SEMINAR ON

INFORMATION, EDUCATION
AND COMMUNICATION
 OBJECTIVES

GENERAL OBJECTIVE : On completion of class group will have in depth knowledge regarding
information education and communication and develop skill and attitudes to communicate with the
people based on this concepts

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE : After completion of the class the group will be able to

 explain the definition of IEC

 list down principles of health education
 describe the objectives.
 enumerate the steps and developing materials of IEC
 explain counseling and role of counselor
 describe major components of IEC
 INTRODUCTION :

The importance of health education as been increasingly realized during last three
decades so much so that health education has emerged as a specialty in itself. The aim of the health
education is to bring about a change in health behavior of the people in such a manner that the
harmful health practices given up while good ones are reinforced.

TERMINOLOGIES :
1. Information - resource, message, Facts
2. Education - Knowledge, learning processes.
3. Communication - interactions
4. Essential - necessary

DEFINITION AND CONCEPTS

Information :
Defined as to describe it as one (or) more statement or fact that are received by a human
which have some form of worth to him. Information affects the perspective of the recipient person.
The facts and figures that are received by human have to be true and factual to be labeled as
information. Lies, fare hood counterfactual information is not information itself but is called
Misinformation.

Building Information Base

SERVICE INFORMATION DISEASE INFORMATION

Where facilities are available Causes of disease

What are the skills available? Symptom of disease
What is the cost of services? Consequences of disease
Benefit of treatment

Education :
It is the process by which behavioral changes takes place in an individual as a result of
experience which he has undergone. Education in a learning process or a series of learning
experience through which as individual inform and orients himself to develop skills and intelligent
action.
Communication :
Communication is the process of attempting to change the behavior of other. The
communication job is chiefly helping people learn to took at things in a new way by sharing ideas
and information. When people exchange idea and information they can work together better,
sharing entails parting with information that gives. Power communication is a general term for the
flow of information linking people or place. It is therefore the process of exchanging news forts
opinion and massagers individual.

The essentials of IEC

Information, education and communications (IEC) combines strategies, approaches and
methods that enable individuals, families, groups, organizations and communities to play active
roles in achieving, protecting and sustaining their own health. Embodied in IEC is the process of
learning that empower people to make decisions, modify behaviors and change social conditions.
Activities are developed based upon needs assessments, sound education principles, and periodic
evaluation using a clear set of goals and objectives.

IEC activities should never be developed or implemented independently from a broader

reproductive health program me that is being designed and executed in the country. IEC activities
not only need to have an appropriate context in which they are shaped, but it is crucial that health
services providers be prepared to respond to any demand that may be created as a result of effective
IEC activities. The influence of underlying social, cultural, economic and environmental conditions
on health are also taken into consideration in the IEC processes. Identifying and promoting specific
behaviors that are desirable are usually the objectives of IEC efforts. Behaviors are usually affected
by many factors including the most urgent needs of the target population and the risks people
perceive in continuing their current behaviors or in changing to different behaviors.

Health information can be communicated through many channels to increase awareness and
assess the knowledge of different populations about various issues, products and behaviors.
Channels might include interpersonal communication (such as individual discussions, counseling
sessions or group discussions and community meetings and events) or mass media communication
(such as radio, television and other forms of one-way communication, such as brochures, leaflets
and posters, visual and audio visual presentations and some forms of electronic communication).

Good communication between users and providers of any service is essential; but it is
especially important when providing RH services, given the sensitive nature of some of the issues
that are addressed (such as sexual violence. female genital mutilation, and providing contraceptives
to adolescents). Accordingly, IEC approaches must be carefully and appropriately designed and
selected.
 Although good “one - to - one” communication at the point of service provision is essential
for transmitting information and building trust the client, communication with other individuals and
groups within the community is also vital. It is through such communication networks that service
providers can obtain information about users’ needs, priorities and concerns, Such informal
information gathering is the first step in assessing needs (which can be supplemented by other more
formal means-see section below).

It also helps providers better understand the specific setting and context in which they are
working, which will be useful in the later development of IEC approaches, messages and materials.

These types of conversations, or passing on information by “word - of - mouth”, has been

shown to be one of the most effective communication channels for acquiring knowledge and
promoting desired changes in behavior. Evidence of this is the speed with which rumors spread and
the force of their impact. Field staff should not ignore these informal opportunities to educate the
public through casual conversation with the people in the community.

Once a refugee situation stabilizes, it becomes appropriate to consider the development of

more elaborate and formal IEC strategies. This requires serious thought and significant allocation
of time and resources. The steps involved in the development of IEC are outlined here, but this is
not intended to be an exhaustive guide. Whatever materials and format program me are developed,
it is important to ensure that the different aspects are coordinated and that the content of any
messages and the media used to convey those messages are complementary. It is also vital to
ensure that people are provided with the necessary support and resources to act in the manner
advised.

INFORMATION EDUCATION COMMUNICATION (IEC) TRAINING SCHEME

The information education and communication training scheme was launched by the
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, with financial assistance from USAID on 17th November
1987 in four Hindi speaking states of UP, MP, Rajasthan and Bihar in phased manner. Thus the
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare abroad the scheme to continue as a plan scheme under the
8th plan and made budgetary provision as part of the IEC division fo the Ministry.

OBJECTIVES OF IEC :
1. Increase the reach of services by making visit of worker and supervisor more
predictable and regular.
2. Improve the quality of services through knowledge and skill development of
worker.
 3. Make supervision more oriented towards problem solving
4. Link supervision with training at various level
5. Concentrate on local field problems both for development of training material and
their users.
6. Combine interpersonal communication strategy with mass media approach
7. Improve performance level through continuous with village community
volunteers.

MAJOR COMPONENT OF IEC

1. Visit schedules
2. Training
3. Supervision
4. Monitoring and Evaluation

Visit Schedules
Under IEC scheme the tour programs of health worker one drawn as a weekly schedule
rather than date wise calendar schedule, new system attempts to make the visit regular, week days
in a fortnight of a particular village. To establish a link between villager and workers. The Village
is divided into units of twenty house holds.

Training
Training should not only cover technical aspect of program but also focus on problem
solving skills of workers. This is possible only when the worker are given training in the work
situation by their immediate supervisor at regular intervals. Training in this project in conducted at
sector PHC level and district level according to a predetermined schedule.

Supervision
Each supervisor during visit
1. Records
2. Target achievements
3. New Instruction

Monitoring and Evaluation

Success of any program depends of ability to monitor and evaluate program adequately and
accurately and to take corrective action if necessary.

STEPS IN DEVELOPING IEC ACTIVITIES

 The Information gathered through the needs assessment provides the framework for the
development of suitable IEC activities and materials must always be culturally sensitive and
appropriate. These are the major steps you should follow when designing an IEC activity.

1. Conduct a needs assessment

Set the goal. This is a broad statement of what you would like tp see accomplished with the
target audience in the end.

2. Establish behavioral objectives that will contribute to achieving the goal.

Develop the IEC activities and involve as many other partners as possible. After their
successful implementation, you should be able to have a significant impact on achieving the
behavioral objectives.
3. Identify potential barriers and ways of overcoming them.
4. Identify potential barriers and ways of overcome them.
5. Establish an evaluation plan
The indicators should determine the level of achievement of the behavioral objectives.
Having such specific indicators makes evaluating and monitoring the progress and impact of the
activities much easier. Additionally, process indicators could be established to track to what extent
and how well the planned activities have been carried out.

IEC Messages
Develop IEC messages A good message is short accurate and relevant. It will make, at the
most. 3 points. It should be disseminated in the language of the target audience and should use
vocabulary appropriate for that audience. The message tone may be humorous, didactic,
authoritative, rational of emotionally appealing. It may be intended as a one-time appeal or as
repetitive reinforcement. It is often necessary to develop several versions of a message depending
on the audience to whom it is directed. For example, differing information about contraceptive
services will be relevant to women who already have three or four children already, from that
which would be appropriate for adolescents who are just beginning to be sexually active. Their
needs and priorities are different, so the IEC materials used with each group must also differ. Find
out of materials already exist in the host country or country of origin and if appropriate, use these
instead of developing new ones.

Pre-testing by trying out the materials with small groups from your target audience, is an
essential part of developing messages and educational materials. It is through pre-testing that you
will ensure that people understand the message as intended. Pre-testing may need to be repeated
frequently until you are sure your information is being conveyed as desired.
 Determine suitable methods and channels of action and communications. Once the target
audience is identified and researched and the key message have been chosen, it is time to decide
which media and combinations of information channels will reach the target group. Both formal
and informal groups can be targeted.

Different channels do different jobs. Each has its own strengths and weakness, depending
the role it will take in the communication program me. The choice of messages and media will be
influenced by many factors : cost, literacy levels; artistic style within the community; familiar with,
and extent of penetration of a particular medium of both service providers and users; and
availability of the medium in the target population’s community.

The development and refinement of messages and the choice of the communication channel
or medium are inseparable. Very different messages will be developed for different media, for
example radio, stories, poems, songs, posters of flip charts, for the nature of the medium affects
what message can be successfully used. The skills of those using the materials must also be
considered, it may be necessary to provide training to those using the materials. For example, it is
important to recognize that placing a picture or poster on a clinic wall at which people may or may
not look is quite different form using a series of pictures in the form of a flip chart as an educational
tool in a group setting.
Thus to train the people in healthy living or to impart health education one has to motivate
them to do things conductive to health or to adopt health practices.

OBJECTIVES OF HEALTH EDUCATION AND PROMOTION

It may be recalled that according to the definition adopted by the National Conference on
Preventive Medicine.
Health education is a process that inform motivates in helps people to adopt and maintain
healthy practices and life styles. There are two objectives.
1. Informing people
Information is a basic right. It is also a prerequisite to proper awareness and assessment of
once duties and rights. Human is a basic right of all human beings and health information help
problem become aware of their health problems in developing proper perception about them is
seeking appropriate solution for same.
2. Motivating People
More information is not sufficient. The knowledge that tobacco and alcohol are harmful to
health does not, in itself, ensure that people will give them up i.e. Motivation of the people to adopt
a certain behavior. This motivation must be developed in them by a process of change of behavior.
 Ex : Before people voluntarily practice family planning they must be motivated and
mentally planning they must be motivated or mentally prepared and willing to adopt the small
family norm.

PRINCIPLES OF HEALTH EDUCATION

1. The aim of health education is to bring about a change in health behavior.
Health education must 1st create a need in the mind of the people and also stimulates
interest in them to fulfill that need. Only then will health education succeed. Such situation call for
a proper educational diagnosis about different factors influencing the community such as beliefs
prejudices resources perception, attitude.

2. Health education is not an artificial teaching learning exercise.

Health educator should start not by demolishing the present attitudes and values but by
building upon those that the community already has slowly trying to bring about change bu guiding
peoples thinking towards the desired change.

3. Health education should involve free discussion :

There should be a free flow of communication between the people and the health educator.
the health problem their possible solution and the good and bad points of the solution should be
thoroughly and honestly discussed, without trying to conceal anything. This helps in clearing all
doubts in the minds of the people. Health education should remember his job is not to instruct
people about certain do’s and do not’s but rather to let them assess and compare themselves the
new and old ideas on the basis of past experience so that they may take their own decision that
appear beneficial.

4. Tell only what is needed.

It is important that the health educator especially if he in an expert, should not start telling
all that he knows about the subject he should clearly understand the health problem. He should then
limit the content of health education to telling only that which is necessary important and relevant
using simple language.

5. Do not give conflicting information

Health educator should be consistent in what he tells the people. Different health worker
should not give contradictory message regarding a particular problem.

6. Try to change only what needs to be changed.

Health education should focus attention on health behavior which is undoubtedly harmful.
An example of the latter in the practice of not giving clearly vegetables to pregnant women in some
part of India.
 Harm belief and practices
1. For the first 3 days the child should not be breastfed and colostrums should
be discarded.
• No liquids should be given to infant when they suffer from diarrhea
• Weighing the children at young age will cast and evil eye on them
• Eruption fever like measles chicken pox, small pox are due to the anger of
some Goddess who needs to be appeared through prayer and offering.

7. Educator should make himself acceptable

The health educator should always remember that he in to assume the role of a professor but
of an enabler his task in to use the ability of the people to understand their health problem to find
solution for the same to put those solution into practice.
a) He should be friendly and sympathetic
b) He should be knowledgeable
c) He should be praise what he teaches
d) He should talk the language of the people
e) He should employ all possible method of education

8. Use audiovisual aids wherever possible

Such aids make the topic more lively, interesting and comprehensible. They may be
essential to explain certain technically complex messages. Knowledge depends upon perception is
directly proportional to the number of some organ involved on perception

9. Choose a proper medium of communications

The medium will vary depending upon the nature of the target clientele for the health
message.

10. Communication must be good

Health educator has to communicate with people so as to get this message across to them.
This is obvious that these cannot be good health education

11. Health education should be planned properly

It is always desirable to plan any activity or program properly. This is especially so in case
of health eductor unplanned health education may be good as wasted.

12. Health education should be provided in graded loses

 It is futile to try to give too many health messages to the community at the same time.
people have limited power for comprehending what a technical expert may think to be very simple
themes.

13. The health educator should put into practice the principles of community
organization.
The health educator should put into practice the principles of community organization.

COMMUNICATION IN HEALTH EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Communication deals with transmission of information or ideas and sharing and exchanging the
same. Since education implies transfer of knowledge. Communication in an essential component of
education.
Three essential part of a communication system are the communicator or sender. The three
dimension of message are the code (the symbols e.g. The alphabet in which it is transmitted the
content 9th subject matter) and the treatment.
Treatment of a message refer to the manner in which the message is prepared.

PRINCIPLES OF COMMUNICATION

1. The sender’s and receiver’s perception should be as close as possible.

Very often two people though find it difficult to understand each other because of their
different perception

2. The message should be of good quality a good messages should be

a) Simple
b) Accurate
c) Adequate
d) Clear
e) Specific
f) Significant
g) Applicable
h) Appropriate and timely attractive or appealing
In accordance with the laid down objectives. In time with the metal and socioeconomic
level of audience.

3. Communication should involve as many sense organs as possible

Communication is one of the effective when more than one sense organ is involved when a
message in delivered on radio only auditory and visual senses of involved.
 4. Communication should be two ways.
Unilateral communication from the sender to the receiver is not fully effective. It does not
allow for any feedback from the receiver of the communication. Hence it is not possible for the
communicator to improve and modify his message and technique of communication according to
needs of receiver.

5. Direct Communication is more effective

Is most effective when it is face to face. In this situation more sense organ are involved and
constant immediate feedback is available enabling expert communicator to modify his own
perception and message according to the need of the communicate.

The Role of the Counselors of IEC

The counselor’s role is to provide accurate and complete information to help the user make
her/his own decision about which, if any, part of the services (s) he will use. The role of the
counselor is not to offer advice or decide on the service to be used. For example, the counselor will
explain the available family planning methods, their side effects and for whom they are considered
most suitable. The user then makes a decision, based on the information given, about which method
she/he wishes to use.

Effective counseling requires understanding one’s own values and not influencing the user’s
by imposing, promoting or displaying them, particularly in cases where the provider’s and the
user’s values are different.