Tag Archives: Communication

Effective Cross-Cultural Communication and Health Literacy

Posted on by
Reply

Post10Blog5 copy

Communicating effectively across cultures is important for public health professionals. Peopleā€™s ideas about health and illness can vary by cultural group and sub-group, and can affect which health literacy skills are considered culturally necessary. When communicating with diverse cultural groups, public health professionals should be aware of and adjust for linguistic differences, beliefs, values, customs, and behaviors that can affect if the audience receives your intended message.

Here are some tips to make sure you and your materials are well understood:

  • Try not to treat culture as a negative or barrier that must be overcome. Your cultural background may not be the same as your audienceā€™s, but you can learn about and adjust for language, beliefs, and customs as you would for other factors, such as age or gender, that might affect how the audience interprets the messages.Ā 
  • If your messages arenā€™t in the audienceā€™s preferred language, consider if interpretation of oral information, translation of written materials, or a complete redesign to address cultural differences is necessary.
  • Adapt messages and materials for the literacy and numeracy skills people have in their preferred language.
  • Refer to the National Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) Standards as you plan your communication strategy.

To read more about the role of culture in health literacy, please visit http://www.cdc.gov/healthliteracy/culture.html

Family Communication

Posted on by
Reply

Family isĀ aĀ support system that can help us get through many stages of our lives. It takes great understanding and communication to work together through different challenges. Sometimes it is hard for us to talk to our families or have them support us in the ways we want them to. But of course, your family is there to help you in any ways they can. Here are some tips on communicating with your family members in positive ways:

1. Be open-minded and understanding of others. Although everyone in your family may share different opinions, it doesn’t mean they’re against you. Often time, talking things out will help people come to terms of understanding your situation. Try to avoid beingĀ narrow minded because it won’t solve anything.

2. Share your life with them. Being part of a family means you share and make memories with them. You don’t share every aspect of your life with them because everyone has separate experiences in life. By sharing little daily things (over dinner, a movie, etc.) with them can help you reconnect with them at the end of the day.

3. You have a problem? Address it now; sooner is better than later. If you’re struggling with something, then don’t let it drag on. By the time you realize what you could have done by asking your family for help, it may be too late. Your family will help you if they are able to, but don’t take them for granted.

4. Always be grateful for them. Whether you like your family or not, be grateful for your family. You wouldn’t be who you are without their influence, support, and love. Not every family is perfect and that’s okay. You’ll learn over time that family is something that always stays with you for a lifetime.

5. Enjoy their company! Hey, time will fly before you become independent yourself. You’ll realize that your life with your family was really short compared to the other years you’ll continue to live with your own family. So really take the time to make more memories and enjoy being with your family.

Runaway Prevention: Communication

Posted on by
Reply

There are many reasons why youth homelessness occurs, but one solution that could prevent this from happening is effective communication. By understanding the other person’s situation and being supportive, you can help advise them not to run away from home or instead, seek refugee in supportive programs relatives, friends, and more.Ā 

  • Being understanding is key to know how you can help somebody. Sometimes what youths really need is someone they can talk to without feeling or/and being judged. They may like having someone to talk to about solving the issues of they have and your input could possibly lead them to make a better decision for themselves.
  • Try to get youths to discuss their problems with their direct families. Sometimes, youths may not feel supported in their struggles and feeling neglected can make them feel unwanted at home or have the desire to leave home. Although both side may share different perspectives, it is all about understanding one another. Through that, youths and families can learn how to positively help each other in different ways.
  • There are other ways for youths to be supported if they are not by their families through relatives, friends, guardians, youth programs, helpful phone lines, and more. You can advised them to look for other options that is safe and trustworthy besides running away from home.
  • Prevention of youth runaways can help them avoid other possibly dangerous situations/risks. Such as experiencing homelessness, substance or/and sexual abuse, human trafficking, pregnancy, trauma, and more.

By effectively communicating with youths, we can help solve their problems and give them more options than what they know. If we can prevent youths from becoming homeless and give them a place to solve their concerns, they will be able to have a more positive outlook on their lives and have the opportunity of a better future.