Efficient health care service delivery and improving public health much rely on the significant process of communication. Nonetheless, in most scenarios, the execution of effective communication to enacting public health regulations and practice, provision of quality health care, and persuading the public to adopt healthy endorsing activities comes with a lot of challenges (Watson, 2016). This discussion will highlight the relevance of Weick’s health communication theory and its influence on the appreciation of healthcare and health promotion.
Theory and History
Karl Weick is a university lecturer at the University of Michigan in charge of Organizational Behavior and Psychology. Before being part of Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, he was an instructor at Cornel University, the University of Texas, and the University of Minnesota. He graduated with a Ph.D. and is a writer of several books such as the social psychology of organizing and Sense-making in organizations that were derived from most of his research in sense-making under pressure, among others. It is through research that Weick came up with the theory of health communication whose objective was to conduct health communication research and application.
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Application
Weick’s Organizational Information Theory (OIT) had the purpose of enabling analysis, interpretation and, exchange of information between members of a particular organization. Besides, OIT has various benefits if applied in an organization. Firstly, the idea can be used in a hospital situation where patients and medical practitioners can communicate effectively. It can create a platform where doctors can collect feedback and suggestions that can help in improving healthcare services. Secondly, the theory suggests the presence of equivocality, which is responsible for influencing people to adopt sense-making. This is possible due to various factors in a hospital, such as threats to identity, planned change inventions, and organizational glitches. Thirdly, according to the mentioned applications, OIT implies that the exchange of information within a health organization setting is a social practice (Kreps, 2019). Dialogue is a significant factor in OIT; hence participants cooperatively make intellectual reasoning. Thus sense-making is a collective responsibility that requires interdependent participants to execute. In this situation, both parties involved in a healthcare setting merge their efforts and ideas to implement challenging thoughts and activities. For example, doctors need to communicate with patients to diagnose and treat patients effectively.
Strength and weaknesses of the theory
Strengths
Firstly, in an organization scenario, the theory IOT can be used to coordinate various human activities in a situational environment (Arnold, 2019). For instance, a social organization can take place in a hospital situation where a doctor may need feedback from patients suffering from a disease outbreak. Therefore the theory may help doctors to acquire information about the patients’ reactions to the administered drug or type of treatment. Secondly, the method has enabled medical staff to educate people on ways they can adapt and stay healthy. This way, it is easier to address the factors and causes of diseases that affect human health and their well-being. Thirdly, the theory has made health promotion activities much more straightforward. Through proper means of communication, health organizations have succeeded in various activities such as creating healthy public policies, assisting patients in developing individual skills on health care, creation supportive environments for those in need, and improving health services.
Weaknesses
Health promotion relies on the collectiveness of individuals in a particular environment, and therefore, inventions and innovation can only be achieved among coordinated people. Therefore, OIT cannot prevail where people are not reliable enough to give substantial feedback or any at all because communication depends on a social system of the environment (Ledford, 2015). Another weakness is that Weick assumes that human organization is similar to an open social arrangement whose primary requirement is communication. However, in a situation where challenges of communication such as language barriers are present, then active sense-making cannot occur. For example, if the doctor only speaks English and cannot understand or communicate in the local language, then it will be impossible to educate the locals on health promotion. Finally, in some cases, the information circulating within an organization may differ concerning equivocality (Bond, 2016). Since various individuals are involved in the exchange of information, each individual may have different understandings hence leading to mixed reactions depending on the information input. In some cases, the information may be considered to be ambiguous and consequently become unreliable.
Summery
Generally, Weick’s Health Communication theory can be very crucial in various situations. This theory can be useful if applied in a local hospital setting. This is because the approach works best in an organization with united individuals who share common goals. A characteristic usually observed in community hospitals that have a social system of communication. Proper communication among local people in a community is reliable in facilitating the sense-making process to achieve a common goal of Sense-making and health promotion.
Reference
Arnold, E. C., & Boggs, K. U. (2019). Interpersonal Relationships E-Book: Professional Communication Skills for Nurses . Elsevier Health Sciences.
Kreps, G. L. (2017). Online information and communication systems to enhance health outcomes through communication convergence. Human Communication Research , 43 (4), 518-530.
Ledford, C. J., Saperstein, A. K., Cafferty, L. A., McClintick, S. H., & Bernstein, E. M. (2015). Any questions? An application of weick's model of organizing to increase student involvement in the large-lecture classroom. Communication Teacher , 29 (2), 116-128.
McPhail-Bell, K., Bond, C., Brough, M., & Fredericks, B. (2016). ‘We don’t tell people what to do’: ethical practice and Indigenous health promotion. Health Promotion Journal of Australia , 26 (3), 195-199.
Watson, B. M., Jones, L., & Hewett, D. G. (2016). Accommodating health. Communication accommodation theory: Negotiating personal relationships and social identities across contexts , 152-168.
