Foundations of Health Education

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Foundations of Health Education
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Basic Concepts / Review

• What is Health?
• Gold Standard Definition
• A dynamic state of complete physical, mental,
  spiritual and social well-being and not merely
  the absence of disease or infirmity.
• (WHO)
• a dynamic state or condition of a human organism
  that is multidimensional in nature, a resource
  for living, and results from a persons
  interactions with and adaptations to his or her
  environments
• (McKenzie, Pinger Kotecki, 2008, p. 6)

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What is Public Health?

• The sum of all official or governmental efforts
  to promote, protect, and preserve the peoples
  health.

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Where does all of this stem from?

• What does the current health care system focus
  on?
• Communicable diseases
• Noncommunicable diseases
• Most causes of death stem from modifiable
  behaviors.
• Multicausation Disease Model
• Focuses on noncommunicable diseases
• Genetics
• Behavior
• Environment
• Social Circumstances
• Access to Care

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In other words..

• Health education focuses on prevention.

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Why is prevention important?

• Many of the health problems the nation will deal
  with in the balance of this century and into the
  next are fully preventable.
• (Minelli and Breckon, 2009, pg. 21)
• Cessation of tobacco use, moderate use of
  alcohol, daily exercise, and good nutrition can
  prevent literally millions of deaths and negate
  the need to spend hundreds of millions of dollars
  on health care.
• (Minelli and beckon, 2009, pg 21)

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Levels of Prevention

• Primary
• Secondary
• Tertiary
• Limits of prevention
• Biological
• Technological
• Ethical Concern
• Economic

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Past Success Stories

• Decrease in heart disease
• Decrease in stroke mortalities
• Decrease in accidental injuries and motor vehicle
  deaths
• Decreased infant mortality (although still needs
  work)
• Decrease in cervical cancer
• Decrease in lung cancer .

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Good News

• There is a demand for health education now.
• Consumerism
• Inflation
• Increase in chronic diseases

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What is health education?

• Report of the 2000 Joint Committee on Health
  Education and Promotion Terminology
• March/April 2001, Vol. 32, No. 2., American
  Journal of Health Education
• Health Education Any combination of planned
  learning experiences based on sound theories that
  provide individuals, groups, and communities the
  opportunity to acquire information and skills
  needed to make quality health decisions.

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Health Educator

• A professionally prepared individual that serves
  in a variety of roles and is specifically trained
  to use appropriate educational strategies and
  methods to facilitate the development of
  policies, procedures, interventions, and systems
  conducive to the health of individuals, groups,
  and communities.

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Health Educators

• Work settings
• Job responsibilities
• We would be terribly remiss if we did not seize
  the opportunity presented by health promotion and
  disease prevention to dramatically cut
  health-care costs, to prevent the premature onset
  of disease and disability, and to help all
  Americans achieve healthier, more productive
  lives.
• Louis Sullivan, former Secretary of U.S. Dept of
  Health Human Services 1989-1993