Thesis, Undergraduate (BA Communication Arts) -- U. P. in Mindanao

Small group organizations are groups involving less than fifteen but not fewer than three members. The use of small group has been used as a strategy by the Department of Health in the Philippines to disseminate new health care techniques to Barangay Health Workers (PHW). This study aimed to evaluate the efficiency of using small groups in disseminating new health care techniques to BHW, determine the communication patterns that correspond to the theory on Adult Learning Cycle (ALC) and know how groups are dependent to communication in achieving goals. The training workshop, where new health care technique was introduced, was observed and transcripts of their discussion were gathered and analyzed. Results showed that the use of small group communication promoted better interaction by sharing, listening, asking and answering question. Such intense interaction could hardly be achieved in large groups. The communication pattern from the transcript indicated that learning has been acquired during the training-workshop. The small group of BHW was totally dependent on communication in learning new health care techniques. The use of small group is very much useful in effectively and efficiently disseminating new learning techniques due to better communication among its members (which organizations heavily depends upon), reduced cost in redoing the training and shorter time in learning new techniques. The use of small group strategy is therefore recommended in disseminating new techniques, methodologies and learnings.