This report looks at the influences a teacher can make in the improvement of public health.
INTRODUCTION
Public health can be defined as the science concerned with the protection and improvement of health and well being of people. It deals with the monitoring of health status of a population at risk and also conducts various health interventions to prevent diseases and promote a healthy lifestyle.
Public health mobilizes the professionals from different healthcare and non-healthcare disciplines like doctors, nurses, lawyers, sociologists, cleaners, teachers, dentists, nutritionists, biologists, engineers and many others. Among them, teachers play an important role in empowering students with knowledge about their health and lifestyles.
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These four schools were located in Northern Manhattan community of New York City and had nearly 4,600 students altogether. They also had an active school based health clinic that provided a wide range of free physical, mental, primary and reproductive healthcare services to students during school hours.
The teachers taking part in the study listened to the health discussions of students that were held once in a week or more in classrooms, hallways, cafeterias and playgrounds and seventy percent of them stated that students actively approached them with their personal or health problems. It was also found that schools are the most appropriate area for discussing and giving health related informations.
Dr. Cohall (2007) observed that almost all teachers have opportunities, both formal and informal, to influence adolescent health behavior. However, to our knowledge, there have been few studies that examine the extent to which general academic teachers are involved in interaction with studies about
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Eric Anderman(2008) said that the teacher-student relationship, particularly during adolescence, is very important. It was easier for the kids to talk about personal stuff with someone they knew. It was easier for them to absors the material and become more interested in what they were talking about with their regular teacher in the classroom.
The study included around 700 high school students participated from similarly sized high schools. They were introduced to the same curriculum and were taught by either their regular classroom teacher or a temporary educator.
Students were assessed prior to beginning the course and after three to four weeks after completion about their experience. They were asked how they think about having sex and condom use, their goals and expectations toward the class, if they valued class material, and if they felt their health teachers were
The relationship that a teacher creates with their students can affect the environment or atmosphere of the classroom. In an article, by Hamre & Pianta (2001), it states that, “supportive relationships help maintain students’ interests in academic and social pursuits, which in turn lead to better grades and more positive peer relationships” (p. 49). Most students will work harder for teachers if they build a good connection with the student. Teachers will also look more “human” to a student and remind them that the teacher does care very much about them. The article also states that, “Talking with students about their lives outside of school is one way teachers can show an interest in and appreciation for students” (Hamre & Pianta, 2001, p. 54). Students love talking about their lives outside of school and their interests. It also allows them to show their personalities and lets the student know that their teacher wants to know about
Public health may be defined as “a social and political concept aimed at the improving the quality of life among the whole population through health promotion, disease prevention and other forms of health intervention”.(1) The purpose of public health practice is to improve the health of society rather than individuals and reduce health disparities between individuals, groups, and communities through organized effort of the communities, individuals and organizations. As Marmot points out: “creating a fairer society is fundamental to improving the health of the population and ensuring a fairer distribution of good health”.(2) Besides this, the public health field is expanding to tackling new and contemporary risks: obesity, sexually transmitted
This initiative seeks to reach youth in all areas of their environment. Children spend a great deal of time in school. The CDC made schools the focus of its work. Each year the CDC releases a report called the School Health Policies and Practices Study. This study measures what health-related courses are taught in school and the components of the courses, and the effectiveness of nutritional and health policies. The most recent data compiled by the School Health Policies and Practices Study (SHPPS) suggests that the nation’s school are doing a better job educating school- age children in the areas of alcohol and drug prevention, emotional and mental, infectious disease prevention and strategies to prevent suicide and violence (CDC,
The public school system offers several different types of health care services to students concerning issues that are a problem in 21st century schools. Two of the top concerns in public school health care concern the on topics of reproduction and obesity. With over 50 million students attending public schools, it is important to recognize and understand that school systems have a responsibility to provide health care education and services that will educate and hopefully improve the health of all students.
Yaussi, S. (2005). The Obesity Epidemic: How Non-PE Teachers Can Improve the Health of Their Students. Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, 79105-108.
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Prevention. School Health Policies and Programs Study. September 30, 2002. April 6, 2003.
Students should be informed about more than just “don’t have sex” because eventually it is going to happen and they need to be educated on the proper way to handle the situations. Because students are mostly taught abstinence it has created the situation to where researchers find” Abstinence-only education, instead of reducing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, has made teenagers and young adults more vulnerable to ST...
At an early stage in my medical school in Iraq, I realized the great positive impact of public health on the community in health education orientation, disease prevention and health well-being as a general and what affirmed it later, my clinical practice as a physician in Iraq first then Dubai later. Public health was a major integral block in my clinical practice to educate the people towards a healthier lifestyle and implementing the preventative screening measures necessary to get a healthy, well protected community. After moving to the United States, I took the initiative to familiarize myself with the US healthcare system by doing many clinical rotations in different family practices and pediatric clinics in Houston, TX. After these rotations, I was enamored with the delivery of public health measures in each clinic, according to the US public health standards. My fondness for public health drove me to get an opportunity to be a health educator
Gross, S. and Cinelli, B. (2004). Coordinated school health program and Dietetics professionals: Partners in promoting healthful eating. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 793-798.
In some way, public health is seen as a modern philosophical and ideological perspective based on ‘equity’ and aimed to determine inequitable in society. It seen as a ‘science’ and ‘art’ in the sense that it deals with the cause of disease, treatment of illness as well as it involves laboratory experiments, intervention and promoting of health of the population. Winslow (1920, p. 23) defined public health as ‘the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting physical health and efficiency through organised community efforts for the sanitation of the environment, the control community infections, the education of the individual in principles of personal hygiene, the organisation of medical and nursing service for early diagnosis and preventive treatment of disease, and the development of social machinery which will ensure to every individual in the community a standard of living adequate for the maintenance of health. On the other hand, it is ‘the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through organised effort of society’ (Acheson, 1998; in Cowley S, 2002, p. 261).
There has been a heated debate over the years on whether sex education should be taught at schools instead of abstinence-only. Many believe that talking about sex in the classroom raises the initiation of such behavior, and by stressing discipline, self-control, and self-respect, advocates argue, abstinence-only programs build character in students. Others believe that ignoring the subject keeps teens in the dark which leads them to make unsafe decisions when they become sexually active. In order to fix this problem schools should teach Sex Education, but emphasize that abstinence is the only 100 percent effective way to prevent pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases.
Public health can be defined as the approach to medicine that is concerned with the health of the community as a whole. It is about protecting and improving the health of families and communities through promotion of healthy lifestyles, research for disease, injury prevention, detection, and control of infectious diseases. Many factors contribute to a long life, including demographics, socioeconomics, genetics, environment, and behaviors. It is important to assess these factors when attempting to increase life expectancy and improve health status, because positive health practices result in higher life expectancies and better health.
Public health is often described as having the population or community as its patient, in contrast to the individual-level focus of clinical medicine. The more focus on the community creates a natural foundation for team building between public health and anthropology. This becomes the primary focus on the study of people in groups, and especially in local communities. WHO(1948) defines Public health as the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals. Wolf (1994) defines anthropology as the study of humankind, past and present.
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.
Public Health is the science of preventing disease and promoting health through many different ideas and functions by informing society and different community-based organizations. The idea behind Public Health is to protect and serve; it helps improve the lives of countless individuals through promoting a healthier lifestyle, education, research, prevention, detection, and response management. From the beginning, the idea of Public Health has become a stepping-stone that is essential to the longevity of humans and the environment. As society progresses and new advents are created or modified, Public Health