HEALTH EDUCATION METHOD

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.