Are we succeeding?

Abstract

The question ‘Are We Succeeding?’ must surely be one of the most difficult that health educators, or at least any of us involved in providing the public with health information or advice, have to face. And yet, if health education, at whatever level, is to be truly effective rather than a series of mere shots in the dark, then some attempt has to be made to evaluate it. Such an attempt assumes particular importance when large sums of public money are being spent on mass media campaigns. After all, if lessons are to be learnt and future efforts not wasted, then we must look as objectively and critically as possible at what we are trying to do, what we are doing, and the way we are doing it.