Health education: learning the techniques of persuasion

Know your audience and tailor your message accordingly. Keep the message simple and straightforward. Consider providing written hand-outs to back up a visual presentation. Provide practical details, e.g. where and when to go for a cervical smear. Repetition is a useful technique. Consider what factors are likely to make the presenter more persuasive--e.g. gender, credibility, appearance. Encourage audience participation. The more thought and effort they put into the session, the more they will retain the message. Nurses, health visitors and midwives should be given more training in how to promote their health messages. Too many health promotion campaigns have disregarded basic techniques of persuasion and the lessons to be learned from advertising and psychology.