"Wrong Reason Health Promotion"

The exercise we did in class was very informative in describing how "framing" works. It's definitely very useful in knowing how "framing" can influence one's action. Of course one's core value also play a very important role. Thus, we as public health professionals need to learn these strategies in "framing" messages for our audience as well as trying to get to know their core values. Another great discussion we had in class was the idea of "wrong reason health promotion". For instance, in that smoking campaign getting kids not to smoke because it would give them bad breath would seem wrong from a public health perspective. However, if this prevents the kid from smoking why not? So, I agree with Emily on how we shouldn't just list all the health risks associated with the behavior but make it more personal and perhaps then they will see a relationship and stop.

Health Literacy

This week's topic was about health literacy. I found this to be very appealing since I could relate to it. English is my second language and I had a very difficult time transitioning when moved to the United States. I faced many of the problems people in the video were experiencing and always thought if only my English becomes better, I would never face the challenge of comprehending others such as doctors, dentists, and others who tend to use very complex language. Well, as the years passed by and my English was improving, I still found myself having a hard time understanding certain things. Being a graduate students, there are still some things I don't understand so I guess I must agree with the statement that literacy and intelligence are not the same thing (haha). I might have knowledge of some things and still not be able to understand the complexity of the language used.

After watching this video in class, I'm worried about my parents and how they're suppose to comprehend all this complex language in everyday life such as doctor's visits’, medication, insurance information etc. In my opinion, life would be much easier for everyone if people were using plain language to get their message across. In addition, life would be especially easier for me since I have to invest a lot of my time interpreting (of course to the best of my ability) the complex writing of medical insurance, medications, car insurance, etc for my parents.

"Hard -to-Reach" Audience

Before starting the MPH program at San Diego State University, I had the impression how exciting and easy it would be to promote health. I assumed people's lifestyles would be changed easily by educating them and simply providing them with knowledge on health related topics. Well, it's not that easy at all. While Public Health is a very exciting field, it can also be very challenging; and one of the challenges that I've found to be most difficult is how to target "Hard-to-Reach" audiences?
The “hard-to-Reach” audience is a label given to those who have limited access to communication channels, have poor information processing skills and are people of ethnic minorities or persons of low socioeconomic status. Although it is a challenging job to be able to target all audiences out there as a communicator, however, there should be ways to reach out to these groups of people who are labeled as “Hard-to-Reach”. I really liked this paragraph from my Health Communication Readings and feel like I want to share it with all of you as my professor shared it with us in class:

“I used to think I was poor. Then they told me I wasn’t poor, I was needy. Then they told me it was self-defeating to think of myself as needy, I was deprived. Then they told me deprived was a bad image, I was underprivileged. Then they told me underprivileged was overused, I was disadvantaged.

In the final panel the old man says, “I still don’t have a dime.”

I thought this was so funny and sad at the same time. I’ve realized that in our society people are constantly given a label and thus live their life carrying labels around. It’s almost like a sense of entitlement. For instance, if you go to the doctor and he or she doesn’t diagnose you with anything, you feel cheated. It might not apply to everyone but from my observations at least it’s true. Anyways, the point I was trying to make is that why start labeling people and putting them into categories instead of finding better ways to help them and solve problems.

Ethnic minorities are also considered as “Hard-to-Reach” audience. Well, a way to approach this problem is to become more familiarize with different ethnic backgrounds. Since the United States already consists of such diverse population, it would be very useful for not only Public Health communicators to get to know another’s culture and social norms but for everyone!

I’m originally from Iran and I still meet people who have no idea where Iran is on the planet. But of course since the beginning of Iraq war, they get it mistaken with Iraq now. And the funniest thing is that some still think that people in the Middle East ride camels. It’s always so pleasant for me to learn and meet people of all nationalities and learn about their culture, religion, country, language and much more. Hopefully, one day I can apply all this knowledge that would enable me to reach and help everyone.

"Health is not valued till sickness comes"

I would like to start this week's blog by talking about this exercise we did in class to learn more about segmentation. My professor, Dr. Engelberg had the class break into two groups based on health being on top of our priority list. Well, out of approximately 15 students, only four including myself considered our health as a priority on our list. I was surprised and amazed how one can easily forget that the most important thing in life is one's health. I admit that I also take my health for granted at times but having gone through family ailments; I keep reminding and appreciating my health as well as my families.

I was watching this program on TV that was talking about a girl and her life story. They were showing her hobbies in life in which one of them was cheerleading. This girl was very active, enthusiastic, bright, beautiful, and full of spirit and love for life. Then, came the day when she was diagnosed with Lyme disease and her life was changed overnight. The show went on talking about how this heartbreaking news affected not only her life but her family's as well. So, my message to everyone is to appreciate your health because without it life is not as enjoyable. No matter how challenging life gets, we shouldn't forget how our health is the most important thing and should be on top of our priority list. My wish for everyone in this world is to be healthy and thus happy!

Your Face

"Communication is an intellecutal act of love". This past Tuesday was the first time I heard this quote from watching a video in class. I thought there is so much truth in that statement that I had to memorize it. Wouldn’t you agree? I don’t know why I suddenly got reminded of my Statistic professor who quoted “Statisticians are mean lovers”. Now I don’t know how much truth is in this statement…

Anyways, it was even more interesting to hear the speaker talk about "three faces" we use: 1) closed face 2) Neutral face and 3) open face. Well, ever since then I have definitely been paying attention to what face I make when out in public which is most of the time. For those of you who know where I've worked for the longest time and still do, it's best to have the closed face, huh? Of course, I'm kidding about that because my goal is to have an open face at all times if life circumstances allow especially after knowing that the only ingredient of communication is an open face. The speaker in the video I watched in class also mentioned that our faces control our voices. That's so true, isn't it? He also continued talking about faces that are likable which were mostly those open faces. Now, we all know that we can't always have that open face, right? What if you’re walking down the street late at night and you see a strange person walking by so obviously you won't have your "open face" or at least I hope not. Therefore, smiling is a good communication tool as long as we use it appropriately and genuinely. One last quote that I really liked from the video and would like to share with you all is that, "likeability wins and the key to likeability is the open face". So my advice to you is to smile, smile, smile with your open face AND you never know who falls in love with your smile! :p

P.S. Can you find which one of the pictures has a "neutral face" also referred to as the face of the dead?

Formative Research

This week in my health communication class, we talked about formative research and its applications. It was amazing to see how much research was conducted to come up with a motorcycle ad. The producers of the ad took into consideration the attitudes, values, identity, stereotype, image and anything associated with a motorcycle rider through focus groups to target their consumers. In the video, the producers talked about how commercials deal with fantasies and it is these images of fantasies that are appealing to the consumers. I guess I can relate to this when I see an ad. Depending on the ad and whether it appeals to my interest or not, I start daydreaming which then leads me to buy the product that caused me to feel that way. Ultimately this is exactly how the producers of these ads get to consumers to buy their products. For instance, how much do you think goes on behind a simple ad like the one I have posted about Coca Cola?? Well, after watching the video in class, I say TONS. In this particular ad, their target audience is the younger crowd so they have probably analyzed many young people's behaviors and have interviewed them individually to find out what appeals to them the most. Anyways, the whole point is that an extensive amount of research is done for just a simple advertisement. I hope to be able to appeal to my target audience the same way as a health educator someday.

Health Programs and Campaigns

My Health Communication class has been very informative and useful in helping me understand what it really takes to start a campaign. I'm slowly becoming acquainted with different terminologies such as a Communication/Persuasion Matrix in which incorporates parts and elements of communication such as source, channel, message, audience, destination and most importantly objective. I didn't really think about all the hard work and dedication that goes on behind the scene of creating an effective campaign. Thus this class is definitely an eye opener for me! I would like to learn and absorb as much as I can in this class that would enable me to come up with different health programs and campaigns in the future. I have always been so intrigued by the different health campaigns that are there to change people's behaviors to a healthier lifestyle. This is exactly what I like to do someday!!
In class, we had a discussion about the three most important elements that are involved in advertisements such as: sex, looks, and money. I should say that I'm a bit disappointed in this way of promoting health. Of course, those programs and campaigns that use any of these components are more likely to succeed than not using them. In my opinion, people should care enough about their health that they should just be drawn to campaigns that are promoting healthy behaviors without the existence of a sex appeal on an ad. Therefore, a public health professional should be able to come up with attention grabbing ideas that wouldn't have to involve sex, looks, and money. I think our society is trained to think with their eyes. People all around the world admire beauty and beauty is not only found among humans but also of nature, places, animals, etc so why not use other beautiful things to increase their awareness? Why is this ad I've posted with the three naked women more likely to grab other women's attention for breast cancer awareness? Or maybe it doesn't, I'm not sure?


Anyways, after posting this picture in my blog I was looking for more health campaign ads and what I've noticed is that most of them ARE geared toward looks and sex. In addition, I've noticed some that you would be very disgusted by looking at them such as images of naked anorexic women. So now I guess both attractive and not so attractive ads would draw attention equally. Wouldn't you think? I wonder which would be more effective in changing people's perspective. In my opinion they both can and it really depends on the individual. My little research on different health campaign ads has made me more curious and fascinated about this class and I'm looking forward to learn more about these topics throughout the semester. Hopefully, by the end of this class I can come up with a great campaign ad and I wonder what I would use to send out MY message.

P.S I apologize if these images are not appropriate for class but they are health campaign ads that are being used, so I thought I share them. I also couldn't resist not posting the anti-smoking ad :)