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The Role Of Health Educators In The Promotion Of Health
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A health educator is one that educates and assists individuals and communities in the adoption of healthy behaviors that promote, maintain, and improve wellness. This is done through the development and implementation of health education programs catered to a target population. By taking a national exam, health educators have the option of becoming a Certified Health Education Specialist. There are seven area of responsibilities that define the role of a health education specialist. Each area has a list of competencies and sub-competencies in which the health educator’s programs and strategies are grounded. The Seven Area of Responsibilities are:
1. Assess Needs, Assets, and Capacity for Health Education
2. Plan Health Education
3. Implement Health Education
4. Conduct Evaluation and Research related
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Participants are not to be placed in harm and be fully aware of the program’s outcome. The health educator can use multiple strategies to educate. Some examples include health engineering strategies like taking soda out of vending machines in school, using theories like the Health belief model to inspire cues to action through health communication, and health related community service activities such as health fairs. Health educators can take the opportunity to test out the strategies on smaller groups first to see if the strategies are effective. Health educators use logic models for the planning process. This model is considered the blueprint for health education planning because it maps out the inputs, outputs, and outcomes for the program, it also lists external factors that could affect implementation of the program. What is great about the logic model is, if the health educator finds that something is going wrong, he can easily go back and reassess and see the problem. The model also helps to develop timelines in short-term, medium-term, and long-term format for the delivery of the health
One of the first responsibilities is: “Assess Needs, Resources, and Capacity for Health Education/Promotion responsibilities” within this responsibility, the Education specialist must be competent to “Plan Assessment Process” (NCHEC, n.d., p. 1). The plan Assessment process is the process in which the educator analyzes the subject that is being assessed and then applies learned models to develop plans—which then leads the educator into collecting data to further assist the educator in a developing an adequate plan (NCHEC, n.d. ).
The educator role of the APHN and NP includes health education within a nursing framework and professional nurse educator roles. The APHN analyzes groups at risk within a community and implements health education interventions. The APHN and NP boost wellness and contribute to conserving and advocating health by teaching the importance of a healthy lifestyle, stress management, physical exercise, and good nutrition. They educate about disease processes and the importance of following treatment systems. In addition, they provide guidance and educate clients on the use of birth control methods, diet, medications, and other therapeutic procedures. They also counsel groups, families, clients, and the community on the importance of assuming responsibility for their own
“Healthy People provides science-based, 10-year national objectives for improving the health of all Americans.” ( United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Healthy People 2020 , 2011). It acts as a national guide for disease prevention and health promotion. There are various objectives and goals which serve as the guideline to achieve overall improvement in health . ‘Educational and Community-Based Programs’ is one of them. According to U.S Department of Health and Human Services the main goal of these programs is to “Increase the quality, availability, and effectiveness of educational and community-based programs designed to prevent disease and injury, improve health, and enhance quality of life.” (HHS, Healthy People 2020, 2011). This particular goal of Healthy People 2020 focuses on increasing the number educational and community based programs to increase awareness about disease prevention and health among every individual of the society. It focuses on educating them on various topics including chronic diseases, substance abuse, prevention of injury and violence to encourage and enhance health. It emphasizes on increasing the quantity and quality of such programs so that a larger population could benefit from the program and gain effective knowledge to achieve a healthy life.
The school of Health Education is a practice whose effectiveness is difficult to be matched. From being taught in a classroom, to presenting to a community, the curriculum is designed to increase quality of life through a plethora of strategies. To create a uniformed method of transferring this knowledge to others successfully, different philosophies have been created for health educators to use as a sturdy foundation. Philosophy is imperative to one’s teaching mantra, for it determines how one lives, works, plays, and generally approaches life; all of which are necessary to consider when passing on knowledge and lifestyles to others. Of these different philosophies, I believe that the decision-making philosophy is the most beneficial to health educators, and that the behavior-change philosophy is the least.
Linnan, L. A., Sterba, K. R., Lee, A. M., Bontempi, J. B., Yang, J., & Crump, C. (2005). Planning and the professional preparation of health educators: Implications for teaching, research, and practice. Health Promotion Practical, 6(3), 308-319.
... them. Health promotion for staff is for staff to have healthy lifestyles therefore children are able to pick up on it and they would be able to model the healthy choices. Lastly is family and community involvement in the school community everything works together like a puzzle that each piece needs each other and they are able to rely on one anything if something happens.
The action plan would be to promote and advocate healthy lifestyle practices by having well qualified public health professional reach the youth. Public health professionals have to be up to date on the latest ways to educate the community. This may be with the use of current technology. Peer education would be a great way to get the youth active. They can teach their fellow peers what they learned in the program. They can also help plan workshops and activities. The evaluation would be done with the use of assessments and the overall improvement of health since attending the
It is important that all health professionals have the correct skills and training. Green, (2010) highlights that learning for health is the most effective when the health professional identifies their own learning needs and goals. It is important that health professionals set realistic goals and objectives. All learning objectives will be different depending on the problem which is occurring in with the publics health. Assessing learning outcomes is effective within public health as it helps to measure the change which has occurred and if the goals set have been achieved. Improving individual’s education will have a massive effect when changing the health of others. Green, (2010) claims that there is evidence that individuals want health information but have difficulty understanding what the information means and are often reluctant to ask for advice or
For example the state of Florida has a new initiative titled “Healthiest Weight”. This initiative works to tackle obesity which is what they call, “the number one public health threat to Florida’s future ("HealthiestWeight")”. Another example of state health initiative is Oklahoma’s “Shape Your Future” program. This program tackles three different aspects; “eating better, moving more, and living tobacco free ("Shape Your Future")”. Through different community activities, contest, and media advertisements these programs are hoping to help improve the health of citizens throughout their respective states. The main objective that these programs are missing is preventing health issues before they become issues. This is why it’s crucial to begin initiatives at the most basic level and educate children through better physical education
Many health behavioral change models have been used for reducing the burden of diseases and death whether at an individual or community level. The models that use in health campaigning are helpful in identifying potential points of interventions (Snelling, 1957 & ebrary, 2014). One of the oldest and most popular models used to inform behaviour change interventions is the Health Belief Model (HBM). The HBM model concept is based on beliefs about health that play an important role in preventive health behaviors. It contains four constructs that predict why people will take action to prevent, to control, or to screen illness conditions; these include perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, and perceived barriers (Viswanath,
The Population Health Promotion Model is directly connected to this learner outcome because the model has strategies for health promotion, determinants of population health, and various levels of intervention (Hamilton & Bhatti, 1996). I used parts of the Population Health Promotion Model to formulate a health care plan for the standardized patient. I then took the health care plan and planned a client health teaching session where I assumed my role as an educator. In the health teaching session when I was delivering care to the standardized patient, I was promoting health, offering preventative strategies, and offering support. I believe that the model is essential to the way one plans care and give the care because you always have to keep the determinants of health in mind.
This service uses the knowledge gained from the core function of assessment to begin the process of policy development (California Department of Public Health “Strategic Plan”, 2013). This service focuses with our work to empower people to make informed decisions regarding individual and community health matters (California Department of Public Health “Strategic Plan”, 2013). The communication needs to be targeted to specific groups, accounting for varying levels of understanding, cultural and ethnic differences, vulnerability to the health effects of climate change, and other factors (Frumkin, H., Hess, J., Luber, G., Malilay, J., & McGeehin, M., 2008). Messages should empower people to access and use necessary health resources. Since frightening scenarios may elicit despair and helplessness, it is important to design messages that minimize these responses and that lead instead to constructive behaviors (Frumkin, H., Hess, J., Luber, G., Malilay, J., & McGeehin, M., 2008). The service also encompasses public health activities such as:
Health is a vital component in our everyday life. If it is compromised, everything else goes down with it. Health affects an individual drastically; therefore, it is imperative that we take good care of our bodies in order to maintain normal body functions that can help us go through our normal day-to-day lives without fail. There are many factors that can affect health--one of them is Education. Health education feeds emotions that will motivate us to do a better job at being caretakers of ourselves. It can therefore, be said that health education can encourage people to act on their own personal health.
To reiterate these six components, which are innovation, technical package, communication, management, and political commitment – the community is hand in hand associated with core functions of Public Health. In Public Health the three main core functions are assessment, policy development, and assurance. Assessment is a tool that helps monitors different health and environmental statutes to create, deploy, and identify solutions. It also used a diagnostic tool to investigate health-related problems and different health hazards. Policy development is an act of informing and educating those developed ideas and topics that help the communities and different organizations in their health care efforts. Lastly, assurance utilizes different laws and regulations to help in the aid of protecting the public or environment at risk. It also re-evaluates the laws and regulations to see its effectiveness and its quality (Schneider,
There has been a great deal of attention given by individuals, the media and by the government to Health Education. There is no doubt that a population which is “health literate” is significant for the sake of the “public health as a whole and consequently for public finances”(Tappe 2013) (Younghee 2013) Many countries including the U.S. have realized just how vitally this issues has become. (Younghee 2013) Sadly however, the ability understand basic health information, with or without health education, as well as access and process the services is only possessed by “50%”of the American public, resulting in the escalation or health care costs as well as poor decision making regarding health care. (Mancuso 2011) Yet the fact is that over the years at local, state, and institutional levels, health educators have been very successfully advocating to influence smoking regulations, child safety seat policies, nutrition policies, and many other health policies and regulations still a stunning “98.0%” of them report “barriers to policy activity”. (Bliss 2013)