Process of Communication

The Elements and Processes of Communication

From your health education module, you may have an ample of knowledge concerning communication and the way how to make an effective communication. In this section, you will briefly see some important aspects of communication you have learnt in the other modules. The elements of communication employed in the communication process are described here.

The source (sender)

The sender is the originator of the message. The source can be an individual or group, an institution or an organisation. People are exposed to communication from different sources but are most likely to accept communication from a person or an organisation that they trust because they consider it to be a good source of reliable information. It is critical for you to have good qualities of effective communication. This may help you to provide effective health education to your community members. Some qualities of effective communicator are described in the following box (see Box below)

The receiver or audience

The receiver or audience is the person or the group for whom the communication is intended or the person who receives the message. The first step in planning any communication is to consider the intended audience. Who is your audience? Do you have a primary and a secondary audience? What information do they need to take action?

Examples of an audience could be those receiving a message from Health Extension Worker who are teaching about family planning. The primary audience would be couples from the community. The secondary audience might be grandparents and other family members, while the tertiary (third) audiences are other people in the wider community.

Audience factors

A method which is effective with one audience may not succeed with another. As the health communicator, you always have to consider the following important factors before you communicate. When you are designing the message and identifying precisely who is your audience consider:

• Educational factors including the age and educational level of the public are important.
• Socio-cultural factors are important as you consider the beliefs of the public about the topic of communication.
• Which patterns of communication already exist in the community and what are their rules during the conversation in the community?. How do they show respect when talking to another person?.

The message is a piece of information that contains a combination of ideas, facts, opinions, feelings or attitudes. A message is something that is considered necessary for the audience to know or do. You may have only one message that you want to convey, and you may want to modify this message for several different audiences.

The channel is the physical means or the media by which the message travels from a sender to a receiver. The channel used to communicate a health message influences what information can be conveyed and how. The types of communication channels include:

• Interpersonal channels - such as face-to-face communication, home visits, training, group discussions, and counselling - are best for giving credibility to messages, providing information, and teaching complex skills that need two-way communications between the individual and the health workers.
  
• Broadcast channels, such as radio and television, generally provide broad coverage for communication of messages by reaching a large number of the target audience quickly and frequently.
  
• Print channels, such as pamphlets, flyers, and posters, are considered best for providing a timely reminder of key communication messages.
  

Feedback is the mechanism of assessing what has happened to the receivers after the communication has occurred. Communication is said to have feedback when the receiver of the message gives his or her responses back to the sender of the message. The sender must know how well the messages have been received by the receiver and whether they have been understood and acted on. It completes the process of communication.