If you are gathering information on a local area for the first time, it would be helpful to share the work, and the findings, with colleagues. Working with colleagues needs to be done in conjunction with establishing links with local people. Gathering and updating all these different kinds of information is an ongoing project for every health promoter. There are a number of different kinds of information you can access when identifying need.

1. PUBLIC HEALTH IN
OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY
(OT 201)
Lecturer: Sir OAK

2. LECTURE SIX
 Finding and using of health information
 Methods of Health Education
Learning objective:
Upon completion of this topic students should be able to:
• explain the major sources of health information
• state and explain the various methods of health education.

3. Finding and Using Information
• If you are gathering information on a local area for the first time,
it would be helpful to share the work, and the findings, with
colleagues.
• Working with colleagues needs to be done in conjunction with
establishing links with local people.
• Gathering and updating all these different kinds of information is
an ongoing project for every health promoter.
• There are a number of different kinds of information you can
access when identifying need.

4. Major kinds of Information
1. Epidemiological data:
• Epidemiology is the study of the distribution and determinants of
disease in communities.
• Epidemiological data indicate:
how many people are affected by a health problem,
how many people die from a particular health problem, and
who are most at risk within sex, age, socioeconomic,
occupation, geographical groupings, weight, smoking, and
physical activity levels.

5. Major kinds of Information cont…
2. Socioeconomic Data:
• This gives information about housing, employment, social
class, social/recreational facilities, household amenities,
heads of households etc.
• Ask for full and current figures.
• Data obtained from Census and Annual Reports from
District/regional Directorate will show a pattern of inequalities
in health in your locality.

6. Major kinds of Information cont…
3. Professional Views
• Views of :
 fellow Health Promoters and Educators
 Teachers
 Social workers
 Public Health Nurses
 Health Visitors
 Environmental Health Officers
• Their concerns must be treated as major health concern.

7. Major kinds of Information cont…
4. Public Views
 Several ways of obtaining views from the public include:
 Informal discussions
 Interviews to large groups
 Focus Group discussions
 Large-scale-surveys (using questionnaire and in-depth
interview techniques)
 Identifying priority groups etc

8. Major kinds of Information cont…
5. Local media
• Opinions and data collected through the following media can
present a picture:
 TV
 Local radio
 News papers
 Information center
• It also give a view of any major changes in the community as
they happen.

9. Methods Of Health Education
• Health education helps people to make wise choices about their
health and the quality of life of their community.
• To do this, accurate information must be presented in
understandable form.
• Often many different presentations of the same facts and ideas
are needed.
Students should suggest some possible
methods of teaching used in Health Education.

10. Methods Of Health Education cont…

11. Methods Of Health Education cont…
• Health education is carried out at 3 main levels, namely:
• Individual Approach,
• Group Approach and
• General Approach/Mass.
 Individual Health Education:
 OTs are in direct contact with patients and their relatives, hence,
the opportunities for much individual health education.
The topic selected should be relevant to the situation.

12. Methods Of Health Education cont…
 Group Health Education:
 The groups may include mothers, school children, patients,
industrial workers – to whom we can direct health teaching.
The choice of subject in group health teaching must relate
directly to the interest of the group. For instance,
• mothers may be taught about baby care;
• school children about oral hygiene;
• a group of TB patients about tuberculosis, and
• industrial workers about accidents.

13. Methods of Group Teaching
One – way or didactic methods
• Lecture
• Films
• Charts
• Flannel graph
• Exhibits
• Flashcards
Two-way or Socratic Methods
• Group discussion
• Panel discussion
• Symposium
• Workshop
• Role playing
• Demonstration

14. One – way or didactic methods

15. Two-way or Socratic Methods

16.  Education of the general public(Mass Approach)
• For the education of the general public, we employ “mass
media of communication’ – Posters, health magazines, films,
radio, television, health exhibitions and health museums.
• They are very useful in reaching large numbers of people with
whom otherwise there could be no contact.
• For effective health education mass media should be used in
combination with other methods.

17. Things to consider when choosing health education methods.
There are six (6) things to consider before choosing health education methods.
1. How ready and able are people to change?
2. How many people are involved?
3. Is the method appropriate to the local culture?
4. What resources are available?
5. What mixture of methods is needed?
6. What methods fit the characteristics (age, sex, religion etc.) of the target group?

18. Ways to put across health messages
• There are two ways to put across health messages;
 the direct person-to-person method where you, the health
worker, are the principal communicator.
 the indirect method, in which your role is to convey to your
local audience health messages that originate elsewhere, for
example, radio and television programmes.
NB: Your success will depend on your ability to combine a variety
of methods, both direct and indirect.

19. Thank you