Table of Contents
Communication
Communication can be regarded as a two way process of exchanging or shaping ideas, feelings and information. It refers to the countless ways of the humans have keeping in touch with one another.It is the part of our normal relationship with other people and our ability to influence others depends upon our communication skills.
CDC defines health communication as “ the study and use of communication strategies to inform and influence individual decisions that enhance health”
Components of effective communication
1.communicator/ sender
Sender may be the person who approaches our services with the intention of getting an answer to his or her questions or passing a feedback. It is also the source of message. The senders send ideas, information and emotion in the form of message.
The communicator may be ;
Leader
Teacher
Speaker man
Motivator
Health worker and who is giving information to others.
Qualities of a Good Communicator
- Perfect in communication
- Expert in knowledge and skill in related subject
- Written and spoken kill
- Motivation skill
- Faithful with audience
- Skill in utilizing the channel
- Clearly defined specific objectives
- Ability to identify community needs and interest
- Good and pleasant personality
- Source credibility
2. Message
A good message is the feeling, emotion, concept, ideas, attitudes, facts, opinions,mental pictures, suggestions and complaints . A good message must be in line with objectives carefully chosen, clear and understandable.
Good Quality of message contains: (@5 ATS)
A-Accurate, Adequate, Appropriate, Appealing, Attractive
T- Timely
S- Specific
3. Encoding
The message is encoded into symbols like words, sounds, pictures, numbers and gestures.Most message use language, visual materials and body language. Encoding gets complicated, because most people use their own definition for certain emotions or ideas. The way they put these in sentences offers a view over their type of personality.
4.Decoding
Decoding is the translation of received stimuli into an interpreted meaning.The symbols are decoded to meaningful message by the receiver which is compatible with the encoding process. The receiver has to extract the meaning from the symbols and should understand completely what the sender needs.
5. Audience(Receiver)
The receivers are the target communicators who can either ignore the message or decode it for meaning. The audience may be the general people, customer, students, participants. The main activity of the receiver is to solve clients` problems and represent the brand. The receiver is fictional entity and will have to behave accordingly
6.Channel
It is the medium of message of transmission the message.
The channel can be ;
- Audio-visual: television, radio, cinema etc.
- Print media: Newspapers, magazines, etc.
- Mechanical: telephone, fax, E-mail , computer internet etc.
7. Feedback
- The response of receiver provides feedback. The process of ensuring whether the sender and receiver understood each other correctly and if they are proceeding to find a solution is the feedback. It tells the sender whether the message was received as intended and helps to improve future communication.
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