Planning and Conducting Health Education for Community Members

At a glance

Health education practices can help prepare community members to receive and better understand the findings of your public health work.

A woman giving a presentation to a group of people.

Overview

Health education is any combination of learning experiences designed to help individuals and communities improve their environmental health literacy. The goals of health education are to increase awareness of:

  • Local environmental conditions
  • Potential exposures, and
  • The impacts of exposures on individual and public health

Health education can also prepare community members to receive and better understand the findings of your public health work.

Some health education takes the form of shorter, one-on-one, or small group conversations. These are held with community members, state, territorial, local, and tribal (STLT) partners, and allies. In the beginning, you may need to frequently provide information about exposure sources and exposure pathways to community members. This means sharing information on how they may encounter harmful substances.

Later in your public health work, you may want to do a full community workshop or participate in existing community events. These would be held to increase the communities understanding about specific exposures related to the chemical of concern. Address how the harmful substance may be encountered, levels of exposure, and ways community members can prevent, reduce, or eliminate exposure. There may be other concerns that are not chemical-specific, such as environmental odors and community stress.

Keep in Mind

Health education is a professional discipline with unique graduate-level training and credentialing. Health educators are critical partners that advise in the development and implementation of health education programs. Public health work benefits from the skills that a health educator can provide. If you don't have this training, find ways to build your skills. This includes improving your one-on-one and small group educational conversations. Health educators may also work with other public health professionals such as health communication specialists. Health communication specialists develop communication strategies to inform and influence individual and community decisions that enhance health.

Where to Start

  • Assess individual and community needs for health education.
  • Ask community members about factors that directly or indirectly increase the degree of exposure to environmental contamination. Factors may include community members accessing a hazardous site or the presence of lead in house paint, soil, or water.
  • Develop a health education plan.
  • Listen for opportunities to provide health education throughout your community engagement work.

Case Study: Uranium Exposure Education in a Tribal Community

Despite nearby mines being shut down, a tribal nation continued to face risks of exposure to uranium and radon. In response, a group of federal and tribal agencies developed a uranium education workshop. This was done to help the community better understand how to reduce the risk of exposure. The agencies established a vision and a set of strategies to ensure the workshop was technically-sound and culturally appropriate.

The agencies ensured that they

  • Offered the workshop in English and tribal languages,
  • Developed materials at the average US reading level for broad accessibility,
  • Invited all local tribal families to participate, and
  • Piloted the workshop with three communities before finalizing the content.

Before the first pilot workshop, the agencies sought feedback. They asked for an assessment of their content, tone, and complexity from community health representatives from the tribe's department of health. The community health representatives provided many suggestions to tailor the presentation for tribal community audiences.

The workshop content was further refined after each pilot presentation. These strategies enabled the agencies to tailor content to the needs, preferences, and beliefs of local community members.

Chemical-specific Resources and Interventions

CDC's National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH) and ATSDR have many existing materials to help educate community members about specific chemicals. ATSDR's Toxicological Profiles and Tox FAQs provide a comprehensive summary and interpretation of available toxicological and epidemiological information on a substance. ATSDR's Choose Safe Places for Early Care and Education Program is another potential resource. This program provides a framework and practices to make sure early care and education sites are located away from chemical hazards. Consider leveraging or adapting these resources, as well as the following chemical-specific websites and interventions. When developing health education activities for your community, such as:

Tips from the Field

Key practices for success

Develop health education materials that are culturally appropriate, with community input.

Areas to exercise caution

Be aware that your health education messages may be received by the community differently than you intend. Consider testing your messages with community counterparts before you use them widely. Be aware of community beliefs about health and the environment, so that you can develop culturally appropriate health education materials. Your awareness will help you design, plan, and implement activities that are protective of health and respectful of community beliefs.

Risks to avoid

Avoid stigmatizing (devaluing) communities living in "contaminated" areas [ATSDR 2020].

Additional Resources

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Content Source:
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry