Education Approach To Health Education

DISCUSS EDUCATION APPROACH TO HEALTH EDUCATION
DEFINITIONS:
“Health education is a process that informs, motivates & helps people to adopt & maintain
healthy practices & lifestyles, advocates environmental changes as needed to facilitate this goal
& conducts professional training & research at the same end.”
Alma-Ata Declaration
The Declaration of Alma-Ata(1978) by emphasizing the need for “individual & community
participation” gave a new meaning & direction to the practice of health education. The dynamic
definition of health education is as follows:
“a process aimed at encouraging people to want to be healthy, to know how to stay
healthy, to do what they can individually & collectively to maintain health, & to seek help when
needed.”
Health education is the process of imparting information about health in such a way that the
recipient is motivated to use that information for the protection or advancement of his own, his
family’s or his community’s health. Health education is an active learning process, which aims at
favourably changing attitudes and influencing behaviour.
Health education comprises consciously constructed opportunities for learning involving some
form of communication designed to improve health literacy, including improving knowledge,
and developing skills which are conductive to individual and community health. According to
WHO, health literacy represents the cognitive and social skills which determine the motivation
and ability of individuals to gain access to understand and use information in was which
promote and maintain good health.
HEALTH EDUCATION APPROACH:
Educational approach is one of the most effective means for achievement of changes in the
Health practices and life styles of the community. This includes the components like
motivation, communication and decision–making. Results obtained from this approach are
slow but permanent and enduring. Sufficient time should be allowed for the individual to
bring about the desired changes in his behaviour.
There are many problems which can be solved only through health education like
 Cessation of smoking.
 Use of safe water supply.
 Fertility control.etc
It is a general belief in western democracies that people will be better off if they have autonomy
over their own lives, including including health affairs on which an informed person should be
able to make decisions to protect his own health.These are the higher goals of health education.
However if the necessary behaviour changes are to take place, people must be
educated through planned learning experiences what to do, & be informed, educated &
encouraged to make their own choice for a healthy life. This approach is consistent with
democratic philosophy which does not “order” the individual.
The mass media & social organizations must be mobilized to help introduce new attitudes & new
habits without conflicting with masses & the collective reaction to particular change.
Since attitudes & behavioural patterns are formed early in life. We must move back in
time and start health education with young population. The assumption is that behaviour is more
easily controlled or developed in young population than adults.
The contents of health education shall include human biology to understand the different parts of
the human body and their functions; nutrition, so as to explain the nutrient value of food stuff
and the effect of nutrients on health and help people to choose optimum and balanced diets;
hygiene, so that people are aware of the importance of hygiene and methods of maintaining
personal, domestic, community and environmental hygiene; family health care, to strengthen and
improve the health of family as a unit rather than as an individual; control of communicable and
non-communicable diseases so as to provide elementary knowledge so that they can better
understand common signs and symptoms of disease and prevention there by promoting health;
prevention of accidents to include the basic safety rules and how to prevent common accidents
which take place in their home , in their workplace or on the road; use of health services, so that
people are informed about the various health services and preventive programmes available to
them.
Models of health education are:

1. Medical model.
2. Motivational model.
3. Trans-theoretical model.

Education Approach To Health Education

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DISCUSS EDUCATION APPROACH TO HEALTH EDUCATION

HEALTH EDUCATION APPROACH:

Models of health education are:

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