HEALTH EDUCATION

Charity Leene San Juan Gaspar, RN, MAN

What Is Health Education?

health education attempts to close the gap between what is known about optimum health practice and that which is actually practiced. (Griffiths, 1972) any combination of learning experiences designed to facilitate voluntary adaptations of behavior conducive to health. (Green, 1980)

Purpose of Health Education

To change individual behavior To change behavior of enough individuals that overall statistics will change. To achieve change through a variety of techniques

motivate individuals to change force individuals to change

Health Education
Health education is the process by which individuals and group of people learn to : Promote Maintain Restore health Education for health begins with people as they are, with whatever interests they may have in improving their living conditions.

Where Did Health Education Come From?

Three main settings: Communities Schools Patient care sites

Changes in Health Education

Changes in the prevalent health issues at individual, community, and national level have driven different perspective of how we do health education.

Leading causes of morbidity (acute to chronic) Leading causes of mortality (lifestyle issues)

This has led to a shift from the 1970s & 1980s emphasis on health as an individual level issue to our current recognition of the broader social influences on health

Bottom Line

[H]ealth education is concerned not only with the individuals and their families, but also with the institutions and social conditions that impede or facilitate individuals toward achieving optimum health. (Griffiths, 1972)

Health education or Health Promotion?

Health education is defined as: Any combination of learning experiences designed to facilitate voluntary adaptation of behavior conducive to health. This definition imply: - All possible channels of influence on health are appropriately combined and designed to support adaptation of behavior. - The word voluntary is significant for ethical reasons. (Nurse educators should not force people to do what they dont want to do )

i.e. All efforts should be done to help people make decisions and have their own choices. - The word designed refers to planned, integral, intended activities rather than casual, incident, trivial experiences.

Health education or Health Promotion?

With rising criticism that traditional H.E. was too narrow, focused on individuals lifestyle and could become victim blaming, more work was done about wider issues eg. social policy, environmental safety measures

( EMERGENCE of HEALTH PROMOTION )

Health Promotion:
Is any combination of educational, organizational, economic and environmental support for behaviors and conditions of living conducive to health . Health Promotion is a widely used term to encompass various activities eg. : Behavior & lifestyle, Preventive health services, Health protection directed at environment, Health related public policy, Economic & regulatory measures.
(Health Education is the primary and dominant measure in Health Promotion ).

Health Promotion

United States: the science and art of helping people change their lifestyle toward a state of optimum health. (ODonnell, 1989). Canada: the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health.reducing inequities, extending.prevention, and helping people to cope with their circumstances.creating environments conducive to health, in which people are better able to take care of themselves. (Epp, 1986)

AIMS OF HEALTH EDUCATION:

1. To develop a sense of responsibility for health
conditions, as individuals, as members of families & communities. (Promotion ,prevention of disease & early diagnosis and management ).

2. To promote and wisely use the available health services. 3. To be part of all education, and to continue throughout whole span of life.

Process of health education:

Dissemination of scientific knowledge (about how to promote and maintain health), leads to changes in KAP related to such changes.

Steps for adopting new ideas & practices :

AWARENESS (Know about new ideas) INTEREST (Seeks more details ) EVALUATION
TRIAL
and adopts it)

(Advantages versus disadvant.+ testing usefulness )

(Decision put into practice)

ADOPTION (person feels new idea is good

CONTENTS OF HEALTH EDUCATION:

Nutrition Health habits Personal hygiene Safety rules Basic (K) of disease & preventive measures Mental health Proper use of health services Sex education Special education for groups( fd handlers, occupations, mothers, school health etc. ) Principles of healthy life style e.g. sleep, exercise

Principles of health education:

Interest Participation Motivation Comprehension Proceeding from the known to the unknown Reinforcement through repetition Good human relations People, facts and media:

knowledgeable, attractive , acceptable .

Principles of health education:

Learning by doing: If I hear, I forget If I see, I remember If I do, I know.

Motivation, i.e. awakening the desire to know and learn: - Primary motives, e.g. inborn desires , hunger, sex. - Secondary motives, i.e. desires created by incentives such as praise, love, recognition, competition.

Communication in health education:

Education is primarily a matter of communication, the components of which are: CHANNELS AUDIENCE MESSAGE COMMUNICATOR - Individual - Conform with - Educator - Media - Group objectives.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 way - needs+ interest of audience -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

- Public

- understandable

- 1 way

- ? Content of message -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

- Public

- Acceptable

Evaluation of health education programs:

There should be continuous evaluation.

Evaluation should not be left to the end but should be done from time to time for purpose of making modifications to achieve better results.

EVALUATION CYCLE:
Describe problem Describe program State goals Determine needed information

Modify program

Establish basis for proof of effectiveness

Analyze &compare results

Organize data base

Develop& test instruments

Determine data collecting method

Health Behavior

The actions of individuals, groups, and organizations as well as the determinants, correlates, and consequences of these actions.

Social change Policy development and implementation Improved coping skills Enhanced quality of life Etc.

Where Does Health Education Happen?

Everywhere! Schools Communities Worksites Health Care Sites Homes Consumer Marketplace

Who Receives Health Education?

Potentially, everyone and anyone. To be effective, though, health education efforts must be tailored correctly for the recipients (target audience), their health status, and their beliefs, attitudes, skills, and past behaviors.

Target Audience Analysis

In a very real sense, much of what we will be doing this semester is designed to help us understand the audience of our health education programming. Youll be doing the hard-core programming side of it HST 4250, but what you do in that class is built on what you learn in this class.

Key Factors to Remember

SES Ethnicity Life Cycle Stage Health Status (disease status) Risk status Power Gap Accessibility of Services

The Challenge

Understanding and improving health is the central challenge of public policy today. But.in order to create sound policy (the most efficient way to effect some types of health behavior and health status change), sound, accurate information about health behavior change is needed.