The Role of the Public Health Officials in Communicating Public Health Information - Coursework Example

THE ROLE OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH OFFICIALS IN COMMUNICATING PUBLIC HEALTH INFORMATION TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS 2 Introduction: 3 Literature review 3 Critical Analysis: 6 Interpretation: 6 Conclusion: 8 Reference List 9 Introduction: The contribution of the public health officials is important in both preparedness of health planning process and response to the health threats. Implementation of public health measures relevance of competences of the public health system. In order to provide sufficient information, regarding the illness and health injuries as well as improve community wellbeing, public health officials play a significant role (Bellis et al. 2005). The success of stimulation exercise supplied by health care department mainly depends on the careful planning, clear evaluation criteria and work plan of the administrators of public health officials. The particular study has focused on establishing a basic foundation of academic knowledge that relates the extent to which public health officials are effective to promote health information among the community and thereby, improve community’s welfare. With the help of this literature foundation, the researcher will get indepth knowledge in enhancing research area and will be able to understand critical perspective as well. Literature review Public health communication According to (Goodman et al. 1994), public health communication is a technique of influencing, informing and motivating public audience about the important health issues and sufficient solution. The IOM defines public health as “what we, as a society, do collectively to assure the condign in which people can live a healthy life”. Further, Arendt (2008) opined that, public health communication is a scientific approach that provides strategic dissemination and critical evaluation to communicate health related information. Public health communication includes numerous disciplines such as, mass speech communication, public relation, informatics and ecological perspective. Roles of public health officials in developing community awareness: (Regidor et al. 2007) suggested that, public health officials play an important part to communicate health information in such a way, so that it can be interpreted among the community appropriately. Local, states, as well as government health agencies play an important role to disseminate public health survival information among the state and local health departments. However, several researcher like, Nelson (2002) and Wray et al. (2008) argued that, changes are requires in a way of spreading health information so that it reaches to the maximum user in the most appropriate way. They point out that, dissemination of the public health information requires more advance channel to identify the audience and communicate information among them. Along with the public health officials, the public health practitioner, policy maker, mass media, broadcast media and public forums etc. also can be include to dissipate health information among the community. Thus, greater supports need to be involved in public health communication to simultaneously address multiple health issue, intervention and communication channel. In order to create people awareness, one needs to incorporate with the audience and channels. But emergence of new audience and communication channel has resulted a great uncertainty about the role of public officials. The workers do not make it clear whether the information will be spread via health departments or government’s public health agency. Thus, they fail to monitor public health condition effectively. Conversely, Kass (2001) put forward that public health officials are effectively coordinate with the local community to spread public information regarding public health disasters and radiological hazards. According to him, public health officials play long standing core function to form a regulatory framework for control of diseases and protect environmental threat to the public health. Public health officials spread health information publicly via conducting health promotion activity, educational program and targeting healthier and safer lifestyle. Apart from that, public health official also provide sufficient information in disease prevention by catalyzing health and safe behaviour to its customers. For example, The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) plays an important role in public health communication to improve health of local people in America. However, the effectiveness of public health officials in promoting public health information has been resolved in the journal published by Goodman et al. (2000). Goodman et al. (2000) stated that, public health professional are conveying health information among the public, but they fail to protect public requirements in the field of significant accomplishment. Nelson et al (2002) argued that, the present arrangement of public health officials are not adequate for communicating health related queries and balancing benefits against the potential health hazards. The author also has given certain examples such as the mass media, general population etc. that signify why public health department needs to acquire more skill in communicating health information to its audience. Along with spreading health information, public officials also need to give more focus on expressing the level of risk to the community whose residents are suffering by a type of cancer or what type of food are mostly responsible for food poising etc. In these context public health officials sometime fails to teach health professional to spread information among the non-scientific audience (Dan, 1992). Public health officials are conveying health information publicly with the purpose making people aware about the health hazards. Informing means providing information to the people and persuading refers changing attitude, behaviour and opinions of the people with the purpose of communicating public health practise. Critical Analysis: Role of public health official in communicating health information – Critical Aspects The public health officials refers to the individual those are employed by state, regional, federal, national or local health department and they have gather their position based on their professional merit. One of the major functions of public health officials is to communicate with people and spread health information formulated by administrative and health care provider to control the public health problems (Kass, 2001). However, they are not responsible to provide instant solution to the problem faced by private citizens. Thus, it gives raise to emergence of unexpected public health problem. The pharmacists who analyse the presence of chemical property in the drinking water or the statistician who record the range of mortality rate are not the same person who communicates those messages to the population. Thus, it can be said that, public health officials are gather information relating to the health hazards and disseminated them among the local community, but they fails to spread information at all institutional level. Dan (1992) opined that, the public health officials are not responsible to persuade change in the people’s behaviour. Public health officials are generally transmitting scientific evidence regarding a particular health issue to their superiors. They are institutionally responsible to recommend on the political, economical and ethical health consideration. Interpretation: The public health officials working in different health department agencies of government are actively participate in achieving the goal of public health promotion. The health department of government are seeks to maintain healthy life style, eradicate negative health habits like smoking, drinking that causes health hazards and provide necessary health information to the common mass. Basic foundation of school health is to socialize the student by transmitting traditional public health value. In case of epidemiologist, the core health professional or health officials promise to prevent health disease and, thereby, promotes healthy life to the people. But, the conception of public health practice provided by epidemiologist is only effective in academic terms. Public health officials sometime lacks in providing sufficient effort to improve health of the community as a whole. Some of the authors like, Wray et al. (2008) and Bellis et al. (2005) are support that public health officials are responsible for recommending public health intervention and making this aware to the public, but not all author. General view point of these authors suggest that, it is not possible for the public health officials those are employed by the government agencies to influence health of the public at all levels and thereby create most appropriate public health strategies. Government generally employ those people who wish to act outside of the bureaucracy group. Thus, there is some tendency that public health officials might participate in advocacy efforts over their professional capacities. Apart from these shortcomings, Arendt (2008) illustrates that, public health officials promotes appropriate course of action on the basis of available scientific knowledge and compare them with the probable benefits. They play an important role in eliminating placidly debate in health promotion which are ethically incorrect and promote limitation on personal liberties. (Nelson, 2002) supported the emergence of public health officials in communicating health information by stating that, public health doctors are independent of political authorities and thereby, can disseminate the knowledge concerning to the public health accurately. Conclusion: This paper has focused on the role of communication in public health and the gaps existing in the prevailing public communication process such as information sharing, traffic accident monitoring, etc. Some authors have suggested that public health officials fail to control public health problems such as communication the cause of traffic accident or drinking water problem etc. Democratically elected people of government might fail to choose an unique way to communicate health information. But, it does not mean that they are irrelevant to promote policies to improve public health. Public hath officials are necessarily important within a society to support public health programs and promote suitability, to disseminate information on public health. Reference List Arendt, M. (2008). Communicating human biomonitoring results to ensure policy coherence with public health recommendations: analysing breastmilk whilst protecting, promoting and supporting breastfeeding. Environmental Health. 7(1), 6-10. Bellis, M. Hughes, K. Tocque, K. Hennell, T., Humphrey, G. & Wyke, S. (2005). Mini-symposium—Public Health Observatories: Assessing and communicating the health and judicial impact of alcohol use. Public Health, 119(4), 253--261. Dan, B. 1992. TV or Not TV Communicating Health Information to the Public. JAMA, 268(8), 1026--1027. Goodman, RA. Remington, PL. & Howard, RJ. (1994). Communicating information for action. In: Teutsch SM, Elliot Churchill R, eds. Principles and Practice of Public Health Surveillance. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 13(3), 150–177. Goodman, R., Remington, P., Howard, R., Teutsch, S. and Churchill, R. 2000. Communicating information for action within the public health system. Teutsch & Churchill, 20(1),168--175. Kass, NE. (2001). An ethics framework for public health. Am J Public Health. 91:1,776–1782. Nelson DE, Brownson RC, Remington PL, Parvanta C. (2002). Communicating Public Health Information Effectively. A Guide for Practitioners. Washington, DC: American Public Health Association; 23(1), 124-150. Regidor, E., de la Fuente, L., Guti\errez-Fisac, J., de Mateo, S., Pascual, C., S\anchez-Pay\a, J. and Ronda, E. (2007). The role of the public health official in communicating public health information. American journal of public health, 97(1).93--97. Nelson DE, Brownson RC, Remington PL, and Parvanta C, 2002. Communicating public Health Information Effectively. A Guide for Practitioners. Washington, DC: American Public Health Association, 98–114. Wray, R., Becker, S., Henderson, N., Glik, D., Jupka, K., Middleton, S., Henderson, C., Drury, A. and Mitchell, E. (2008). Communicating with the public about emerging health threats: lessons from the pre-event message development project. American Journal of Public Health, 98(12), 221-224. Read More