The nurse is providing education for a patient who has been newly diagnosed with a placenta previa at 37 weeks' gestation. The nurse understands that teaching has not been effective when the patient states:

One of the most important principles of effective health education is to involve the target audience in the planning process. By involving the target audience in the planning process, the nurse can gain a better understanding of their needs, priorities, and concerns related to health and wellness. This, in turn, can help the nurse develop education goals that are relevant, engaging, and effective at improving health outcomes.

Asking the formal leadership of a community what the learning needs are, using the expertise of professional nurses who are skilled at assessing needs, or interviewing physicians to determine the highest need based on diagnoses can all be useful strategies for gathering information about community health needs. However, none of these strategies are as effective at identifying the specific needs and priorities of the target audience as asking the target audience directly.

Effective health communication requires that messages be designed with the audience's needs and characteristics in mind, and pretesting is an important part of this process. Pretesting materials for feedback about comprehension helps to ensure that the messages are clear, understandable, and culturally appropriate for the target audience. This also allows the nurse to make any necessary revisions to improve the materials' effectiveness.

The nurse's target audience should be specific to those who have infants or who are expecting an infant, rather than including all residents, as this is too broad and may not effectively reach the intended audience. Additionally, the use of radio advertisements developed in English only may not be effective for reaching all members of the community, particularly those who do not speak English as their primary language. Lastly, materials written at a high school reading level may not be appropriate for all members of the community, particularly those with lower levels of literacy.