Health Communication and Behavior Change

Abstract

The impetus of public health is on promotive and preventive approaches. Since efforts to promote and prevent are communicative, health communication is being increasingly recognized as a pertinent discipline to bring in desired change in health behavior. The epidemics and pandemics of last decade have further emphasized role of behavior and behavior change to keep oneself and others safe. Health communication aims at informing people about health programs and policies, empowering them to adopt healthy behaviors, attracting attention of policy-makers to unattended health issues and for framing health issues for public debate, regulation, and resolution. Health communication apprises about systematic and scientific ways to use communication processes for bringing in desired change in human behavior by combining theory and practice and involving multiple stakeholders. The present chapter will attempt to provide insights on emergence of biopsychosocial model, theories of behavior change, health communication, types of communication and steps in planning health communication intervention for behavior change. Though, health communication primarily revolves around social communication, its scope is wide and therefore the chapter also throws light on use of interpersonal communication in counselling during patient–provider communication or counselling sessions at facility or during household visits. The chapter also delves into use of mass and social media in designing health communication interventions for reach and coverage. Lastly, it stresses on the importance of scientific planning, robust implementation, continuous monitoring and evaluation in the management of health communication interventions to ensure designing of evidence-based behavior change communication interventions with opportunity for timely corrections for bringing in desired change and also learning lessons for expansion and future replication.