HEALTH EDUCATION

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dr shabeel pn
HEALTH EDUCATION
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INTRODUCTION

• The practice of instructing people
  and communities in the principles of hygiene
  and in ways of avoiding disease is a very
  ancient one.
• An elementary study of the history of
  medicine reveals that since time immemorial it
  has been considered a necessity to instruct
  communities in health matters for their
  protection and survival.

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DEFINITIONS

• The National Conference on Preventive Medicine
  USA
• Health education is a process which informs,
  motivate and helps people to adopt and maintain
  healthy practices and life styles advocates
  environmental changes as needed to facilitate
  this goal and conducts professional training and
  research to the same end.

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• WHO Definition
• Health education, like general education, is
  concerned with changes in knowledge, feelings and
  behaviour of people.In its most usual forms, it
  concentrates on devoloping such health practices
  as are believed to bring about the best possible
  state of well being.

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AIMS OF HEALTH EDUCATION

• To inform the general public of the principles of
  physical and mental hygiene and methods of
  preventing avoidable diseases.
• To create an informed body of opinion and
  knowledge. (social workers, teachers)
• To give the public accurate information of
  medical discoveries.
• To facilitate the acceptance and proper usage of
  medical measures.

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METHODS OF APPROACHES IN HEALTH EDUCATION

1. Legal or Regulatory Approach
2. Administrative or Service Approach
3. Educational Approach

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Legal or Regulatory Approach

• Makes use of the law to protect the health of the
  public.
• Eg Epidemic Diseases Act , Pollution Act
• Limitations
• 1. applicable only at certain times or
  limited situations.
• 2. they may not alter the behaviour of the
  individual.

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Administrative or Service Approach

• Intends to provide all the health facilities
  needed by the people
• felt needs of people

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Educatinal Approach

• most effective
• Components
• 1. motivation
• 2. communication
• 3. decision making
• results slow , but permanent and enduring.
• Suffient time for an individual to bring about
  changes
• learning new facts as well as unlearning wrong
  information as well.

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CONTENTS OF HEALTH EDUCATION

1. Human Biology
2. Nutrition
3. Hygiene
4. Family Health Care
5. Control of Communicable and Non- Communicable
   Diseases
6. Mental health
7. Prevention of Accidents
8. Use of Health Services

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Human Biology

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Nutrition

• for prevention of malnutrition
• Taught nutrient value of food stufs
• Method of preparation , storage
• Help people to choose balanced diet

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Hygiene
Environmental
Personal
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Family Health Care

• Strengthen and improve the health of the family
  as a unit rather than as an individual.
• Maternal and child health care, family planning,
  immunization, nutrition, etc.

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Control of Communicable and Non-Communicable
diseases

• Provide elementary knowledge about the nature of
  the diseases and methods of preventing them.

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Mental Health

• Depression, neurosis, mental anxiety and
  emotional disturbances
• Basic knowledge of common psychological ailments,
  its detectio, methods of prevention and treatment.

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Prevention of Accidents

• People taught about basic safety rules and
  prevent common accidents.

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Use of Health services

• People should be informed about various health
  services and preventive programmes available to
  them.

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STAGES IN ADOPTION OF NEW IDEAS AND PRACTICES
STAGE OF UNAWARENESS Not aware of new idea or
practice
STAGE OF AWARENESS Gets some information but
not know much
STAGE OF EVALUATION Find out advantages
disadvantages
STAGE OF INTEREST Shows interest to know
more Listen, read
STAGE OF TRIAL Puts it into practice
STAGE OF ADOPTION Accepts new idea as
beneficial to him adopts it
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PRINCIPLES OF HEALTH EDUCATION

• INTEREST
• PARTICIPATION
• COMPREHENSION
• MOTIVATION
• REINFORCEMENT
• KNOWN TO UNKNOWN
• LEARNING BY DOING
• SOIL, SEED SOWER
• COMMUNITY LEADERS
• GOOD HEALTH RELATIONS

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Interest

• Topic of interest
• Identify the felt needs of the people
• Then prepare a programme

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Participation

• Educator should encourage people to participate
  in health education programmes
• Group discussions, panel discussions, etc provide
  oppurtunities for peoples participation
• Leads to acceptance

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Known to Unknown

• Start with what the people already know and then
  give the new knowledge
• Existing knowledge as people as the basic step

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Comprehension

• Determine the level of literacy and understanding
  of audience.
• Language of communication, understandable to
  audience
• Usage of technical or medical terms should be
  avoided.

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Reinforcement

• Also called as booster dose
• Refers to repetition needed
• When not possible for people to learn new things
  in short time

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Motivation

• Defined as the fundamental desire for learning
  in an individual
• 2 types
• primary motive ? inborn desires
• food, clothing,
  housing
• secondary motive ? outside forces
• gifts, a
  word of praise,
• love, rewards

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Learning by Doing

• Learning process accompanied by doing the new
  things.
• Based on famous Chinese proverb if I hear, I
  forget if I see, I remember if I do, I know.

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Soil, Seed Sower

• Soil ? people to whom education is given
• Seeds ? Health facts to be given
• Sower ?media to transmit the facts
• All components are interdependent and result in
  dynamic interaction.

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Good Human Relations

• health educator should have good personal
  qualities
• Should be able to maintain friendly relations
  with people
• Should have a kind nad sympathetic attitude

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Community leaders

• Leaders can be used to reach people of the
  community and to convince them about the need for
  health education.

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HINDRANCES OR BARRIERS IN PROCESS OF COMMUNICATION

• Psychological barriers
• ? emotional disturbances
• ? depression
• ? neurosis
• Physiological barriers
• ? difficulties in self-expression
• ? difficulties in hearing or seeing
• ? difficulties in understanding

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HINDRANCES

• Environmental barriers
• ? excessive noise
• ? difficulties in vision
• ? congested areas
• Cultural barriers
• ? persistent patterns of behaviour, habits,
  beliefs, customs, attitudes, religion, etc

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EDUCATIONAL AIDS USED IN HEALTH EDUCATION

• 1. Audio aids
• 2. Visual aids
• 3. Combination of Audio-Visual aids

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Audio Aids

• Based on principles of sound, electricity and
  magnetism
• ? megaphones
• ? public addressing systems or
• microphones
• ? Gramophone records
• ? Tape recorders
• ? Radios
• ? Sound amplifiers

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Visual Aids

• Based on principles of projection
• Projected aids needs projection from a
• source on to a
  screen
• ? films or cinemas
• ? film strips
• ? slides
• ? overhead
  projectors
• ? epidiascopes
• ? transparencies
• ? bioscopes
• ? video cassettes
• ? silent films

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• Non-projected Aids do not require
• projection
• ? blackboard
• ? pictures
• ? cartoons
• ? photographs
• ? posters
• ? flashcards
• ? charts
• ? brochures
• ? models
• Other aids traditional media which makes use of
  light and sound stimuli
• ? Folk dances
  and Folk songs
• ? Puppet
  shows
• ? Dramas

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Combination of Audio-Visual Aids

• Modern media available
• Sound sight combined together to create a
  better presentation
• ? televisions
• ? tape and slide combinations
• ? Video Cassette Players and Recorders
• ? Motivation pictures or Cinemas
• ? Multimedia Computers

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HEALTH EDUCATION FOR THE GENERAL PUBLIC

• Mass communication literally means communication
  that is given to a community where the people
  gathered together does not belong to one
  particular group.
• Advantages
• ? large no. of people can be reached
• ? people of all socio-economic status
• irrespective of their caste, creed and
  religion
• Medias
• televisions, radios, posters, news papers, etc

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ESSENTIALS OF HEALTH EDUCATON TO THE PUBLIC

1. Accuracy and Truth
2. Presentation must be simple
3. Health education should be factual
4. Principles of health should be taught

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CONCLUSION

• In a field such as health, it is natural
  that helping people to help themselves should
  be as important as direct service.