M3.2.1: Methods and Classification of Health Education

• HEALTH EDUCATION METHODS

  The ways or techniques that are used to communicate ideas,

  information and to develop necessary skills and attitude of

  the participants.
• CLASSIFICATIONS OF HEALTH EDUCATION

  • Individual
  • Group
  • Mass/Mass Media
• Individual

  A person-to-person/face-to-face communication
• Individual

  STRENGTHS

  • Maximum opportunity for adequate interaction between the client and health educator.
  • Allows two-way flow of ideas.
  • May be more motivational, influential and supportive.
• Individual

  Weakness

  • Limited number of clients may be reached in consideration of the number of health educators who may deliver health.
• Group

  ● Involves a group of limited persons with homogenous nature

  ● Requires choosing a topic that must relate directly to the group

  ● Ex. School children who may need to be taught personal hygiene.
• Group

  STRENGTHS

  • Provides opportunities to learn from sharing of experiences and skills.
  • Provides support and encouragement needed to promote and maintain healthy practices.
• Group

  WEAKNESS

  • Personal attention may not be provided by the health educator.
• Mass/Mass Media

  It is designed for the education of the general public or of a large number of people with various strata.
• “Strata” refers to the people from different locations, cultures, and positions.
• Mass/Mass Media


  ● Ex. Community Health Staff Portraying real experience of women being banished to mud huts or sheds for the duration of their menstrual period.

  ○ This is in effort to open up dialogue about the practice and how the practice could be modified or eliminated to create a more healthy and just community.
• Mass/Mass Media

  ● Combination of any of the following methods is used to ensure the effective delivery of health education to the mass:

  ○ Lecture

  ○ Exhibition

  ○ Audio aid: radios & compact discs

  ○ Video aid: posters, pamphlets, flip chart, flannel graph, butte tin board, etc.

  ○ Audio-visual aid: television, film & sound, & videotape movies
• Mass/Mass Media

  STRENGTHS

  • More advantageous if there is a lack of resources and time is limited.
• Mass/Mass Media

  WEAKNESS

  • Limited number of clients may be reached in consideration of the number of health educators who may deliver health.
  • It is generally less effective in changing human behavior than individual or group methods.