Concepts Of Health Communication

Module Unit 1. Overview Of Health Communication

Behavioural Sciences: the systematic analysis and investigation

of human and animal behaviour through the study of the past, controlled and naturalistic
observation of the present, and disciplined scientific experimentation. Behaviour science deals
primarily with human action and often seeks to generalize about human behaviour as it relates to
society.

Key Elements of Behavioural Sciences

a) Psychology

b) Psychobiology

c) Anthropology

d) Cognitive Science

Importance of Behavioural Sciences.

i. Make us understand the behavioural characteristics of man

ii. Make us understand individuals, groups, and communities and counteractions and
relationships and how this is related to behaviour.
iii. They provide us with relevant knowledge skills and attitudes concerning behaviours,
relevant to individuals, family and society as to facilitate communities solve their own
health problems.
iv. Make us understand and analyse the different cultures that exists.

Health communication has been defined as “the main currency of healthcare in the 21st
century”. It is the study and practice of communicating promotional health information, such as
in public health campaigns, health education, and between doctor and patient. The purpose of
disseminating health information is to influence personal health choices by improving health
literacy. Health communication is a unique niche in healthcare that allows professionals to use
communication strategies to inform and influence decisions and actions of the public to improve
health.

Ready access to relevant, reliable, and culturally appropriate information enables the general
public, patients, health care providers, public health professionals, and others to address personal
and public health concerns far more effectively than in the past. Health communication is a
powerful tool that can help improve health outcomes, contribute to eliminating health disparities,
and promote behavioural and social change.

Social and behaviour change communication (SBCC) is a modern communication initiative

used to proffer solutions to the myriads of development and health issues facing the world,
especially issues with behavioural and attitudinal underpinnings. Social and behaviour change
communication (SBCC) has to do with the application of a variety of communication strategies
to influence individual and collective behaviours that affect public health. It systematically
applies interactive, theory-based and research-driven communication processes and strategies to
address change at the individual, community, and society levels.

Behaviour change communication (BCC) is an interactive process of any intervention with

individuals, communities and/or societies to develop communication strategies to promote
positive behaviours which are appropriate to their settings. It is another SBCC strategy used to
move the people from awareness to action. It is the process of working with individuals, families
and communities through different communication channels to promote positive health
behaviours and support an environment that enables the community to maintain positive
behaviours taken on. It uses mass and social media, community-based media, and interpersonal
communication channel to increase individual knowledge, encourage changes in attitudes, and
practices among specific audiences. BCC is necessary at the individual level of the change
process through the application of relevant change theories (like stages of change theory,
diffusion of innovation, etc) to motivate the individual to change from negative to positive
behaviours.

In addition, behaviour change communication (BCC) is defined as an interactive process with

communities to develop tailored messages and approaches using a variety of communication
channels to develop positive behaviours; promote and sustain individual, community and societal
behaviour change; and maintain appropriate behaviours.

Behaviour Change Communication may take different forms to appeal to individuals or groups
to change behavior towards a specific health problem. Communication can be used as a potent
tool for promoting positive health behaviour among populations to prevent and control the
spread of diseases and illnesses. It is a very important aspect in health communication and is
used as an intervention measure across a wide range of health problems. Chronic diseases,
respiratory illnesses, HIV virus causing AIDS disease as well as zoonotic diseases can be
prevented through health communication initiatives that can effectively promote positive
behavior change.

Moreover, behavior change communication employs a systematic process that involves

formative research and behavior analysis, communication planning, implementation, and
monitoring and evaluation. In addition, the audiences are carefully segmented, messages and
materials are pre-tested, and both mass media and interpersonal channels are used to achieve
defined behavioural objectives.

BCC is achieved through three key interventions:

i. Mass media (radio, television, billboards, print material, the internet);

ii. Interpersonal communication (client-provider interaction, group presentations);

iii. Community mobilization.

Principles of Behaviour Change

 Target and build specific knowledge and specific skills-

 New knowledge creates the foundation for new behaviours.
 Identify and support the specific knowledge and skills needed to support new
behaviours
 Always pay attention to physical and social environments affect learning and behavior.
  Reduce the environmental conditions that support negative behaviours, and
increase the conditions that support positive or desired behaviours.
 This is based on operant conditioning, which maintains that behavior can be
changed by altering both the antecedents (cues) that precede behavior and the
consequences that follow a behavior.
 Modify behaviour sequentially and reward progress
 Effective BC must be realistic- set small very specific targets achievable over a
realistic time rather than focus on bigger longer-term results.
 Create many opportunities to acknowledge and reward small, successive steps
forward.
 Reinforce appropriately and include recognition of progress.
 Have participants commit to one doable positive action for the coming week.
 Successful progressive small positive changes enhance participants’ belief that
they are capable of BC.
 Expect occasional relapses. Therefore, acknowledge that BC is gradual with
support and encouragement
 Train in naturalistic conditions and settings
 Use strategies that incorporate naturalistic conditions
 Make it is easy to transfer new behaviour to everyday life.
 Teach specific cognitive rules or principles that can guide behaviour in new settings.
 Use simple cognitive rules to help individuals remember and apply important
concepts.
 Use rules to guide individuals’ behaviour.
 Model and offer many opportunities for participants to practice the desired
behaviour.
- Strategies that enhance opportunities for BC:
- Role play
- Modelling
- Video-taping
 Dosage-Response Ratio Principle
 Higher dosage leads to higher response
  Behaviour change is more likely to occur when skills are taught, practiced, and
rewarded over time.
 Strategies that increase dosage:
 Having multiple sessions to increase opportunities for instruction and practice.
 homework
 written materials, and
 "buddy" discussions
 Emphasize the individual as the key to behavior change
• Behaviour change is individual-centred.
• Enhance the three self-perceptions critical to behaviour change:
 Perceived personal importance of a specific change
 Personal readiness to change a specific behavior
 A sense of self-efficacy
 Facilitate social and other supports over time to support and sustain behavior change
 Social support improves the health behaviours of both the receiver and giver of
support.
 Social support is a source of emotional support, social connections, and practical
ideas on how to successfully change behaviour.
The strategic role of behaviour change communication

Elements of an effective BCC. It should:

 Increase Knowledge. BCC should ensure that people have the basic facts in a language,
visual medium or other media that they can understand and relate to. Effective BCC
should motivate audiences to change their behaviours in positive ways.
 Stimulate Community Dialogue. Effective BCC should encourage community and
national discussions on the underlying factors that contribute to the epidemic, such as risk
behaviours, risk settings and the environments that create these conditions. BCC should
create a demand for information and services, and should spur action for reducing risk,
vulnerability and stigma.
  Promote Advocacy. Through advocacy, BCC can ensure that policy makers and opinion
leaders approach the epidemic seriously. Advocacy takes place at all levels, from the
national down to the local community level.
 Reduce Stigma and Discrimination. Communication on BC should address stigma and
discrimination associated with health concerns and attempt to influence social responses
to them.
 Promote Services for Prevention Care and Support. BCC can promote services that
address various health concerns and marshal social and economic support. BCC can also
improve the quality of these services by supporting providers' knowledge, skills and
abilities.

The Goals of Behaviour Change Communication

BCC strategies in health aim to create a demand for information and services relevant to
preventing health conditions, and to facilitate and promote access to care and support services.

Some specific BCC objectives include:

- Motivating people to adopt and sustain healthy behaviours and lifestyles.

- Promoting uptake and continued use of health services;
- Increasing the demand for disease prevention services, and for health care and
support;
- Stimulating dialogue and discussion on risk, risk behaviour, risk settings and
local solutions; and
- Reducing stigma and discrimination for those living with diseases and
conditions.

The steps involved in designing behaviour change communication

The following steps incorporate careful analysis, feedback and redesign throughout the entire
process.

Step 1: Identify the problem based on the overall program goals.

Step 2: Segment target populations.

Step 3: Engage in formative research.

Step 4: Identify behaviour change goals.

Step 5: Seek consensus from stakeholders.

Step 6: Design communication plan, including objectives, overall theme, specific messages and
outlets for dissemination.

Step 7: Pre-test and revise.

Step 8: Target communication to specific groups.

Step 9: Implement the plan.

Step 10: Monitor and evaluate it.

Step 11: Seek feedback and make appropriate revisions.

The above steps can be summarized into the following steps of behaviour change
communication programme cycle
Step 1: Analysis
Step 2. Strategic Design.
Step 3: Development and pretesting of materials and messages
Step 4: Implementation and Monitoring
Step 5: Evaluation
Behaviour Change Communication Cycle

A BCC programme goes through the following steps:

a. Analysis
Understand Dynamics of the Health Issue
 Determine severity and causes of the health issue, noting differences by audience
characteristics such as gender and ethnicity.
 Identify possible health-related behaviours that could be encouraged or discouraged.
 Identify social, economic, and political factors blocking or facilitating desired behavior
changes.
 Develop problem statement that summarizes the above points to help identify what
aspects of the health issue can be addressed through communication.
Understand Audience and Other Potential Participants in the Program (Formative
Research)
 Identify primary audience (people who are at risk of or are suffering from the health
problem) and secondary audiences (people who influence health behaviours of primary
audience).
 Collect in-depth information about the audience: What is their knowledge, attitudes, and
beliefs about health? What factors affect their health behaviours? What are their media
habits? What access do they have to information, services, and other resources? Where
do they currently stand in the stages of behavior change?
 Are there different groups of people who have similar needs, preferences, and
characteristics (audience segments)? Will the BCC program need customized messages
and materials to suit audience segments?
 Develop a profile, or description, of each audience segment to help the creative team
develop effective messages and materials.
Conduct participant analysis.
 What other people or groups can participate in the BCC program (partners, stakeholders,
allies, and gatekeepers)? These may include nongovernmental organizations, professional
associations, schools, faith-based groups, and the media.
 What skills or resources can they offer?
 What would motivate their participation?
Conduct channel analysis.
 What communication channels are available?
 What are the strengths and weaknesses of each channel?
 E.g., How effective are the channels in reaching the audience? How many people can
they reach?
b. Strategic design
 Define communication, behavior change, and program objectives.
 Communication objectives- desired changes in indirect influences on behavior, such as
knowledge, attitudes, and social norms.
 Behavior change objectives - intended changes in the audience’s actual behavior.
 Together, communication and behavior change objectives contribute to the overall
program objective- the anticipated results of the overarching health program.
 All objectives should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Appropriate, Realistic, and
Timebound?
 Develop a conceptual framework to show how program activities are expected to
contribute to objectives.
 Use the conceptual framework to help select monitoring and evaluation indicators.
 Are indicators valid—that is, do they measure the topic or issue that they are
meant to reflect?
 Are indicators reliable—that is, do they produce consistent results when repeated
over time?
 Are they specific (measure a single topic or issue)?
 Are they sensitive (responsive to change)?
 Are they operational (measurable)?
 Prioritize communication channels.
 Use relevant behavioural theories and findings from formative research to guide
the choice of channels.
 To help maximize effect, consider the possibility of using a mix of the three
major types of channels—mass media, interpersonal, and/or community
channels?
 Develop a creative brief to share with people and organizations involved in developing
messages and materials.
  The brief should include a profile of the intended audience, behavior change objectives,
resulting benefits that the audience will appreciate, channels that will carry the messages,
and the key message points?
 Draw up an implementation plan, including activities, partners’ roles and responsibilities,
timeline, budget, and management plan.
 Develop a monitoring and evaluation plan.
c. Development and pretesting
 Develop messages and materials.
 Use findings from formative research and the strategic plan to guide development. The
creative brief and audience profiles developed in Step 2 summarize this information.
 Tailor messages to the audience’s stage of behaviour change.
 Choose type of appeal, such as empowering or entertaining, and tone, such as humorous
or authoritative.
 Pre-test messages and materials with audience members.
 Revise messages and materials based on pretesters’ reactions.
d. Implementation and Monitoring
 Develop and implement a dissemination plan.
 Manage and monitor program progress—activities, staffing, budget, and responses of the
audience and other stakeholders.
 Make midcourse adjustments to the program based on monitoring results.
e. Evaluation
 Measure outcomes, assess impact.
 Disseminate results to partners, key stakeholders, the news media, and funding agencies.
 Record lessons learned and archive research findings for use in future programs.
 Revise or redesign program based on evaluation findings.
Key Characteristics of Health Communication

 Audience-centred
 Research-based
 Multidisciplinary
 Strategic
 Process oriented
  Cost-effective
 Creative in support of strategy
 Audience and media specific
 Relationship building
 Aimed at behavioural or social change

Health Communication Planning

Too often health organizations operate on emergency mode and use communication primarily as
a tool to respond to emerging needs or sudden crises. This frequently leads to difficulties in
securing adequate funding or response to what appear to be lastminute needs. The truth is that
most needs can be anticipated and many crises averted if communication planning is one of the
standard protocols and activities of the organization.

Communication planning is a research-driven process. An in-depth understanding of the health

communication environment as well as the needs, preferences, and expectations of key audiences
and stakeholders on a health issue may result in multifaceted and well-orchestrated interventions
that are far more effective than single and sporadic approaches to communication. Even when
the health communication intervention is part of a larger public health or corporate effort, which
happens in most cases, “a plan specific to the health communication component is necessary”

A health communication plan can help clarify how an organization can:

 Advance its mission

 Involve others in a health issue and its solutions
 Expand the reach and implementation of its ideas, recommended behaviours, and
practices
 Ultimately support health behavior change Moreover, planning can help in other ways
too:
 Provide further knowledge on the health issue being addressed and key factors
influencing its potential solutions.
  Develop a clear understanding of key audiences’ characteristics, culture, preferences,
needs, lifestyle, and behavior.
 Engage key audiences and stakeholders in the design and implementation of the health
communication intervention.
 Become clear about what the program is asking key audiences to do and whether the
proposed change is feasible.

Health Communication Planning Process

Planning in Health communication is required because it permits preparation in advance and
track successes and failures by ensuring that all opportunities are maximized. In order to achieve
this, nine steps should be followed.

The first step entails formation of planning team and setting up of the budgeting rules. The
selected team must be knowledgeable and influential and also must have a sense of the budget.
While forming a team, the following questions should be considered. Who will be involved in
the planning and budgeting process of the health communication campaign to optimize the
organization’s knowledge, resources, partners and decision-making process? Is there staff or
volunteers in the participating organization that could be recruited in the team? What about from
outside the organization? How will you ensure that your planning process will include the input
of representatives of the intended audience, as well as key partners &informants? Are you
working with a predetermined budget or will you establish the budget after you have identified
what is needed to achieve specific objectives? All these questions are important.

The second step is about determining of the unique focus and audience of the campaign. At
this point you need to be clear on the nature and scope of the health issue that you are addressing.
For instance, some health issues are very sensitive and you need to handle them with care not to
cause more damage to already affected people. You are required to identify specific factors that
the campaign will focus on, determine the key audience(s) and clearly articulate communication
objectives for the campaign. To achieve this, some of the questions can used to guide individual
developing the campaign. For example: what is the nature and scope of the health issue you want
to address (describe & quantify)? Which factors explaining the issue you want to focus on? Who
specifically do you want to reach (key audience)? What do you want them to know, think and/or
do?

The third step is about analysing the audience and setting up the objectives. The focus at this
point is on identification of aspects of the demography, behavioural and lifestyle profile of the
audience that will be helpful in all aspects of planning. This involves the identification of current
knowledge, perceptions, attitudes, motivations, as well as barriers to the adoption of behaviours.
Identify the most influential and supportive individuals and groups for instance community
elders, religious leaders’ political leaders etc. This will help develop testimonials, select
messengers and partnerships. Identify the best channels to reach the audience. Optimize what
you know and consider low-cost research to establish base line data and gather insight on the
audience. Not all affected persons in the community will respond similarly to a given campaign
and organization. Set realistic objectives based on the audience analysis.

It is important to identify opportunities and challenges as the fourth step. Here you may need
to partner with other organizations/individual with the similar objectives. You are required to
identify promotional and partnership opportunities that you should use. Identify your competition
and other challenges to be considered in developing your strategy. You should consider targeted
channels in order to avoid undesirable opposition or backlash. You may want to involve partner
organizations and key community informants in the planning process to take their concerns and
suggestions into account due to their influence in the society.

Selection of channels and partners is the fifth step that involves selecting various interpersonal
and media channels, as well as any appropriate events based on the audience analysis, contextual
considerations and budgets. Ensure that you have optimal frequency and timely exposure in each
channel. Establish partnerships with organizations and people that will provide credibility for the
messages and access to the target persons or community you want to reach.

Develop and pre-test messages in the sixth step. This can be done by determining the content
and type of appeal for messages. Also identify messengers and consistent branding elements for
the campaign. A focused brief must be provided to message developers before pre-testing the
messages and materials. Pre-testing is important because it helps to ensure that the message you
plan to disseminate will be well understood.

Monitoring and evaluation are an important step that should be addressed. This is commonly
done before the actual implementation of the program. This is to ensure that it is included in the
timetable and budget. You need to map out how the campaign is expected to work. This is
critical because it ensures that the right outcomes are measured. Here you need to develop the
campaign’s logic model, establish a systematic review of the implementation for example
monthly, quarterly yearly depending with program. Ensure that activities are actually reaching
the intended audience and evaluate progress toward the objectives. You can use baseline data
and a methodology to evaluate progress.

Establishing the timetable is the next step. This includes specifying the tasks, persons that will
be involved and deadlines to ensure effective and efficient implementation. Make sure that you
assign competent and dedicated person to oversee the initiative. Sometimes different tasks are
assigned to all persons involved in the implementation of the campaign at this point. Tasks such
as analysing target audience, developing the message, establishing partnerships, pre-test,
monitoring, evaluating results etc. are some of the activities that you need to include in you plan.

Establishing of the budget is the final step in health communication planning, campaigns and
strategies. It is important to provide realistic budget outlining expenses, sources of revenue and
in-kind contributions. Your budget should include both expenses and revenues. Revise your
objectives and strategy based on confirmed revenues. Look for opportunities, leverage your
personal contacts and develop strong cases when seeking additional funding.

Overview Of the Health Communication Planning Process

 Evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, and cost-effectiveness of different approaches that

can be used to support change.
 Set communication priorities.
 Select potential partners.
 Evaluate the organization’s internal capability and resources to address the health issue.
 Develop culturally appropriate tools and activities.
 Define program time lines, roles, and responsibilities, as well as budget parameters.
  Establish evaluation parameters designed to facilitate program assessment.

Planning Strategies

 Tailoring a health message is one strategy for persuasive health communication. For
messages of health communication to reach selected audiences accurately and quickly,
health communication professionals must assemble a collection of superior and audience
appropriate information that target population segments. Understanding the audience for
the information is critical to effective delivery.
 Communication is an enigma that is detrimental to the healthcare world and to the
resulting health of a patient. Communication is an activity that involves oral speech,
voice, tone, nonverbal body language, listening and more. It is a process for a mutual
understanding to come at hand during interpersonal connections. A patient's
communication with their healthcare team and vice versa, affects the outcome of their
health. Strong, clear, and positive relationships with physicians can chronically improve
and increase the condition of a certain patient. Through two approaches, the biomedical
model and the biopsychosocial model; this can be successfully achieved. Evidence has
shown that communication and its traditions have altered throughout the years. With the
use of many new discoveries and the changes within our technology market,
communication has severely improved and become instantaneous.
 Communicators need to continually synthesize knowledge from a range of other
scholarly disciplines including marketing, psychology, and behavioural sciences. Once
this information has been collected, professionals can choose from a variety of methods
and strategies of communication that they believe would best convey their message.
These methods include campaigns, entertainment advocacy, media advocacy, new
technologies, and interpersonal communication.

Key Takeaways for Health Communicators

 Tailor messages to the target audience to ensure the messages are understood and can
achieve the greatest impact.
  Use a multidisciplinary approach to the development of health communication
campaigns, incorporating expertise from a variety of professional backgrounds and
insights from the target audience.
 Pre-test messages to guard against unintended consequences and to ensure that the
messages resonate with the intended audience.
 Sufficient funding should be reserved for health communication campaigns to ensure the
audience are exposed to messages continuously over time.
 Monitor campaigns shared via social media and be prepared to adjust messages if altered
by the audience.

Interpersonal communication

Health communication relies on strong interpersonal communication in order to influence health

decisions and behaviours. The most important of these relationships are the connection and
interaction between an individual and their health care provider (e.g., physician, therapist,
pharmacist) and an individual's social support system (family, friends, community). These
connections can positively influence the individual's decision to make healthy choices. Patients
are more prone to listen when they feel invested emotionally into the situation. If they feel as if
they understand what is being said, they are more prone to make objective decisions based on the
information heard. Two of the most prominent areas of study in interpersonal health
communication are the patient-centred and the relationship centred models of care.

Interpersonal communications, which uses interpersonal channels (for example, one-on-one or

group meetings) and is based on active listening, social and behavioural theories, and the ability
to relate to and identify with the audience’s needs and cultural preferences and efficiently
addressing them. This includes “personal selling and counselling” which takes place during one-
on-one encounters with members of interested audiences and other key stakeholders, as well as
during group events and in locations where materials and services are available. It also includes
provider-patient communications, which has been identified as one of the most important areas
of health communication and should aim at improving health outcomes by optimizing the
relationships between providers and their patients/communities.

Interpersonal behavior is influenced by several cultural factors. Although each individual has his
or her own style of interacting with others, social conventions as well as traditions and values in
a given group or community play an important role in how behavior and communication take
place and are interpreted and perceived.

All interactions comprise both verbal and nonverbal signs and symbols that contribute to the
meanings of behavior and communication actions. Social psychologists tend to consider signs to
be involuntary behaviours, such as blushing in response to feelings of embarrassment. Symbols
are defined as voluntary acts, such as using verbal expressions to describe one’s feelings).
According to these definitions, saying “I am embarrassed” is a symbol, while blushing is a
sign.

Interpersonal behavior is usually affected by social needs and factors as well as cognitive
processes that may vary at the individual level. Both of these factors play a key role in how
information is shared, evaluated, processed, and absorbed.

In health communication, it is not enough to define a recommended behavior as “healthy” or

“life-saving.” In order to determine a more permanent attitude change, all statements need to be
supported by evidence and translated into tools to facilitate their practical application. This is an
important concept in message development in both interpersonal communications and other
action areas of health communications. Facts and tools are critical to lend credibility to verbal
expressions and motivate people to change.

Interpersonal group communication is another form through which the message can be
disseminated to reach the target audience. Interpersonal channels are often face-to-face
communication, such as counselling and telephone hotlines.

Interpersonal form of communication can be more credible and specific because it takes place
one-on-one with trusted sources. Interpersonal group communication is relevant if there is a
national campaign. In some cases, the interpersonal messages are linked to messages in the mass
media. Use health personnel such as Community Health Workers (CHVs) traditional birth
attendants etc. to provide messages to the community at each contact.

Key Elements of an Effective Health Communication Program

 Careful analysis of the situation, opportunities, and communication needs

 Understanding of constituency and audience needs
 Early agreement on expected outcomes and evaluation parameters
 Well-defined communication objectives
 Strategies designed to meet the objectives
 Multiple and audience-specific vehicles
 Adequate funding and human resources

MODULE UNIT 2. SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR CHANGE COMMUNICATION

STRATEGIES

Development Of Logic Model

The program logic model is defined as a picture of how your organization does its work – the
theory and assumptions underlying the program. A program logic model links outcomes (both
short- and long-term) with program activities/processes and the theoretical
assumptions/principles of the program.
The Kellogg Foundation also noted that “[the logic model approach] facilitate[s] thinking,
planning, and communications about program objectives and actual accomplishments…
Developing and using logic models is an important step in building community capacity and
strengthening community voice.
Originally promoted by private foundations such as the Kellogg Foundation and the Howard
Hughes Medical Institute, logic models are now also found in proposals and project reports
written for the National Science Foundation and other government agencies.

The Basic Elements of a Logic Model

Impacts—Normally shown at the right side of the model, the impacts are the long-term effects
of the program. These impacts typically are achieved sometime beyond the lifetime of the
program. (The process of developing a logic model is described below but describing the impact
is the first step in creating the model.)
Outcomes—Specific changes in program participants’ behavior, knowledge, and/or skills that
result because of the program are the outcomes. These outcomes can be short-term or long-term.
Outputs—The direct products of planned activities (or strategies) are the outputs for the
program. These might be physical results such as documents or they may be the data that is
collected, e.g., the numbers of participants, their demographics, and/or responses to surveys.
Activities—The strategies/actions that are planned so that the desired outputs and outcomes will
be achieved are the planned activities
Resources/Inputs—The funds, personnel, and equipment are the resources/inputs required to
put in place the activities that are planned.
A logic model is typically created by a group of people who have the experience and knowledge
required to develop a project or program that aligns with a desired set of outcomes or impact. (In
the case of a small project such as a new course proposal, an individual can also develop the
logic model.) Once the team is formed, the process described below is recommended and is
based on the elements described above and illustrated in the figure below:

Root Cause Analysis

Root cause analysis (RCA) is the process of discovering the root causes of problems in order to
identify appropriate solutions. RCA assumes that it is much more effective to systematically
prevent and solve for underlying issues rather than just treating ad hoc symptoms and putting out
fires.

Root cause analysis (RCA) is the process of discovering the root causes of problems in order to
identify appropriate solutions. RCA assumes that it is much more effective to systematically
prevent and solve for underlying issues rather than just treating ad hoc symptoms and putting out
fires. Root cause analysis can be performed with a collection of principles, techniques, and
methodologies that can all be leveraged to identify the root causes of an event or trend. Looking
beyond superficial cause and effect, RCA can show where processes or systems failed or caused
an issue in the first place.

Core principles

There are a few core principles that guide effective root cause analysis, some of which should
already be apparent. Not only will these help the analysis quality, these will also help the analyst
gain trust and buy-in from stakeholders, clients, or patients.

The following points are vital:

 Focus on correcting and remedying root causes rather than just symptoms.

 Don’t ignore the importance of treating symptoms for short term relief.

 Realize there can be, and often are, multiple root causes.

 Focus on HOW and WHY something happened, not WHO was responsible.

 Be methodical and find concrete cause-effect evidence to back up root cause claims.

 Provide enough information to inform a corrective course of action.

 Consider how a root cause can be prevented (or replicated) in the future.

As the above principles illustrate: when we analyse deep issues and causes, it’s important to
take a comprehensive and holistic approach. In addition to discovering the root cause, we
should strive to provide context and information that will result in an action or a decision.

 Remember: good analysis is actionable analysis.

Benefits and goals of root cause analysis

The first goal of root cause analysis is to discover the root cause of a problem or event. The
second goal is to fully understand how to fix, compensate, or learn from any underlying issues
within the root cause. The third goal is to apply what we learn from this analysis to
systematically prevent future issues or to repeat successes. Analysis is only as good as what we
do with that analysis, so the third goal of RCA is important. We can use RCA to also modify
core process and system issues in a way that prevents future problems. Instead of just treating the
symptoms of a football player’s concussion, for example, root cause analysis might suggest
wearing a helmet to reduce the risk of future concussions.

Treating the individual symptoms may feel productive. Solving a large number of problems
looks like something is getting done. But if we don’t actually diagnose the real root cause of a
problem, we’ll likely have the same exact problem over and over.

Development Of Communication Strategy

A communications strategy is a plan for communicating with your target audience. It includes
who you are talking to, why you are talking to them, how and when you will talk to them, what
form of communication the content should take and what channels you should use to share it.

What is the purpose of developing a communication strategy?

Communication strategies ensure that important information is relayed to the right people,
through internal and external communication.
Five Types of Communication strategies

 Verbal Communication. Verbal communication occurs when we engage in speaking with

others.
 Non-Verbal Communication. What we do while we speak often says more than the actual
words.
 Written Communication.
 Listening.
  Visual Communication.

Verbal Communication

These 10 tips can help one learn to communicate more effectively.

 Clear voice. ...

 Avoiding filler words. ...
 Proper body language. ...
 Use "I" statements. ...
 Practice active listening. ...
 Paying attention to facial expressions. ...
 Providing visual context. ...
 Learn to say "No"

How to Develop a Communications Strategy

1. Determine Your Communications Strategy Goal.

2. Define Your Target Audiences.
3. Assess Your Current State of Affairs.
 4. Create Your Key Messages.
5. Decide on Metrics and Milestones.
6. Identify Your Communications Channels.
7. Assign Message Owners.
8. Create a Work Plan.

Objectives may include,

 Providing information;

 Increasing awareness;

 Encouraging action;

 Building consensus;

 Changing behavior;

 Promoting community participation;

 Resolving conflict, or

 Asking for input.

Once your reason for communicating is determined, you can focus on defining the audiences
you need to reach and how you want to reach them. Ask yourself the following questions:

 Who is involved,
 Affected, interested?
 Is there an obvious audience? n
 Are there others who may be affected? n
 Are there traditionally underrepresented groups that need to be reached?
MESSAGE: MUST BE SMART

 S …. SPECIFIC

 M.……MEASURABLE

 A.……ATTAINABLE

 R.……REALSTICT

 T—TIME BOUND

Situation Analysis and Audience Segmentation

Audience analysis is a process used to explore and identify the priority and influential audiences
of an SBCC intervention. What is situational analysis in audience analysis?

An audience analysis focuses on situational factors such as the size of the audience, the physical
setting for the speech, and the disposition of the audience toward the topic, the speaker, and the
occasion.

Audience segmentation is the process of finding strategic subgroups within your target audience,
based on shared behaviours, interests, or attributes that indicate how they will respond to
marketing. Then, you can tailor your marketing mix to those more manageable subgroups, also
called segments.

Key Steps for Effective Audience Analysis and Segmentation

 Identify Priority Audiences.

 Identify Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices.
 Identify Barriers and Facilitators.a
 Consider Audience Segmentation.
 Identify Influencing Audiences.
 Priority Audience (Primary)

Priority audiences are those whose behavior the intervention aims to change. They are not
necessarily those who are most affected by the problem. Rather, they are those whose change in
behavior will most likely achieve the program goal. For example, children may be most affected
by a cholera outbreak, but their caregivers’ behaviours may be what needs to change to bring the
outbreak under control.ie care givers are the priority audience.

Who is the Primary Audience?

Primary audiences are those whose behavior change will be more likely to lead to the desired
outcome of an SBCC intervention. Below are two fictional examples to illustrate this point.

Example 1: A situation analysis during an Ebola outbreak highlighted the fact that traditional
leaders were promoting unsafe burial practices and encouraging communities to practice them as
well, rejecting recommendations for safe burials. As a result, the unsafe burial practices led to
the further spread of Ebola among community members. Although leaders were not the most.

Example 2: Following a natural disaster, large populations of displaced people were provided
with shelter in a refugee camp. Despite food distributions, children remained severely
malnourished. A needs assessment revealed that mothers were unable to feed their children
correctly because the husbands would take the food and sell it on the market to buy local beer.
Although children were the most affected by malnutrition and mothers were the primary caregivers
and fed the children, the communication response targeted men to encourage them to use the food
from distribution correctly for the health of their children.

Influential Audience (Secondary Audience)

Influential audiences are the populations who interact with the priority audience to influence their
behaviours. Influential audiences can therefore support the desired behavior change in the priority
audience. Examples include religious and community leaders who can influence men in a
community; mothers-in-law who can influence young mothers; health care providers whose
attitude and behavior can influence those who attend their clinics. Both primary (i.e., priority) and
secondary (i.e., influential) audiences are important for promoting behavior change.
Audience Segmentation

An important component of audience analysis is segmentation. This involves dividing a large

audience population into smaller subgroups of individuals, based on a set of similarities such as
needs, behaviours, values and other characteristics, in order to design tailored and thus more
effective activities and messages. Affected by the virus, they constituted the primary audience of
the communication response as changing their beliefs around burials practices to promote safe
burials would considerably contribute to curbing the outbreak.

Mission Statements

Mission statement defines your company's primary goal. It is the most dramatic presentation of
your company's immediate-term organizational objectives, management philosophy and
community-outreach goals. It captures the dreams and directs the energies of those people who are
in the business. There are a few things all of the mission statement examples have in common:

 They are specific and direct

 They are brief

 They do not contain buzzwords or jargon

Creative Concept

A creative concept is an overarching “Big Idea” that captures audience interest, influences their
emotional response and inspires them to take action. It is a unifying theme that can be used
across all campaign messages, calls to action, communication channels and audiences.

 Nike's, “Just Do It” “AIDS KILLS

Steps developing a creative concept

Step 1: Develop a Problem Statement. ...

Step 2: Select the Brainstorm Team. ...
Step 3: Organize the Brainstorming Session. ...
 Step 4: Provide Background for the Brainstorm. ...
Step 5: Break the Ice. ...
Step 6: Individual Idea Generation. ...
Step 7: Expand Ideas. ...
Step 8: Select and Refine the Two to Three Best Ideas
CREATIVE BRIEF

A creative brief is a document used by creative professionals and agencies to develop creative
deliverables: visual design, copy, advertising, web sites, etc. The document is usually developed
by the requestor and approved by the creative team of designers, writers, and project managers.

How to Write a Creative Brief

 Decide on a name for the project.

 Write about the brand and summarize the project's background.
 Highlight the project objective.
 Describe the target audience.
 Interpret the competitive landscape.
 Prepare the key message.
 Choose the key consumer benefit.
 Select an attitude.

BRAND STRATEGY

brand strategy definition

Is a document that defines what ,you stand for,a promise you make to clients and the
personality you than you convey and contains a logo colour,pallete and slogan It includes the
mission statement and a message for creating awareness.It directs how,what,where and to whom
brand messages are communicated and delivered to.
Essential Elements of a Brand Style Guide

 Logo. Your brand style guide should include all variations of your logo, including your
primary logo, secondary logo and submarks. ...
 Logo Usage. ...
 Color Palette. ...
 Fonts / Typography. ...
 Imagery. ....

What are the 4 C's brand?

 The 4Cs communications:

 Clarity;
 Credibility;
 Consistency
 competitivenes

Brand strategy for Primary Health Care

POSITIONING FOR A BRANDED PRODUCT

Definition of Positioning in SBCC

 In the context of strategic design, positioning means presenting a challenge, service, or

product in such a way that it stands out from other comparable or competing challenges,
services, or products, and it is appealing and persuasivep Positioning creates a distinctive
and attractive image, a perpetual foothold in the minds of the intended audience.

 Positioning is the identity you want your SBCC program to have. Positioning presents the
determined strategic approaches in a way that is both persuasive and appealing to the
intended audience. It provides direction for developing a memorable identity, shapes the
development of messages, and helps determine the strategic approaches to be used.
Positioning ensures that messages have a consistent voice and that all planned activities
reinforce each other for a cumulative effect.

DEVELOPING A STAKE HOLDERS WORKSHOP

A stakeholder workshop is one way to engage stakeholders – those who are affected ...
developing a social and behavior change communication (SBCC) strategy

Strategy;Get advice on which audiences to prioritize and on the communication channels they
prefer. Present potential audiences and engage stakeholders in determining which are the priority
and influencing audiences the SBCC strategy must address. Discuss the causes identified and
whether there should be any intervening

STEPS.

Step 1: Analyze the Situation

Step 2: Audience
Step 3: Communication Objectives

Step 4: Strategic Approaches

Step 5: Positioning and Strategy Outline

Step 6: Implementation Plan

Step 7: Monitoring and Evaluation

Conclusion

MODULE UNIT 3.0 HEALTH COMMUNICATION CAMPAIGNS

Health campaigns are time-bound, intermittent activities that address specific epidemiological
challenges, expediently fill delivery gaps or provide surge coverage for health interventions.
They can be used to prevent or respond to disease outbreaks, control or eliminate targeted
diseases as a public health problem, eradicate a disease altogether or achieve other health goals.

Designing The Health Campaigns

A health campaign is a type of media campaign which attempts to promote public health by
making new health interventions available. The organizers of a health campaign frequently use
education along with an opportunity to participate further, such as when a vaccination campaign
seeks both to educate the public about a vaccine and provide the vaccine to people who want it.

When a health campaign has international relevance, it may be called a global health campaign.
Four principles to follow when developing a health communication campaign:

1) Audience segmentation,

2) Channel selection,

3) Theory-based message design,

4) Outcome evaluation.

The four principles are interconnected in guiding every decision point over the course of health
campaign development. For instance, audience segmentation (who?) implies channel selection,
message design, and evaluation plans. Message design (what?) additionally determines channel
selection (how?), and vice versa. Evaluation (did it work?) is carried out through the whole
campaign.

Audience–channel–message–evaluation (ACME) framework organizes the major principles of

health campaign design, implementation, and evaluation. ACME also explicates the relationships
and linkages between the varying principles. Insights from ACME include the following: The
choice of audience segment(s) to focus on in a campaign affects all other campaign design
choices, including message strategy and channel/component options.

Although channel selection influences options for message design, choice of message design also
influences channel options. Evaluation should not be thought of as a separate activity, but rather
should be infused and integrated throughout the campaign design and implementation process,
including formative, process, and outcome evaluation activities. Overall, health communication
campaigns that adhere to this integrated set of princaples of effective campaign design will have
a greater chance of success than those using principles idiosyncratically. These design,
implementation, and evaluation principles are embodied in the ACME framework. It’s for
development and implementation rather than a one-time, separate assessment.

Health communication campaigns are often discussed in the contexts of health education
interventions and/or social marketing programs. Although the three types of efforts are often
intertwined, important differences exist. Some educational interventions are carried out entirely
in clinical or institutional settings without necessarily engaging mass-reaching media.

Social marketing campaign approach to health communication can help the health communicator
design and disseminate effective messages consistently and strategically. Health communication
campaigns can take many forms, address different objectives, and use a variety of media. They
are usually designed: to influence people’s beliefs and actions toward their health or the health of
others, for specific target audiences or groups, and hardly for the entire population, for
implementation within a particular span of time and to be integrated with various media and
other communication efforts to educate an audience about a health-related topic.

The term campaign includes organized, communication-based interventions aimed at large

groups of people and social marketing efforts that include communication activities. Campaigns
have promoted a wide variety of health behaviours, including seat belt use, dietary change,
medication use, exercise, dental care, social support, substance use prevention and cessation,
family planning, use of health services, and testing and screening for diseases. Health
communication campaigns have been used to address many of the most common causes of death
such as —poor diet, physical inactivity, tobacco use, alcohol consumption, microbial agents, and
toxic agents. Campaigns vary widely in the particular communication activities they use,
including posters, handouts, public service announcements, discussion groups, workplace or
clinic-based counselling, and in-school presentations.

Campaigns seek to affect large audiences and bring substantial resources to the task (sometimes
monetary, sometimes voluntary, sometimes through collaboration with other institutions).
Campaigns attempt to influence adoption of recommended behaviours by influencing what
people know and believe about the behavior, and/or by influencing actual and/or perceived social
norms, and/or by changing actual skills and confidence in skills (self-efficacy), all of which are
assumed to influence behavior.

A health communication campaign is an intervention that “intends to generate specific outcomes

or effects, in a relatively large number of individuals, usually within a specified period of time,
and through an organized set of communication activities. Public health campaigns are designed
to influence a population to maintain or improve its health status. To accomplish this, campaign
developers must understand the link between behavior and health status for the population of
interest.

Effective health communication campaigns use various methods to reach intended audiences.
These includes: Media Literacy which teaches intended audiences to analyse media messages to
identify the sponsor’s motives; also teaches communicators how to create messages geared to the
intended audience’s point of view. Media Advocacy on the other hand is about influencing the
mass media through selection of topics and shaping the debate on these issues that seek to
change the social and political environment in which decisions on health and health resources are
made

Advertising entails placing paid or public service messages in the media or in public spaces to
increase awareness of and support for behaviour change. Entertainment Education is an effective
campaign method that seeks to include health-promoting messages and storylines into
entertainment and news programs or to eliminate messages that counter health messages; can
also include seeking entertainment industry support for a health issue. Individual and group
Instruction also influences, counsels, and provides skills to support healthy behaviours and
finally helps to increase support for a program or issue by harnessing the influence, credibility,
and resources of profit, non-profit, or governmental organizations.

Health Communication campaigns are arguably the most utilized and effective method for
spreading public health messages, especially in endorsing disease prevention (e.g., cancer,
HIV/AIDS) and in general health promotion and wellness (e.g., family planning, reproductive
health). The Institute of Medicine argues that health communication campaigns tend to organize
their message for a diverse audience in one of three ways.

 By catering to the common denominator within the audience

 By creating one central message and then later making systematic alterations in order to
better reach a certain audience segment, while retaining the same central message
 By creating distinctly different messages for different audience segments.

Factors to consider when designing health communication campaign

.Know the Issue.

Clarify the Campaign Goal.
Get to Know the Intended Audience. If the audience is not involved with the message, the
message must be tailored in a way to catch their attention.
Use Theories and Models.
Craft Messages Strategically.
Consider the Pros and Cons of Partnerships.
Test Out Materials.
Spread the Word.

Social Media in Health

Rapid and innovative advances in participative Internet communications, referred to as “social

media,” offer opportunities for modifying health behavior. Social media let users choose to be
either anonymous or identified. People of all demographics are adopting these technologies
whether on their computers or through mobile devices, and they are increasingly using these
social media for health-related issues. Although social media have considerable potential as tools
for health promotion and education, these media, like traditional health promotion media, require
careful application and may not always achieve their desired outcomes.

Social media brings a new dimension to health care as it offers a medium to be used by the
public, patients, and health professionals to communicate about health issues with the possibility
of potentially improving health outcomes. Social media is a powerful tool, which offers
collaboration between users and is a social interaction mechanism for a range of individuals.
Although there are several benefits to the use of social media for health communication, the
information exchanged needs to be monitored for quality and reliability, and the users’
confidentiality and privacy need to be maintained.

There is an ongoing increase in the use of social media globally, including in health care
contexts. When focusing on social media for health communication, it is useful to first outline
the general characteristics of social media. Social media as “a group of Internet-based
applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations, and that allow the
creation and exchange of user generated content”.

Researchers have suggested that, social media can be classified as two components: media-
related and social dimension. The media-related component involves how close to synchronous
face-to-face communication different types of social media come and how well they reduce
ambiguity and uncertainty. The social dimension is based on Goffman’s notion of self-
presentation, whereby individuals’ interactions have the purpose of trying to control others’
impressions of them.

Social media is any networked ICT tool or platform that derives its content and principal value
from user engagement and permits those users to interact with that content as part of a larger
movement in communications.

Social media operates on a human scale like a conversation, but one that occurs across a global
space and time. It incorporates elements of face-to face discussion with asynchronous
communication like email, simultaneously with large coffee house forms of group dialogue,
while its emergent, self-organized nature reflect a complex adaptive system. Thus, health
promoters working in social media would be wise to consider learning and applying systems
thinking in developing strategies to create and engage audiences.

Social media provides an outlet to increase and promote translational health communication
strategies and effective data dissemination, in ways that allow users to not only utilize but also
create and share pertinent health information. Moreover, the use of social media for advocacy
and communications in health promotion offers exciting new prospects for broader reach, greater
efficiency, and lowered costs of communication and advocacy campaigns. As with other
technological innovations in healthcare, these efficiencies may be viewed by those providing
funding as an opportunity to decrease budgets and increase the scope of health promotion
activity delivered by health education specialists and their organizations.

Although the application of social media in public health and health promotion has yielded some
success in terms of generating support structures and networks for effective health behavior
change, there are challenges and complications associated with social media use that also need to
be addressed (e.g., managing misinformation, ensuring compliance with user privacy
protections). While it is relatively straightforward to view social media use as a universal
communication channel, especially for those who already use social media, the risk of using
social media lies in reducing health information access among those who are not technologically
‘’connected’’. Social media is not likely to be an effective option for population subgroups
include the elderly; the physically and cognitively disabled; and those with low text, technical,
and e-Health literacy.

As health education specialists, we need to be wary of designing social media interventions or

campaigns that are most suited to population segments that are comfortably well off, and text-,
tech- and eHealth-literate. In addition, the use of social media by health education specialists
faces significant headwinds from individuals or entities using social media to promote alternative
views on health-related issues (e.g., anti-vaccinations, pro fad diets, and advocating for
exclusionary healthcare policies).
 MODULE UNIT: 4 MONITORINNG AND EVALUATION

1: Overview of monitoring and evaluation

(i) What is Monitoring and Evaluation?

(ii) Monitoring and Evaluation is a process of continued gathering of information and

its analysis, in order to determine whether progress is being made towards pre-specified
goals and objectives, and highlight whether there are any unintended (positive or
negative) effects from a project/programme and its activities.

(iii) What is a Monitoring?  Monitoring is a continuous process of collecting,

analyzing, documenting, and reporting information on progress to achieve set project
objectives. It helps identify trends and patterns, adapt strategies and inform decisions for
project or programme management. 

(iv) Evaluation is a periodic assessment, as systematic and objective as possible, of an

ongoing or completed project, programme or policy, its design, implementation and
results. It involves gathering, analysing, interpreting and reporting information based on
credible data. The aim is to determine the relevance and fulfilment of objectives,
developmental efficiency, effectiveness, impact and sustainability.

(v) Purpose/Importance of Monitoring and Evaluation

Timely and reliable M&E provides information to: 

 Support project/programme implementation with accurate, evidence-based reporting that

informs management and decision-making, to guide and improve project/programme
performance.

 Contribute to organizational learning and knowledge sharing by reflecting upon and sharing
experiences and lessons. 
 Uphold accountability and compliance by demonstrating whether or not our work has been
carried out as agreed and in compliance with established standards and with any other
stakeholder requirements 

 Provide opportunities for stakeholder feedback,. 

 Promote and celebrate project/program work by highlighting accomplishments and

achievements, building morale and contributing to resource mobilization. 

 Strategic management in provision of information to inform setting and adjustment of

objectives and strategies. 

 Build the capacity, self-reliance and confidence stakeholders, especially beneficiaries and
implementing staff and partners to effectively initiate and implement development
initiatives. v) Characteristics of monitoring and evaluation

 Monitoring tracks changes in program performance or key outcomes over time. Conducted
continuously 

 Keeps track and maintains oversight Documents

 Analyzes progress against planned program activities 

 Focuses on program inputs, activities and outputs 

 Looks at processes of program implementation 

 Considers program results at output level 

 Considers continued relevance of program activities to resolving the health problem.

 Reports on program activities that have been implemented 

 Reports on immediate results that have been achieved

Evaluation is a systematic approach to attribute changes in specific outcomes to program

activities. It has the following characteristics: 

 Provides in-depth analysis 

 Compares planned with actual achievements

  Looks at processes used to achieve results

  Considers results at outcome level and in relation to cost 

 Considers overall relevance of program activities for resolving health problems  

 Reports on how and why results were achieved 

 Contributes to building theories and models for change 

 Attributes program inputs and outputs to observed changes in program outcomes and/or
impact

(v) Key benefits of Monitoring and Evaluation

 Provide regular feedback on project performance and show any need for ‘midcourse’
corrections

 . Identify problems early and propose solutions

 Monitor access to project services and outcomes by the target population;

 Evaluate achievement of project objectives, enabling the tracking of progress towards

achievement of the desired goals

 . Incorporate stakeholder views and promote participation, ownership and accountability

 Improve project and programme design through feedback provided from baseline, mid-
term, terminal and ex-post evaluations

 Inform and influence organizations through analysis of the outcomes and impact of
interventions, and the strengths and weaknesses of their implementation, enabling
development of a knowledge base of the types of interventions that are successful (i.e. what
works, what does not and why.

 . Provide the evidence basis for building consensus between stakeholders

 STEPS GUIDE IN MONITORING AND EVALUATION

Step 1: Identify Program Goals and Objectives. ...

Step 2: Define Indicators. ...
Step 3: Define Data Collection Methods and Timeline. ...
Step 4: Identify M&E Roles and Responsibilities. ...
Step 5: Create an Analysis Plan and Reporting Templates. ...
Step 6: Plan for Dissemination and Donor Reporting.

Examples of monitoring and evaluation in the health sector

Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) in the health sector involve systematic data collection,
analysis, and use of information to improve the delivery and effectiveness of health programs and
services. Here are some examples of M&E in the health sector:

 Disease surveillance
 Case reporting and notification

 Laboratory-based surveillance

 Sentinel surveillance

 Syndromic surveillance

 Outbreak investigation

MONITORING V/S EVALUATION

Monitoring

 Determines Programme efficiency

 It establishes standard of performance at the activity level

 It forms a basis for Programme accountability

 It alerts the management of discrepancy

 It identifies strong &weak points of programme operations

Evaluation

 determines Programme effectiveness

 It identifies inconsistencies between the programme objectives and activities

 It alerts the management of discrepancies between actual and anticipated levels of

programme impact

 It suggests changes in programme procedures, operation and objectives

 It identifies the possible side effects of the programme

FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION IN MONITORING AND EVALUATION

A focus group is a planned interview with no less than three, up to about twelve people, where
the moderator encourages participants to discuss a particular topic, starting with the general and
getting more specific, or focused, over time.

Characteristics of focus group discussion

 Four to ten participants meeting for up to two hours.

 A facilitator or facilitators to guide discussion using open-ended questions.
 An emphasis on the group talking among itself rather than to the facilitator.
 Discussion is recorded and then transcribed for analysis by researchers.
A typical Focus Group Discussion proceeds as follows:

 Start the discussion with an ‘ice-breaker’, e.g. a round of introduction of participan

 Introduce the main topic and the overall research question (e.g. orally, on a poster or as a
projected presentation). 

 Ask specific questions listed in the discussion guide (not necessarily in the pre-specified
order);

 A skilled moderator will be able to ensure that all important questions (which may be
photocopied and distributed to the participants) are covered, without interrupting the natural
flow of the discussion. 

 Thank participants and say good-bye.

 A video or audio recording of the session is helpful and a standard way of documenting an
FGD – but it requires formal agreement from all participants.

 It is advisable to enlist a minute taker to write down the most important points made by
participants, along with any other ideas .

KEY INFORMANT INTERVIEWS

Definition

Key informat interviews are qualitative in-depth interviews with people who know what is going
on in the community. The purpose of key informant interviews is to collect information from a
wide range of people—including community leaders, professionals, or residents—who have first
hand knowledge about the community.

Example of an informant

There are four types of informants:

 a member of the public,
 a victim of a crime,
 a member of an organized criminal Investigating group
 or police officers themselves.

Key informants in the community

Remember key informants must have first-hand knowledge about your community, its residents,
and issues or problems you are trying to investigate. Key informants can be a wide range of
people, including agency representatives, community residents, community leaders, or local
business owners

Advantages of key informant interviews

Because information comes directly from knowledgeable people, key informant interviews
often provide data and insight that cannot be obtained with other methods. Key Inforrmants may
offer confidential information that would not be revealed in other settings.
Characteristics of key informants
They provide more information and deeper insight into what is going on around them' (Marshall,
1996, p. 92). They have insider information or knowledge about a concept, situation, group,
culture or subject that they are willing to share with a researcher (Bernard, 2018, p.)

References

1. Herton and Hunt, Sociology, Mcgraw - Hill International, Singapore 1984

2. Abrahamson Mark, Urban Sociology, Prentice-Hall Inc, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1980
3. Haris C. C., The Sociology Enterprises: A Discussion of Fundamental Concept, St.
Martin Press Inc., New York, 1980
4. Wilson John, Introduction to Social Movements, Basic Books, NY, 1998Hamilton,
Malcom, B. The Sociology of Religion, Routledge, London, 1995. Williams, Malcom,
Science and Social Science: An Introduction, Routledge, London, 2000.
5. D.K.S. Roy, Social Development and the Empowerment of Marginalised Groups:
Perspectives and Strategies, Sage, New Delhi - 2001
6. Harris C.C., The Family, Allen and Unwin, London – 1977 Andreas Hess, Concept of
Social Stratification, European and American Models, Palgrave, Hound mills, NY, 2001
7. Marshall, 1996, p. 92