View the complete Standards and Measures Information for Domain 3 [pdf]

Domain 3 focuses on informing and educating the public. This domain assesses the health department’s processes for continuing two-way communication with the public as standard operating procedure.

A role of the health department is to provide accurate and reliable information about how to protect and promote individual and family health. Health departments provide information about healthy behaviors, such as good nutrition, hand washing, and seat belt use. The public needs access to accurate and timely information in the case of particular health risks like H1N1, a food borne disease outbreak, or an anthrax attack. For information to be actionable, it must be communicated in a language and format that the population can access and understand. Messages need to be culturally appropriate and trusted. Public health departments also have a responsibility to educate the public about the mission, value, roles, and responsibilities of the health department and the meaning and importance of public health. Building and maintaining a positive, trustworthy reputation in all of its diverse communities is essential.

These educational responsibilities require a continuing flow of information. To be effective, information cannot be one-way. For the health department to communicate with the public accurately, reliably, and in a timely manner, it must gather and use information that it receives from federal, Tribal, state, and local health departments. To facilitate communication, it needs to have a relationship with community partners and the population and subgroups of the population that it serves. Communication requires dialogue with the target population to assure that the message is relevant, culturally sensitive, and linguistically appropriate. Communication methods are changing rapidly through digital media such as Twitter and Facebook. Selected communication methods must be appropriate for the target audience, the urgency of the communication, and the type of information. In addition, the science of public health branding is developing rapidly. Branding is important for the department’s image, reputation, and perceived value.