UNIT ONE:
Introduction To Health Education
Objectives.
Historical development.
Definitions.
Aims and Basic principles of Health
Education.
Approaches to Health Education.
Targets for Health Education.
Health Education settings.
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Introduction.
• Who is responsible for Health Education?
• Role of Health Educator
• Exercises.
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UNIT ONE
Introduction To Health Education.
At the end of this chapter, the trainees will be able
to.
Explain the concept of Health.
Define Health Education.
State historical development of Health Education.
Describe objectives of Health Education.
State basic principles of Health Education.
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Introduction To Health Education.
Before discussing about health education,
it is imperative to conceptualize what
health itself means.
Health is a highly subjective concept.
Good health means different things to
different people, and its meaning varies
according to individual and community
expectations and context.
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Introduction To Health Education.
Many people consider themselves
healthy if they are free of disease or
disability.
However, people who have a disease or
disability may also see themselves as
being in good health if they are able to
manage their condition so that it does
not impact greatly on their quality of
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Introduction To Health Education.
WHO defined health as “a state of complete
physical, mental, and social well being and not the
mere absence of disease or infirmity.”
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Introduction To Health Education.
Physical health – refers to anatomical integrity
and physiological functioning of the body.
To say a person is physically healthy:
All the body parts should be there.
All of them are in their natural place and
position. None of them has any pathology.
All of them are doing their physiological
functions properly.
And they work with each other harmoniously.
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Introduction To Health Education.
Mental health - ability to learn and think clearly.
A person with good mental health is able to handle
day-to-day events and obstacles, work towards
important goals, and function effectively in society.
Social health – ability to make and maintain
acceptable interactions with other people.
E.g. To feel sad when somebody close to you passes
away.
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Introduction To Health Education.
Disease is the existence of some pathology or
abnormality of the body, which is capable of
detection using, accepted investigation methods.
Illness is the subjective state of a person who feels
aware of not being well.
Sickness is a state of social dysfunction:
A role that an individual assumes when ill.
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Historical development.
While the history of health education as an
emerging profession is only a little over one
hundred years old, the concept of educating about
health has been around since the dawn of humans.
It does not stretch the imagination too far to begin
to see how health education first took place during
pre-historic era.
Some one may have eaten a particular plant or
herb and become ill.
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That person would then warn (educate) others
against eating the same substance.
Conversely, someone may have ingested a plant or
herb that produced a desired effect.
That person would then encourage (educate) others
to use this substance.
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Introductions.
At the time of Alma Ata declaration of Primary
Health Care in 1978, health education was put
as one of the components of PHC and it was
recognized as a fundamental tool to the
attainment of health for all.
Adopting this declaration,
Ethiopia utilizes health education as a primary
means of prevention of diseases and
promotion of health.
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INTRODUCTION.
In view of this, the national health policy and Health
Sector Development Program of Ethiopia have
identified health education as a major component
of program services.
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Definition.
Health education has been defined in
many ways by different authors and
experts.
Lawrence Green defined it as “a
combination of learning experiences
designed to facilitate voluntary actions
conducive to health.”
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Cont.…..
The terms “combination, designed,
facilitate and voluntary action” have
significant implications in this definition.
Combination: emphasizes the importance of
matching the multiple determinants of behavior
with multiple learning experiences or educational
interventions.
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Designed: distinguishes health education
from incidental learning experiences as
systematically planned activity.
Facilitate means create favorable conditions
for action.
Voluntary action means behavioral
measures are undertaken by an individual,
group or community to achieve an intended
health effect with out the use of force.
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Various terms used for communication
and health education activities
• Information, Education and
Communication (IEC) is a term originally
from family planning and more recently
HIV/AIDS control program in developing
countries.
• It is increasingly being used as a general
term for communication activities to
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Introduction.
Information: A collection of useful briefs or
detailed ideas, processes, data and theories that
can be used for a certain period of time.
Education: A complex and planned learning
experiences that aims to bring about changes in
cognitive (knowledge), affective (attitude, belief,
value) and psychomotor (skill) domains of
behavior.
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Various terms used for communication
and health education activities
Communication: the process of sharing ideas,
information, knowledge, and experience among
people using different channels.
Social mobilization is a term used to describe a
campaign approach combining mass media and
working with community groups and organizations.
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Various terms used for communication
and health education activities .
Health extension is an approach of promoting
change through demonstration, working with
opinion leaders and community based
educational activities.
Nutrition education is education directed at the
promotion of nutrition and covers choice of
food, food-preparation and storage of food.
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Various terms used for communication
and health education activities .
Family Life Education refers to education of
young people in a range of topics that
include family planning, child rearing and
childcare and responsible parenthood.
Patient education is a term for education in
hospital and clinic settings linked to following
of treatment procedures, medication, and
home
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care and rehabilitation procedures.
Various terms used for communication and health
education activities .
Behavior Change Communication (BCC): Is an
interactive process aimed at changing individual
and social behavior, using targeted, specific
messages and different communication
approaches, which are linked to services for
effective outcomes.
Advocacy: refers to communication strategies
focusing on policy makers, community leaders and
opinion leaders to gain commitment and support.
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Aims and principles of health education.
Aims
Motivating people to adopt health-
promoting behaviors by providing
appropriate knowledge and helping to
develop positive attitude.
Helping people to make decisions about
their health and acquire the necessary
confidence and skills to put their
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Basic Principles.
All health education should be need
based. Therefore before involving any
individual, group or the community in
health education with a particular
purpose or for a program the need should
be ascertained.
It has to be also specific and relevant to
the problems and available solutions.
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Health education aims at change of behavior.
Therefore multidisciplinary approach is necessary
for understanding of human behavior as well as for
effective teaching process.
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It is necessary to have a free flow of
communication.
The two way communication is
particularly of importance in health
education to help in getting proper
feedback and get doubt cleared.
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The health educators should not only
have correct information with them on all
matters that they have to discuss but
also should themselves practice what
they profess. Otherwise, they will not
enjoy credibility.
It must be remembered that people are
not absolutely without any information or
ideas.
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Approaches to health education.
The persuasion approach –deliberate
attempt to influence the other persons to do
what we want them to do (DIRECTIVE
APPROACH).
The informed decision making approach-
giving people information, problem solving
and decision making skills to make
decisions but leaving the actual choice to
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Targets for health education.
Individuals such as clients of services,
patients, healthy individuals
Groups E.g. groups of students in a class,
youth club Community.
E.g. people living in a village.
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Health education settings.
Communities.
Health care facilities.
Work sites.
Schools.
Prisons.
Refugee camps.
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Role of health educator.
Talking to the people and listening of their
problems
Thinking of the behavior or action that
could cause, cure and prevent these
problems.
Finding reasons for people’s behaviors
Helping people to see the reasons for
their actions and health problems.
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Role of health educator.
Asking people to give their own ideas for solving the
problems.
Helping people to look as their ideas so that they
could see which were the most useful and the
simplest to put into practice.
Encouraging people to choose the idea best suited
to their circumstances.
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• Thank you.
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