Critiquing a Public Health Communication
For this discussion, adhere to the FEM guidelines as you complete the following:
- Identify a brief communication piece about a public health topic related to a change in behavior.
- Include the communication piece or a link to it and describe the intended audience.
- Critique the communication’s effectiveness in persuading the audience about the importance of a change in behavior.
- Think carefully about the audience and remember that our assumptions and knowledge are often powerful forces that prevent us from understanding the knowledge and learning needs of others.
- In this communication piece, what was done well and what could be improved?
- Include one academic reference in your post. Use current APA style and formatting appropriate to the type of reference you provide.
Response Guidelines
Read and respond to your peers’ discussion posts according to FEM guidelines. Suggest additional improvements to the communication piece. You also may seek clarification or describe examples of related personal or work experience.
Learning Components
This activity will help you achieve the following learning components:
- Identify probing questions for determining audience needs.
- Analyze the language barriers that a particular audience may face.
Studies
Readings
Use the Capella University Library to access the e-book, “Preparing the public health workforce: Educational pathways for the field and the classroom,” and read the following:
- Chapter 1, “Introduction and Overview,” pages 1–20.
Use the Capella University Library to read the following:
- Walls, H. L., Peeters, A., Proietto, J., & McNeil, J. J. (2011). Public health campaigns and obesity – A critique. BMC Public Health, 11.
- Coburn, D., Denny, K., Mykhalovskiy, E., McDonough, P., Robertson, A., & Love, R. (2003). Population health in Canada: A brief critique. American Journal of Public Health, 93(3), 392–396.
Use the Internet to read the following:
- Georgiadis, M. (2013). Motivating behavior change: A content analysis of public service announcements from the Let’s Move! campaign [PDF]. The Elon Journal of Undergraduate Research in Communications. 4(1), 60–70.
Optional – Readings
You may choose to access the following optional materials for a better understanding of the topics in this unit:
Use the Internet to access these resources:
- CDC TRAIN. (n.d.). 2014 core competencies for public health professionals. Retrieved from
- This online training module presents the core competencies of a public health leader.
- CDC TRAIN. (n.d.). How to be an effective spokesperson. Retrieved from
- This online training module provides instruction in public speaking for public health professionals.
Learning Components
This activity will help you achieve the following learning components:
- Analyze the language barriers that a particular audience may face.
- Determine what socioeconomic issues are relevant for a specific population.
- Identify stakeholders in the development of a project.
Expert Solution Preview
Introduction:
Critiquing a public health communication involves analyzing a communication piece related to a change in behavior and evaluating its effectiveness in persuading the intended audience. It is crucial to consider the audience’s assumptions and knowledge to understand their learning needs when critiquing the communication’s efficacy. This activity will help achieve learning components such as identifying probing questions for determining audience needs and analyzing language barriers that a particular audience may face.
Answer:
To critique a public health communication, an effective communication piece related to a change in behavior needs to be identified. For instance, one may use the Let’s Move! campaign’s public service announcements from Georgiadis (2013), targeting children and parents to promote healthy eating habits and physical activity. The communication strategy’s effectiveness can be evaluated by analyzing how well it persuades the audience about the significance of a change in behavior. In this case, the communication piece does well in encouraging parents and children to make healthy choices to avoid diseases such as obesity and diabetes. However, the communication could be improved by adding more relatable and culturally appropriate strategies on healthy eating and physical activity. For example, the use of local cultural dishes or physical activities that cater to different age groups.
An academic reference that can support this critique is the article by Walls, Peeters, Proietto, and McNeil (2011), which critiques public health campaigns’ effectiveness on obesity. The article emphasizes the need for a societal approach in tackling obesity using evidence-based strategies that involve the stakeholders in the development of a project. Hence, when critiquing public health communication, the stakeholders’ involvement in developing the communication piece should also be analyzed for effectiveness.
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