Major Components of Health Communication:

303 Words2 Pages
Major components of health communication: Process- A child talks to her mother about symptoms she is experiencing, she goes over the symptoms in her mind to decide if her daughter needs medical attention. Since the mother has treated this condition before, she does it again seeking the same positive outcome. Personal goals- After treating her daughter with over-the-counter meds, the mother talks to a friend who thinks that the daughter may not have the flu, she may be suffering from something more serious. Her anxiety about her daughter’s illness is raised, making her second guess the care she gave her daughter and to want reassurance from a medical professional. Interdependence- At the ER, the mother and daughter are put more at ease when the triage nurse describes similar symptoms in her son, which turned out to be flu. A friendly and receptive nurse helped to ease their fears. Sensitivity- The ER doctor read not only the symptoms that the mother and daughter told him with their mouths, but unknowingly showed him with their body language. He showed sensitivity because they were afraid of the unknown and did what he could to lower their apprehension. Shared Meaning- The nurse came in to take the daughter’s temperature and while not outwardly stating anxiety, the nurse saw the fear. Seeing that, she kept the jokes to a minimum and showed compassion in how she dealt with us. If our behavior was different, she would have behaved differently. Seeing our body language, she knew how to respond. Each component is important; if any one of them was missing the chain would have been broken. For instance, had the daughter never mentioned the symptoms to her mom, or the friend never raised the mom’s anxiety about the symptoms, this communication never would have taken
Open Document