Health Education And Communication in Community Services Assignment Sample

Introduction:- Evaluation of Community Health Promotion Intervention

The health issue to be addressed in this intervention is a general lack of knowledge of, and access to, some fundamental community needs and services for those in need in Australia. This generally results in the non-utilization of services that would bring about a positive change to the quality of lives of such vulnerable groups as the elderly, immigrants and low-income earners. The chosen intervention was aimed at raising awareness of the existing community services among all these target groups, as well as at encouraging them to seek help where necessary. This was to be achieved through collaborating with the stakeholders in the socio-community and other service delivery organizations that cater for the non-pharmacological needs of the patients, for the purpose of narrowing the information gap and thus providing equal opportunity for access to the resources.

Evaluation Strategies

The outcome and impact assessment was also employed to measure the effectiveness of the intervention as well as to motivate the participants, and their subsequent behaviour concerning the utilization of services from the community. Outcome evaluation encompassed questionnaires before and after intercession: these gauged the amount of knowledge of the participants regarding the services available (ACNC, 2018). Refugee and post-intervention general population surveys provided estimates of an increase in awareness and likelihood of seeking services post-intervention.

In addition to that, a qualitative approach in the form of focus group discussion and on one interviews was used to assess the participants’ perception of the intervention (Nour Elsahoryi et al., 2024). These methods accorded a way of ascertaining which of the service delivery barriers the participants were aware of and the ideas the participants had as to how the intervention needed to be improved so as to offer the maximum support (Scheelbeek et al., 2020).

For further action continuity follow-up sessions and community workshops were conducted in order to retain motivation (Scheelbeek et al., 2020). On these forums, people were allowed to testify, ask for further clarifications on a certain service and get more assistance regarding the community services system. In this way, maintaining the weekly and daily, respectively schedule of these sessions contributed to the participants’ interest, and ensured that the intervention would be feasible in the long run.

Reflection on Presentation Style and Communication

When I reflect on the presentation of the intervention, I am aware that my presentation style was useful in presenting the message about the need for access to community services as well as getting the attention of the audience.  I employed both, infographics and slides as well as case studies to make the information easily understandable and interactive. These tools were especially helpful in the processes of discredit and demystification of the information, which seemed to find a positive response in the audience.

However now, knowing what I know, is that the presentation lacked interactivity which is essential to engage the audience as well as get them involved. Although I was concerned with presenting the material clearly and engagingly, using more lively features, for example, live demonstrations of service access or role-play could have made sessions even more interesting for participants. This approach would have seemed to resonate more with the sector’s focus on, active engagement and capacity building (de Freitas et al., 2020).

Concerning the field of communication, I did not experience a lot of difficulties in explaining the core topics and answering probable questions from the audience. Still, it was observed that at times, I coined a certain terminology or a technical term that could not be understood by all the participants. In the future, I will avoid using complex words and terms and where they cannot be avoided, I will make sure to explain them as much as possible to make the information more understandable to all.

As for further improvement, I will try to use these ideas in my further presentations to improve my communication plan. Understanding the significance of active participation, I will try to make use of involvement forms, for instance, group discussions, practical activities and feedback sessions during the lessons. Also, I will try to use less formal language that would not offend anybody, and the examples that are given, and the concepts explained, would be comprehensible for anybody even if they are not experts in the given topic. By implementing these modifications, I hope to achieve the main purpose of explaining information as well as inviting participants to make some changes to access and incorporate community services that are provided to them.

Integration of Theories, Models, and Health Promotion Strategies

The intervention was thus based on several theories and models that are common in the Australian community services sector, the Social Determinants of Health and Empowerment Model. The future in making use of guidelines such as the Social Determinants of Health framework helped in establishing the causes for the lack of access the community services such as; economic status, education and culture (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2024). This understanding was applied while developing the content and modality of the intervention since the target group was most probably in need of different kinds of support (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2024).

The Empowerment Model was incorporated into the intervention by staying focused on the need to teach participants how to manage their health. This was done via participatory exercises and role-plays whereby clients were allowed to ask questions, narrate incidents when they sought services and engage in service utilisation simulations  (Better Health Victoria, 2023). Whereas, long-term and sustainable behaviour change was also the goal of the intervention promoted by the researchers, by building up the spirit of independence.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the course of implementing this intervention has revealed the need to incorporate strong scientific approaches and well-meaning communication to support the delivery of community services. Some of the lessons emerging include those to the extent of evaluation before realizing the effectiveness of the intervention as well as applying theories and models tried out in other fields to draw out the strength and ensure the sustainability of health promotion. In future, I will ensure that I present a functional and practical lesson that engages all the attendees and gives them a feeling of being able to change something in their lives.