Spanning the distance and resource gaps in health promotion and health education programs

Traditionally, health care/health promotion professionals have relied on a face-to-face format for their teaching and are now becoming increasingly involved with new and creative ways to use microcomputers in educational technology. These methodologies have their limitations. Each is limited by the number of participants who can be reached at a given time, the availability of local experts, the existence of the necessary hardware and software, and accessibility due to special characteristics of the audience. These limitations often dictate what presentations health professionals can offer, what media can be used, and which groups will attend. Health care/health promotion professionals must not lose sight of readily available, nontraditional, cost effective methods that serve to enhance high level wellness in a broad and diverse population. The alternative health promotion delivery systems of radio, audioconferencing, and teleconferencing, as discussed in this article, can be used in a variety of settings (school, university, community, and worksite), applied to all levels of health promotion and education (elementary through university education and community/worksite offerings), and can increase awareness of additional methods of communication of health-related information by health professionals.