effectiveness by synthesizing and integrating knowledge and insights from theory and research in communication and health behavior change. This book will be an essential aid to designing messages for use in health communication campaigns.
Combining Theory and Practice: Additional Considerations
Health information comes from myriad sources, many of which are informal (e.g., conversations with co-workers), incidental (e.g., “information” gleaned from entertainment media), and possibly inaccurate (e.g., tabloid accounts of health risks or remedies). When surveyed, people typically cite their physician(s), their family members and friends, and the media as the most common sources of health information in their lives. Our point is that health message design does not occur in a vacuum. Health communication campaigns, of any form, at best supplement people's existing health information and sources of influence.
The admission that planned efforts at health communication are only a supplement to people's existing sources of health information and influence carries with it an obligation. ...
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