Health talk or health education talk is any combination of learning experiences designed to help individuals and communities improve their health by increasing their knowledge or influencing their attitudes. Health talk is a form of health education that is used very commonly throughout the world, probably more common than any other method.
The Advantages of health talks
- The main advantage is that you can reach a fairly large number of people at the same time; with discussions, you are limited to about 10 people at a time.
- Health talks need relatively little preparation.
- Because the staff knows the patients and the community, their messages are usually very relevant to the health problems and the culture of the community.
Things to consider when giving a health talk
- A striking introduction that creates interest and explains what is going to happen. You should get the interest of the audience at this stage of the health talk. When your introduction is cathing, you tend to win the interest of the audience and they will pay attention to you.
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- A concise body. There must be a logical sequence of information. The information you give out should be appropriate and real. Don’t say things you are not sure of or don’t have adequate knowledge about. It all voice down to making good research on your health talk topic before presenting to your audience. Reduce information to the key points.
- A meaningful conclusion, You should try as much as possible to give a meaningful conclusion when presenting a health talk. The conclusion contains a summary of the key or important points. The attention of your audience is at its peak at the concluding part. Hammer on your important points and talk a little about it.
- Timing: Keep it to 15 – 20 minutes since your audience may get bored when you keep them sitting down for a long time listening to a talk. Try as much as possible to deliver your talk within 20 minutes. This can be achieved by timing your self as you rehearse with your colleagues on your talk.
- When choosing content, focus on what people must know. You can touch on myths and misconceptions related to your subject matter.
- Remember: your audiences are only going to remember about 3–4 of the facts you tell them. Make sure these are the important ones and are key relating to the subject matter.
- When presenting the content, avoid jargons and complicated words.
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Preparing an outline to guide you
- Two-way communication. Interact with your audience. This is the only way to win their attention. Ask your audience about the things they already know and add to it. This is also referred to as learning from known to unknown. Your health talk should not be a lecture.
- Your talk should be Short and entertaining. Remember to talk about key points only.
- Practical subject matter. Deals with important local health issues that add up to the individual’s health.
- Visual aids, videos, flip charts, models, statistical presentations can be used to give a detailed view of what you are saying. If there is a need to illustrate your demonstration, do that and give the opportunity for your audience to do the same.
- Use simple and understandable language. Avoid the use of jargon. If it is necessary to use terminology, break it down for easy understanding.
- Encourage your audience to participate and ask questions or points that need further clarification.
- Creates a jolly atmosphere to ease your audience. Call on people who don’t seem to be paying attention to your talk. it will prompt them to give a listening ear.
- Checks that the audience has understood by asking them questions. You can decide on a motto that you will say during your talk and they will give you a response to waking them up. If you included illustrations or demonstration in your talk, you can ask your audience to demonstrate to you what they learned. Don’t laugh at them when they make mistakes.
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