We have learnt so much already about health communication as we wrap up the first module. The class started with everyone's own perception of health communication. To me, it is a method used to provide information to individuals or groups of people about aspects related to health improvement behaviors through speech, pictures, and words. In essence, the purpose of health communication would also be to evoke change within individuals.

Then we went on to discuss theories about how to shape health campaigns. Theories such asthe rational based theory, which tells us that people actively precontemplate without emotion. Then there is how people sort out messages in their heads, systematically or heuristicly. Personal, I think people do both at the same time.

Next, we learnt about formative research. A lot of work goes into creating commercials and health campaigns. For any type of commercial to get their message across, it should be very well designed and well researched. The best way for messages to get throug usually is through story telling. It puts an image into people's heads and allows them to remember it better.

The following link, I feel is very useful. It has many commericals about being anti-drug. The commercials are very creative and gets people feeling emotional. Well, I don't know about everyone else, but I got emotional. I like the dog talking one.

http://www.mediacampaign.org/mg/television.html