HEALTH EDUCATION METHOD

Health education is carried out in three levels: individual, group, mass method. They are as follow:

1. Individual method a) Counseling b) Interview

2. Group method a) Group discussion b) Role play c) Brain storming d) Work shop/ seminar e)
Demonstration f) Mini lecture g) Problem solving h) Panel discussion i) Field trip/ educational tour j)
symposium

3. Mass method a) Lecture b) Exhibition 1.

Individual Method: There are plenty of opportunities for individual health education. It may be given in
personal interview and counseling in the consultation room of the doctor or in the health services centre
or in the home of the people. Individual method involves person to person or face to face communication
which provides maximum opportunities for two ways communication of ideas, knowledge and information.

a) Counseling: Counseling is a means by which one person helps another through purposeful
conversation. When an individual comes to the doctor or health centre because of illness then opportunity
is taken in educating him on matters of interest- diet, causation and nature of illness and its prevention,
personal hygiene, environmental hygiene etc. counseling is done to solve the patients’ problem. The
responsibility of the counselor whether he or she is a physician or a pharmacist or a staff nurse or other
health care personal is high because the patient will listen carefully to them during counseling. A hint from
the doctor and health workers may have more lasting effect than volume of printed word. What is
counseling? Counseling is the process of helping a person with problems to discover and develop his or
her own capacity to solve the problems. Counseling is……. Counseling is not…….  Client centered:
Specific to the needs, issues and circumstances of each individual client  An engaging, collaborative
and respectful process  Goal centered and developing action plans  Developing autonomy and self-
responsibility in clients  Considerate of interpersonal situation, socio cultural context, readiness to
change  Asking question, eliciting information and reviewing options.  Telling or directing  Giving
advice  A conversation  An interrogation  A confession  praying Counseling helps people to:  Feel
listened to and supported  Understand their situation more clearly  Identify a range of options for
improving the situation  Makes choices which fit their values, feelings and needs  Make their own
decisions and act on them  Cope better with problems Qualities of a good counselor:  Self confident,
self aware and self disciplined  Caring, warm and genuine  Knowledgeable / informed about subject
and awareness of resources available within the community  Demonstrates professionalism  Tolerates
values that differ from one’s own  Culturally sensitive  A sense of humor  Supportive attitude towards
clients, positive regard or respect for people  Non-judgmental and accepting  Trustworthy  Ethical
Steps in counseling for problem solving  Develop a trusting relationship with your client  Learn with
client about their situation by talking, listening and asking open-ended, non-leading questions  Identify
problems and strengths of the client  Make plan, set goals, select strategies with client  Implement
plan with client  Follow-up, review and modify plan as needed Do and don’t in counseling Do in
counseling Don’t in counseling  Remain calm and stable. Allow clients to express their feelings. 
Encourage the person to tell his/her problem  Remove the hesitation to accept the problem  Listen and
establish precipitating factors as the clients relates their story  Appreciate the person having disclosed
his/her problem  Help the client generate alternatives to solve the problem  Assist the client and
identify those areas that something can be done about  If needed and possible refer the client to the
right place  Accept their feedback seriously and use them properly  Don’t interrupt the client  Don’t
confront  Don’t challenge  Don’t laugh at client  Don’t loose temper in any circumstances  Don’t
boast of yourself  Don’t show attitude of counselors superiority  Don’t order your client  Don’t use
technical words or many acronyms  Don’t criticize  Don’t threaten your client  Don’t give advice 
Don’t argue with your client How is counseling different from health education? Counseling Health
Education  Confidential  Usually a “one to one process  Evokes strong emotions/relation in counselor
and client  Focused, specific, goal targeted  Issue oriented  Based on needs of client  May not be
confidential  Small or large groups of people  Emotionally neutral in nature  Content oriented 
Based on public health needs Advantages: • Even illiterate people can be taught by this method. •
Provides maximum opportunity for feedback and helps to maintain two way communication process. •
Easy to conduct with less cost and limited facilities. • Easy to make follow-up studies on the basis of
counseling records. • Different counseling aids can be used to demonstrate the process. Disadvantages: •
Time consuming • Difficult to cover wide range of target people with limited manpower. b) Interview
method: Interview is an effective technique of investigation of disease diagnosis as well as giving health
education as it is a method of finding internal view on his/her health related problems. The main purpose
of interview is: I. To gain information through face to face association and to gain social and psychological
background. II. To perform hypothesis. III. To collect personal data for quantitative purpose. Advantages:
• Helpful to know individuals knowledge, attitude and behavior. • Easy to conduct with less cost and
limited facilities. • Helpful to reach to a better conclusion for the solution of the problem. • Easy to make
follow-up studies on the basis of interview to find out the impact of teaching. • Even illiterate people can
be taught by this method. Disadvantages: • Time consuming • Difficult to cover wide range of target
people with limited manpower.

Advantage of Individual Method

The advantage of individual method of health education is that we can discuss, argue and persuade the
individual to change his/her behavior. It also provides the opportunity for asking question, expressing
fears and learning more. Disadvantage of Individual Method The disadvantage or limitation of the
individual method is that the numbers of person who are given health education are small and health
education is given only to those who come in contact.

2. Group Method: In a society there are many kinds of group: school children, mothers, industrial workers,
patient etc. The choice of subject in a group health teaching is very important. For example, school
children may be taught about oral hygiene and industrial workers about accident. Different methods about
group teaching are:

a) Group Discussion: A group is an aggregation of people interacting in a face to face situation. It is a two
way communication where people learn by exchanging their views and experiences. This method is
useful when the group have common interest and similar problems. For an effective group discussion, the
group should comprise not less than six and not more than twelve members. In a group discussion, there
should be a group leader who initiates the subject, helps the discussion in proper manner, prevents side
conversation, encourages everyone to participate and sums up the discussion in the end. There should
be a person to record whatever is discussed and agreement reached. In group discussion, the members
should observe the following rules: I. Express ideas clearly and concisely II. Listen to what others say III.
Do not interrupt when others are speaking IV. Make only relevant remarks V. Accept criticism gracefully
VI. Helps to reach conclusions Advantages: • Develops creativity, confidence and ability of judgment in
the members of learners. • Helps learners to come to a group decision and solve their common problem.
Group decision is better than individual decision. • Helps members to become active learners and learn
new knowledge, ideas and experiences about their subject of concern through a cooperation process. •
Provides adequate communication among all the members with exchange of ideas and experiences.
Their potentialities can be explored through discussion. Person-to person influence in small group is the
stepping stone to change or develop attitude. • The health educator can make a closer study of the
members of target group regarding their need, interest, attitude, ability and other potentialities. He can
identify their real problems and help them to solve them. Disadvantages: • Some self conscious members
may not venture to bring forth their valid idea for fear of disapproval by other members. • Sometimes
discussion may be prolonged without any fruitful result, or it may take longer time to come to the
conclusion or decision. • Somebody may not feel personally responsible for the result of discussion. So,
they may not participate well.

b) Role Play: Role playing is a process of acting of any imaginary person and conditions by own
knowledge, ideas and experiences. Role playing or socio-drama is based on the assumption that many
values in a situation cannot be expressed in words and the communication can be more effective in the
situation is dramatized by the group. The size of the group is a useful technique to use in providing
discussion of problems of human relationship. Role playing consists of the acting but of real situation and
problems. By acting out of a real situation people can better understand the cause of their problems and
the result of their own behavior. Advantages: • Gives learners opportunity to express their ideas based on
real life situation and can learn from each other. • Develop careful listening habit. • It is not expensive and
can easily be conducted at different situations. • Enables the learners to see things through the eyes of
others. Disadvantages: • Not every body can successfully act like somebody else due to shyness, lack of
experience, lack of confidence and expression skills. • Sometimes it may turn into a recreational activity
and may not achieve educational objectives.

c) Brain Storming: This is a method to draw out the idea and solution from participants on current
problems. The participants are encouraged to make a list of all the ideas that come to their mind
regarding some problem in a short period of time. Then, the list of ideas is passed on to the chairman or
secretary of the group. Then the selected persons discuss about the idea given by different participants
and try to get the best idea for the solution of problems. Whatever may be the idea given by participants,
they are not criticized. Advantages: • Provides varieties of useful ideas in a short time for quick group
decision. • Enable individuals to think and response quickly. • Decision made by group thinking is better
than by individual thinking. Disadvantages: • Ideas pulled out may not always be relevant and helpful to
make group decision. It may happen especially with the new learners. • It might take some longer time
and may not be appropriate for packed program.

d) Workshop: To work and to learn from practical experience is the theme of workshop. It consists of a
series of meeting with emphasis on individual work within a group with the help of consultants and
resource personnel. The total workshop may be divided in to small group and each group will choose a
chairman and recorder. In workshop, the individuals work, solve a part of problem through their personal
effort with the help of consultants which will contribute to the group work for solving problems. Learning in
workshop takes place in a friendly, happy and democratic atmosphere under expert guidance.
Advantages: • Helps to provide up-to-date knowledge and skills as well as to develop appropriate attitude.
• Provide varied learning experiences like listening, speaking, discussion etc. • Enhances participant’s
power of thinking and critical learning. Disadvantages: • Take long time to organize the workshop. It might
take weeks or even months. • Needs more money, materials and physical facilities. • Sometimes it may
be difficult to get appropriate consultant.

e) Seminar: In seminar, several expertises from different discipline meet to deliberate on particular field.
The members or participants of the seminar come together to exchange views on current problems or to
share with others their own problems, experiences and new encounter experiments. Usually seminars are
conducted by research institution or organizations which are interested in pooling experiences, this
method do not find much applicability in the usual type of health education.

f) Demonstration: A demonstration is a carefully prepared presentation to show how to perform a skill or

procedure. Demonstration is carried out step by step before the audience assuring that the audience
understands how to perform it. Demonstration is found to have a high educational value in programmes
like environmental sanitation (construction of sanitation latrine), mother and child health (demonstration of
oral rehydration therapy). A demonstration leaves a visual impression on the mind of people and is more
effective than the printed word. Advantages: • It is effective method which involves varied learning
experiences like seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting and smelling depending upon the subject of
demonstration. • It is interesting and draws attention of the learners because of the active learning
process. • It helps to develop not only knowledge and attitude but also skills for required work
performance. • Provides concentrate and realistic visual picture of what is being taught resulting in more
lasting impression. Disadvantages: • Sometimes it may be difficult to get necessary equipment and
materials for certain demonstration. • Sometimes it may not be appropriate to conduct demonstration on
certain topic especially when there will be only cognitive gain.

g) Problem Solving Method: In this method, the problem is identified and different ideas and methods are
used to solve that problem. A problem is an obstruction or some short of difficulty which does not enable
the individual to reach a goal easily. Problem solving is the purposeful activity that will remove the
difficulty through a process of reasoning. All the participants in this method are given equal chance to
express freely and exchange their ideas and experiences. So it is a collective thinking process to solve
the problem. The seven steps of problem solving methods are: I. Selection of a problem II. Definition of
the problem III. Collection of data IV. Interpretation of data V. Drawing conclusion VI. Applying the
conclusion to the solution of problem VII. Evaluating the result. Advantages: • Helps to reach goal within a
period of time by solving problem on the way. • Participants get equal chance to express freely.
Disadvantages: • Sometimes the solution given may not solve the problem effectively. • Sometimes it may
be difficult to get appropriate person for discussion.

h) Panel Discussion: A panel discussion is a conversational exchange of ideas by selected participants on

a topic, problem, question or issues. In this method 4-8 persons who are qualified to talk about the topic
sit and discuss in front of a large group or audience. The panel comprises a chairman from 4-8 speakers
who opens the meeting, welcomes the group and introduces the panel speakers. He introduces the topic
briefly and invites the panel speakers to present their points of view. After the main aspects of the subject
are explored by the pane speakers, the audience is invited to take part. The audience reacts to the views
given by the panel speakers. Advantages: • Provides varied knowledge, ideas and experiences about the
subject of concern to the learners. • Interesting and can draw attention of the audience or learners. •
Learners get opportunity to ask questions and pass comments which help in teaching-learning process.
Disadvantages: • Sometimes it is difficult to get the appropriate experts. • Difficult to set definite time to
suit the experts.

i) Symposium: A symposium is a series of speeches on a selected subject. Each person or expert

present an aspect of the subject briefly. In symposium, there is no discussion among the members but in
the end, the audience may raise questions. The chairman makes a comprehensive summary at the end of
the entire session. Advantages: • It is interesting and draws attention. • Student speakers can develop the
techniques of finding information as well as the techniques of presentation. • Students get opportunity to
explore their potentialities. • Students get opportunity to learn from concerned experts and get up-to-date
knowledge. • Develops the habit of listening and critical thinking. • Does not require special kind of
materials and equipments. Disadvantages: • Difficult to get the appropriate experts. • May be time
consuming. • Difficult to adjust time at the convenience of the experts.
3. Mass Method:

a) Lecture: Lecture is an oral presentation of information and ideas by a person to a large group of people
or mass at a particular place. So it is a popular method of health education. Lecture is organized at a
particular time usually for the people who come together for common purpose. Though it is face to face
presentation there is no adequate opportunity for interpersonal reaction between the speaker and
audience. Techniques of giving lecture effectively: • The subject of the lecture should be related to the
needs and interest of the target audience. • The speaker should get a thorough and up to date knowledge
of the content. • The language should be correct, simple, clear and understandable. • Avoid monotony in
voice. The speaker can raise his voice while expressing important points. The lecturer should try to know
the feedback of the audience by watching their gestures. • The speaker should be sincere, pleasing and
properly dressed up.

b) Health Museums: A good museum can be a very effective media for health education since it display
material covering various aspect of health. The best example of popular health museum in Nepal is at
Chhauni, near Buddha temple, Kathmandu.

HEALTH EDUCATION MEDIA Media are the teaching aids by which knowledge, information and ideas
are communicated. They provide varieties of learning experiences. They are used in different situations of
individuals, group and mass teaching. Media are of different types. They are audio aids, visual aids and
audio-visual aids.

1. Audio aids: In this type, learning occurs by hearing. The examples of audio aids are radio, tape
recorder or cassette player etc. Radio is most widely used in mass teaching where cassette player is
used in individual and group teaching. Audio aids are considered less effective for providing health
education.

2. Visual aids: Visual aids are the media through which people learn by seeing. Poster, bulletin board,
flannel graph, slides, pamphlets, diagram etc are the example of visual aids. Visual aids are more
effective than audio as we know that learning by seeing is better than learning by hearing.

3. Audio-Visual aids: In this type of media, learning occurs both by seeing and hearing. Television, Video
Tape, Movie film with sound etc are the example of audio-visual aids. These are more effective to give
health education than audio or visual media alone because the process of hearing and seeing takes place
at a time.

Classification of different health education media 4. Auditory aids Radio, tape recorder, microphones,
amplifiers, earphones 5. Visual aids a) Non projected: Chalk board, bulletin board, black board, whit
board, leaflets, posters, flip charts, flannel graph, specimens, flash cards, newspapers, magazine,
photograph etc. b) Projected: Over head projector, slide projector, film strips, bell and howel projector etc.
6. Audio-visual aids: a) Non projected: Drama, puppet show, role play etc b) Projected: Television,
cinema (sound film), documentary/videos etc.

1. Audio aids:

a) Tape recorder: Tape recorder is a small portable machine or equipment which operated with the help
of electricity or batteries. Circular tape can be recorded with the necessary message and be played with
the help of the tape recorder. It is used for the purpose of providing health education to a group of
audience. Cassettes can be labeled by the title of the subject to identify appropriate and necessary
cassette. Tape recorder can be used in direct group teaching followed by discussion. In the beginning, the
health educator should give the introduction about the subject of teaching. During the teaching period, he
should pause the tape whenever needed in order to explain the point. The program shouldn’t exceed
more than 30 minutes. Advantage: • It can be used to open a discussion which gives health education to
a group. • It can be played at learner’s speed of learning by stopping in between or by playing over and
over repeatedly as needed. • The recorded message can be presented before using for actual teaching
and make necessary alteration to meet the need and interest of the target people. • It can be played with
the help of batteries where there is no electricity supply. • Message can be recorded and played easily at
various places at home, in the office, in the school, in the community place etc. • It is portable and easy to
carry at different places of teaching and can be kept without any difficulty. Disadvantage: • Management
for recording may take more time. • Learning by hearing only is not effective. • Cassette player or tape
recorder may be little costly to afford. There is added problem of repairing. • Break of electricity supply or
lack of batteries might cause problem.

b) Radio: Radio is the audio aid through which message is relayed to a heterogeneous and large group of
people. It is a mass media which provide one sided communication. Sometimes the concerned audience
are informed and asked to attend the broadcast at a particular time and place. The audience can be
encouraged to have some discussion after listening to the program to avoid doubts and confusions. The
health educator can encourage them to put into practice what they have learnt from the program. From
radio health message can be relayed in the form of lecture, story, song, news, dram, or dialogue etc.

2. Visual aids:

a) Poster: A poster is a picture or drawing designed for public display to convey message on certain
subject. A poster must contain the following four basic parts: • Caption • Picture • Course of action
suggested • Logo (official symbol or name of the office for validity of the poster) Sometimes, poster can
be made even without picture but they are not useful for illiterates. A good poster should carry only one
unit of message. Colored poster is more natural, attractive and clear to understand. Posters are usually
displayed on the side walls of busy streets, community centre, waiting halls or places, school complex
and other public gathering places. Advantages: • Pictorial and colored posters are attractive and effective.
• Posters can be carried easily from one place to another to distribute and display widely. • Many people
(both literate and illiterate) can learn something from limited number of posters on display. • Can be used
to motivate or to open discussion on health education. • Helps to develop creativity in the learners by
involving them in designing and making posters. • Helps to communicate ideas quickly. Disadvantages: •
Poster provides only one-way communication. It may create misunderstanding and confusion. • Takes
time to print in large scale. • Coloured posters are expensive to print. • Printing services may not available
in rural places and small towns. • Can’t be sure if the intended group have seen or read the display
posters.

b) Pamphlet: Pamphlets are visual media which are considered as mass media of health education. It
gives short description of different aspects of a specific topic. Pamphlets can be produced in the form of
leaflets or folders to convey the message. Pamphlets can be distributed to the learners of a training
group, to family members, in clinic, hospital OPD etc. Advantages: • Helps in propagating message
rapidly in the mass scale through wide distribution. • People can read them at their free time and
understand the message well. • The first reader can pass the read pamphlet to the others. • Can be kept
safe to read again which help as remainder of the message. • Easier to prepare and produce in large
scale at low cost. Disadvantages: • Provide only one way communication. • Not useful for illiterates. •
Printing services may not available in rural places and small towns. • Can’t be sure if the intended group
have read and understood the distributed pamphlet.
c) Flash cards: Flash card is a set of visual aid. It consists of simple message in series or steps by
consecutive pictures which convey certain message about a specific topic. For example, the kind of
vitamins and their sources, the steps of making a pit latrine etc. Flash cards are used in group teaching
especially the illiterates. It can be used in giving health education in different situations like home visiting,
classroom teaching, community group teaching, community group teaching, clinic, hospital etc.
Advantages: • It is interesting and attractive, especially when the pictures are coloured. • It is easy to
carry and use at different teaching situations like home, school etc. • Limited number of sets will be
enough for group teaching and won’t be expensive. • Useful and effective even for illiterate audience.

d) Flip chart: It is also called flip book or turnover chart. It consists of a series of sequential charts which
are fastened together at the top so that as one chart is viewed it can be flipped back to see the next one.
The flip chart as a whole describes about a subject or topic. As set of flip chart normally consists of six to
eight, the number may slightly vary depending upon the message to be conveyed. Advantages: • It is
helpful to make systematic presentation. • It helps to show abstract information visually. Pictorial
explanation is better and more effective. • It is easy to carry from one place to another for providing health
education at different situation – clinic, classroom, community group etc. • A health educator can make
flip chart by himself. Disadvantages: • Expensive to produce in a large scale. • There may be problem of
drawing appropriate picture. • Some ready made flip chart may not suit the objective.

e) Flannel graph: A flannel graph consists of flannel board and a series of cut pieces or cutouts. It can be
prepared by the health educator himself if ready made flannel graph is not available which will help him to
illustrate the points of teaching. Advantages: • The pictorial explanation is interesting and attractive. •
Organized and systematic display of cut pieces can make the teaching impressive and effective. • It is
easy to carry the sets of cut pieces and a sheet of flannel cloth to distance places. • It is not expensive to
make a flannel graph and can be used again and again to give health education. Disadvantages: • There
may be problem of drawing appropriate pictures. Also appropriate picture may not be available in the
magazine for cutting. • Sometimes the cut pieces may not properly stick on the flannel board and fall
down. It happens especially with repeatedly used flannel graph.

f) Chalk board: A health educator can provide health message to the audience with its help. The chalk
board can help to provide visual explanation of important health message in the form of diagram, chart,
graph etc to make the message easier to understand. The health educator can write important points of
message, can draw the cycle of infection etc. Chalk boards are commonly used in group teaching.
Advantages: • Cheap to make and durable. It is highly used in schools and training centers. • Can write
and erase things immediately according to the need. • Students and trainers can go to the chalk board,
write facts and processes and try to explain them. Disadvantages: • Takes time in writing on the chalk
board. • Difficult to take from one place to another. It may not be available for every kind of teaching
situations like in community places, home etc. • The message written on the board will be wiped cut and
can not be stored for future use.

g) Model: Model is the representation of original reality. It helps to provide health education effectively, so
it is commonly used by health educator. Different models like model of an apple, model of a well, the
model of an ideal village etc. Advantages: • It is the representation of real object and so provides clear
and concrete knowledge of the thing. • It is attractive and interesting, so it helps to draw attention of the
learners. • There can be better retention of what is learnt through the use of model. Disadvantages: •
Sometimes it may be problem to make or collect or purchase the appropriate model. • Some models may
be expensive to make or purchase.

h) Photographic slides: A photographic slide is a negative picture cutout from a 35mm filmstrip and
mounted on a cardboard or plastic frame. Photographs or written message can be snap shot with the help
of a camera. Then each snap are separated from the film strip to make individual slide. A slide set will
normally have twenty to thirty pictures prepared in series for teaching purpose. The slides are loaded on a
projector serially and are projected on a screen to teach about something. Advantages: • Could be
projected and explained for desirable time period. The speed of presentation can be adjusted. • Coloured
pictures are attractive and give clear picture of what is presented causing good learning and retention. •
Slides can be explained verbally or with the help of tape recorder. • Discussion can be made in between
the slide show, or at the end of presentation. • Can be kept safe for future use. Disadvantages: • There
may be problem of obtaining the projector, appropriate slide set. • Can not be arranged where there is no
electricity supply and also has problem in getting the batteries. • It is expensive and difficult to prepare
colour slides. Colour films and developing services are not available in many towns.

i) Film strip: Film strip is a continuous strip of film consisting of a series of individual picture or message
arranged in sequence to convey certain message. The negative pictures or messages are projected on
the screen with the help of the projector. The pictures and messages are commonly explained orally.
Advantages: • The speed of the presentation can be adjusted according to the learner’s speed of the
interpretation and understanding. • The sequence of picture can be skipped if needed. • The systematic
and pictorial presentation of message makes it interesting and effective. • It can provide opportunity for
questions and answers on the subject of teaching. • The film strip can be prepared at low cost and can be
stored safely for future. Disadvantages: • No sound with picture. • There may be problem of obtaining
appropriate filmstrip, projector, electricity or batteries etc. • It may be problem to make filmstrip in terms of
time period available, money etc.

j) Transparency: A transparency is a transparent plastic sheet on which words and pictures can be written
by special marking pen or can be printed to get the required materials. Transparencies are very often
used in educational classes or training sessions. Simple message are written on transparencies and
projected on the screen with the help of a overhead projector. Advantages: • Message can be planned
and written on the transparencies ahead of time. • Written message can be wiped out when needed and
write other appropriate message. • Written transparencies can be saved for future use. • Keeps the
teacher in a comfortable situation and help him/her to explain message systematically. Disadvantages: •
There may be problem of obtaining the overhead projector or transparencies. • It is expensive to maintain.
Even the bulb of the projector is expensive and rare. • It is not useful where electricity is not available.

3. Audio – Visual Aids:

1. Film: Film consists of a series of negative pictures which are prepared to convey information by
projecting them on the screen with sound and motion. Because of its motion, film is also called movie or
motion picture. It can be made black and white or coloured. Though it is expensive, colour film is
attractive and provides natural view of things as they look. Documentary films are generally made for
educational purposes. They are different from commercial entertainment films. Educational film is made
short of about 30 minutes. The length of time may vary slightly depending upon the nature of health topic.
Advantages: • The motion pictures can be presented in a natural way and represent reality. It provides
education through a real life situation with actions and reactions of people, natural process. • A film
provides learning through hearing and seeing. • Can present different kinds of action and events in a
short period of time which otherwise take long time to learn. E.g. pattern of water pollution in river,
construction procedure of a well etc. • Is interesting, attractive and effective especially when the film is
coloured. • Carefully prepared film for special group of people may be self explanatory and so will be
useful even for illiterates. • Can be kept for future use. Disadvantages: • It is difficult to prepare film in
terms of time, money, appropriate situation. • Needs different kinds of the equipments like projector,
screen, generator or electricity supply etc. which may be difficult to obtain and conduct the show. • Film
mostly provides only information and idea but not actually teach them which need real observation and
practice. • Difficult to transport the hard-ware like film reels, projector and loudspeaker. Criteria for
selecting appropriate methods and media of health education A particular method or media may get
failure to achieve its educational objective simply because of its inappropriateness and impracticability in
certain situation. The appropriateness of particular method or media should be determined on the light of
certain criteria.

These criteria should be well considered in choosing and applying a particular method or media.
The criteria are described below: 1. Feasibility or practicability: A method or media should be feasible
to apply from the point of view of transportation, economic factor, availability of necessary equipment and
other facilities. 2. Nature of the audience: A method or media should be chosen to suit the educational
status, culture etc of the target group. Teaching about the importance of eating meat will mean nothing to
the vegetarian group who has taboo against taking meat. In the same way distributing pamphlets to
illiterate people will not help to provide information to them. 3. People’s attitude and belief on the method
or media: People have different kinds of interest for different kinds of methods or media. So, each method
or media should be chosen according to the interest and belief of people on them. People take radio
broadcasting, television telecast, government published pamphlets, etc as valid messages and tend to
ignore individual lectures. 4. Accessibility: The method or media that a health educator chooses must be
able to reach to the people concerned. In fact a health education program or message should be
accessible to each member of the target group in the community. 5. Subject or purpose of teachings: The
purpose of teaching also affects in the selection of particular method or media. The subject and purpose
of the teaching will be based on audience need. If it is for conveying some health message or knowledge
a lecture can help but when there is a need of skill and attitude development, demonstration method has
to be applied.