Health Education

Concepts and Practice

DR. Seham Abdelrhman

Mona M. Abd El Maksoud
At the end of lecture the student will
be able to:
 Define health education
 List at least two objectives of health education.
 Identify the dimensions of health education
 Determine principles of health education.
 Determine who are health educator
 Identify the role of nurse as educators
 Lists sittings of health educations
 Apply of health education models
At the end of lecture(vital
lecture( signs ) the
student will
:be able to

Define nrmal range of vital signs

Meas
... A Health Education is
A process that informs, motivates and helps
people to adopt and maintain healthy
practice and lifestyles, and advocates
environmental changes as needed.
Why is it important to educate
about health?
1- Create health consciousness and motivate
people to change their habits, and ways of
living

2- To enhance the ability of people to cope

effectively with health promotion, health
maintenance and illness control.
3- To equip the population with skills,
knowledge and attitude to enable
them to solve their health problems
by their own actions and effort

4- To reduce undesired risks of disease

and illness
Seven dimensions of health
education
1. Health education concerning with
whole person
2. Health education is life long process
from birth to death
3. Health education is concerning with
people at all points of health and
illness
4. Health education is directed towards
individuals, families, groups and
whole communities
5- health education involves formal and
informal teaching
6- Health education is concerning with
helping people to help themselves and
work towards creating healthier
conditions
7- Health education is concerning with
range of goals: knowledge, attitude,
practice (KAP)
 Contents of health education

Human Nutrition Hygiene Family

biology health care
Personal
Hygiene

Control of communicable Environmental

and non-communicable Hygiene
diseases

Mental health Prevention of Use of health

accidents services
?Who are the health educators
All member of health departments:
 physician, nurses, mid-wives, health

visitors
 Social workers

 Teachers

 Religions and community leaders

( influencing group)
 Personal of many voluntary and

community organization.
 Nurses as health educators
Nurse educators combine their clinical abilities with
:responsibilities related to
 Assess individual and community needs

 Plan health education programs

 Develop health education programs

 Implement health education programs

 Evaluate health education programs

 Develop mass media campaigns

 Conduct research

 Participating in Speaking/presenting at nursing

conferences
 Elements of health education
 Educator (sender) who is responsible for giving
the message of education to recipients.
 Recipients, target individuals and groups who are
exposed to the process of education.
 Message, material of education.
 Methods of education, how message of education
reaches recipients.
 What's the principles of health education?

Interest Participation Known to Comprehension

unknown

Reinforcement Motivation

Good relationship Learning by doing Make use of life

and leadership situation
 Basic principals that guide
effective educators
 1- Sending a clear and specific message
 2- Selecting appropriate learning format
 3- Selecting suitable learning environment
 4- Organizing learning experiences
 5- Encouraging learner participation in
learning
 6- Providing evaluation and feedback
 Suitable setting for health
education
1- Hospitals and clinics

2- Home

3- School

4- Work sites

5- Community
 Characteristics of health educator
1.The educator must be aware of the customs, health problems, health
needs and attitudes of the local community.
2. The educator should be acceptable to the local community.
3. The time, place, and people to be taught must be carefully
considered.
4. The people should feel that the action required is a basic need for
them.
5. The topic and method must be chosen to meet the needs of people.
6. The most essential and important topics should be given priority.
7. The educator must motivate the people to the action required.
8. The teacher should evaluate his / her own teaching to see its
effectiveness.
9. The best method should depend on the group, their previous
knowledge, place and time available and the cultural background.
 :Health education models
(A) Health Belief Model
The HBM can be outlined using four constructs
which represent the perceived threat and benefits :

1) perceived susceptibility, a person's opinion of the

chances of getting a certain condition

2) perceived severity, a person's opinion of how

serious this condition is
3) perceived benefits, a person's opinion of the
effectiveness of some advised action to reduce the
risk or seriousness of the impact

4) perceived barriers, a person's opinion of the

concrete and psychological costs of this advised
action.
5) Cues to action. These are events (internal or
external) which can activate a person's "readiness
to act" and stimulate an
6) Self-Efficacy: This is the person's confidence and
belief in their own ability to take the given action.
 Stages of Change Model
There are six stages that have been identified in
the model:
1) Pre-contemplation (observation)- the person
is unaware of the problem or has not thought
seriously about change
2) Contemplation - the person is seriously
thinking about a change (in the near future);

3) Preparation - the person is planning to take

action and is making final adjustments before
changing behavior;
4) Action - the person implements some
specific action plan to overtly modify behavior
and surroundings;

5) Maintenance - the person continues with

desirable actions (repeating the periodic
recommended steps while struggling to
prevent lapses and relapse; and

6) Termination - the person has zero temptation

and the ability to resist relapse.
 “I never teach my pupil. I only
attempt to provide the conditions
in which they can learn”
Albert Einstein
 Principles of health education
1- The educator must be aware of the customs, health
problems, health needs and attitudes of the local
community

2. The time, place, and people to be taught must be

carefully considered.
3. The topic must be chosen to meet the needs of people.
4. The most essential and important topics should be
given priority
5. The educator must motivate the people to the
action required.

6. The teacher should evaluate his / her own

teaching to see its effectiveness.

7. The best method should depend on the group,

their previous knowledge, place and time
available and the cultural background
?Any Question

Thanks