Meditsiiniekspositsioon terviseteadlikkuse kommunikeerijana
Date
2010
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Tartu Ülikool
Abstract
Description
The present research paper treats the medical collections of the Faculty of Medicine as a
museum exhibition and tries to find out whether it is possible through the said
exhibition and the communication activities that are based on it – studying the exhibtion
with the help of a guide and listening to a health-promoting lecture – to get across to the
visitor a warning message about the dangers and consequences of risk behaviour. The
communication activities of the medical collections combine the concepts of a museum
exhibition and health education. In order to answer the research question, two studies
were conducted. Firstly, feedback questionnaires were collected and, secondly, in-depth
interviews were conducted. The main results of the present Master’s thesis are presented
in articles. The article “Exhibition of medical collections as a communicator of health
awareness” has been published in the 2008 edition of the internationally pre-reviewed
compilation “Papers on Anthropology XVII”, pages 282-310, and the article “Does
seeing diseases make people think about their health?” has been accepted for
publication in the health-themed article collection “Individual, Health and Diseases”
(editor P. Paal). The articles have been supplemented with a theoretical overview and
additional analysis of the empirical material.
The first part of the Master’s thesis gives an overview of the theoretical bases, views the
medical exposition as a museum exhibition and the characteristics of a museum as a
form of communication. The purpose is to find out what are the possibilities of a
medical exposition in health-promoting communication and what kind of a message,
and how, can be transmitted in a medical exposition. In addition to that, the aim is also
to find out what is the possible reception of a sent message and what it can lead to.
The second part of the paper delineates the peculiarities of the research object.
The third part of the paper describes the research problem and phrases the research
questions.
The fourth part of the paper is dedicated to the material used and to the research
method.
The fifth part of the paper is dedicated to the interpretation of the empirical material in
the context of individual health behaviour.
The sixth part of the paper contains conclusions and practical recommendations.
The research questions posed were answered in the following way.
In the visitors who looked at the exhibition without a guide, the visit aroused positive
emotions, invited back and created a wish to learn more. A connection to their own
health is made by non-risk-takers as well as risk-takers if an experience related to the
disease/health problem actualizes in the context of their exhibition reception. In some of
the risk-takers, the plan to change their behaviour developed already during visiting the
exhibition as a result of the pressure of the cognitive inconsistency brought along by
receiving information inconsistent with their attitude rising very high. In the case of
those who already phrased the intention, visiting the medical exhibition may just be the
impulse which initiates the alteration of the behaviour according to several healthpromoting
models.
The majority of those who studied the exhibition with the help of a guide came to the
exhibition to gain new knowledge and are also ready to come next time. More than half
of the respondents regarded the exhibition as innovative and it made 2/3 of them also to
think about their own health. Only a small group declared that there is no way they are
ever coming back to such an exhibition. This may have been caused by the cognitive
inconsistency and in order to avoid the pressure, they do not want to come to the
exhibition. Of course, in the case of some individuals, this may also be the result of
some very personal negative experience having actualized in the reception of the
exhibition in the context of their exhibition reception.
The working hypothesis that visiting the exhibition has a greater effect with a guide was
confirmed by a visitor without a guide in their in-depth interview.
Looking at the reception of the lecture, it was revealed that it was innovative for half of
the participants, more than 2/3 of the participants gained new knowledge and more than
2/3 of the participants noted that the lecture made them think. In the case of the lecture
there also occurred a small group who stated that the lecture will not change their
behaviour in any way. In their case, this also has to do with the cognitive inconsistency
phenomenon brought along by contradictory information where there were reasons
found for themselves as to why this information is not remarkable.
Because the exhibition also made visitors without a guide think and make connections,
we can say that the exhibition itself carries and transmits a health-promoting message.
In the case of groups, the guide passes on the message of the exhibition in such a way
that it reaches everyone wishing to receive it. The information about risk behaviour
offered in the lecture was also received by those who listened to the information in the
context of being in favour of it, and, in their own estimation, did not “touch” those who
listened to it in the context of rejecting it.
The group of risk-takers considered the exhibition boring, little educational and
thought-provoking, and denied that the exhibition offered them new knowledge. We can
assume that because the information offered was contradictory to their attitude, in order
to ease the motivational pressure brought along by cognitive inconsistency they
underestimated the information offered and reduced it to the level of their own attitude.
The risk-takers also considered the lecture boring and unpleasant; they thought more
frequently than the non-risk-takers that they already new everything. However, what
surprised the author of the present paper was that the risk-takers felt nauseous more
frequently. A third of the risk-takers denied any effect of the lecture. The rest of them,
however, had gained new knowledge and reached decisions, which shows that
continuing with the lectures is necessary.
The answers of smokers in the group of risk-takers revealed that for most of the
smokers, the lecture was still effective, they gained new knowledge, and the answers
they chose showed that they reached certain decisions inside themselves in choosing the
answers. This shows that lectures about the dangers and consequences of smoking as a
risk behaviour are still necessary.
In general, it can be claimed on the basis of the research that it is possible through the
exhibition as well as the communication activities conducted on the basis of it to get
across to the majority of the visitors a message about the dangers and consequences of
tobacco consumption. For those risk-takers, however, who do not receive the message,
additional communication possibilities have to be found in order to transmit the
message.
In order for the information about tobacco consumption as a risk behaviour to better
reach the risk-takers, the author of the present paper makes the following suggestions to
be implemented.
The health-promoting measures studied are applicable to adults only because they
require the existence of rich experience, analytical ability and great self-efficiency.
Children and young people must still first and foremost be persuaded so that they would
not start to smoke in the first place because persuading a smoker who is already
addicted may turn out to be very difficult, if not impossible.
In order to better pass on information about risk behaviour to risk-takers, better use
should be made of the possibilities of the exhibition space as a communication medium
and important pieces should be set apart more clearly and effectively. In addition to that,
better visualization of the information about risk behaviour could also improve its
dissemination, for example, the creation of a wall demonstrating the dangers and
consequences of risk behaviour where the dangers of risk behaviour would be clearly
displayed and the consequences confirmed with real preparations. For risk-takers who
are pupils, especially pupils in the lower classes, the passing on of the information
should be made more attractive, diverse and exciting, the peripheral and central ways of
influencing should be joined, and the risk-takers should be able to be interactively
involved in discovering the information about risk behaviour so that they would live
through the risk information by discovery.
Keywords
magistritööd