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Health Education
Health education has been defined as:
"the lifelong process by which individuals acquire knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors that promote health and foster wise decisions for solving personal, family, and community health problems"
School
Health Policy and Practice
AAP 5th edition, p 98
Health education begins with parental interaction with an infant. Attitudes and health practices are learned early in childhood as parents model appropriate or inappropriate behavior. Formal health education is usually begun in child care programs and continued through kindergarten, elementary, and secondary school.
Unhealthy lifestyles account for more than 50% of early mortality, and a single intervention. It is also obvious that a single intervention cannot change these unhealthy lifestyles and decisions. Consistent health education is needed to alter behavioral choices associated with outcomes, such as violence, low self-esteem, drug abuse, suicide, and/or other serious health problems.
The American Cancer Society sponsored a Gallup Poll on school health education in 1994. The results showed strong support among parents, students, and school administrators for comprehensive school health education. More than 80% in each group said that health education was equally or more important than other academic subjects.
Who better to lead efforts to promote health than pediatricians? By collaborating with parents, educators, students, and community leaders, pediatricians can make a difference in the health education offered in schools and ultimately in the health behaviors of children and adolescents. This presentation examines the role of the pediatrician in health education. Key elements of quality health education programs that pediatricians should be aware of are identified, and specific curricula that have been identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as having credible evidence of effectiveness are discussed. Action steps pediatricians can take to become involved in health education in their communities also are presented.
A. THE ROLE OF THE PEDIATRICIAN
B. KEY ELEMENTS OF EFFECTIVE HEALTH EDUCATION CURRICULA
- National Health Education Standards
- The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System
E. ACTION STEPS FOR PEDIATRICIANS
- At the Community Level
- At the State Level
HANDOUTS
HEALTH EDUCATION PROGRAMS: SUMMARIES
CDC "PROGRAMS THAT WORK"
COMMUNITY LEVEL ACTION SHEET
STATE LEVEL ACTION SHEET
