Health education

• Relevance to target group:

  ·         People who need to follow medical advice differ from each other in several ways and attempts to improve adherence must take these differences into account.

  E.g: Elderly clients may have issues with memory, so health education should include opportunities to confirm that the client has understood and remembered the advice.

  Or young people may prefer to use online methods, such as social media.
• ·    Relevance to target group:

    ·         Another important difference is level of literacy skills- Health education should use simple language in simple discussions and limit number of key points to 2 or 3 and be followed up with written materials, also in everyday language.

  ·         In making lifestyle changes some clients (people with learning difficulties) benefit from a health professional modelling the behaviour. (showing them how to plan meals, or advising on accessible exercise routines.:
• Improving access to information:

  Discussions with health professionals are still a key source of information and appointments can be made via apps and can still take place virtually.

  Pharmacists have become more accessible sources of information, because they are present on many high streets and appointments are not usually necessary.

  Telephone follow ups to discussions are common and give clients the chance to ask questions that they may not have considered during a face-to-face consultation.
• Strengths:

  Practical applications: health education offers practical ways to improve adherence. Therefore research can play a useful role in identifying the barriers to adherence so that health professionals are aware of the issues that prevent compliance.
• Weakness:

  Access of quality:  Improving access to information is not enough on its own.

  The quality of the information is more important than the access.

  Improving access to incorrect information may reduce adherence rather than increase it.

  Eg: information spread by anti-vaccination groups on social media reaches many people but has no basis  in evidence and is mostly personal opinion. Therefore, improving access without considering quality can backfire and lead to non-adherence.