The
scope of health education is extensive. It touches all branches of human life,
specifically; personal life, school life, as well as community life.
Health
education may be a science-based course. It could be a social science that
draws from the organic, natural, mental, physical, and restorative sciences to
advance health and avoid sickness, incapacity, and premature death through
education-driven intentional conduct alter exercises.
The
points of Health education include; supplying information and abilities to
enable individuals to lead ways of life and to require duty for the health and
health of others as well as the environment.
Another
key point of the program is to supply people (students, the common open) with
the openings to create and hone great health propensities and states of mind.
By
the end of this article, you should be able to:
•
Highlight areas covered by health education
•
Explain the purpose/importance of health education
•
Discuss the principles of health education
•
Enumerate the functions of health educators
•
Discuss job opportunities and career prospects for health education graduates
in Nigeria
•
State the admission criteria to study health education.
The
general scope of health education is listed below:
•
Family/community involvement
•
Health promotion
•
The healthy school environment, school health services
•
Counseling
•
Psychological and asocial services
•
Physical education
•
Food and nutrition
•
Certain common diseases, their prevention, and control
•
First aid safety measures
•
Mental health and personal hygiene
•
Water and Air - Pollution and purification
•
Good health habits and posture
•
Sleep, rest, recreation, and relaxation.
The most important reason of health education is to positively impact the health conduct of people and communities as well as the living and working conditions that affect their health.
Health education builds students' information,
aptitudes, and positive demeanor towards health.
Health
education lessons cover ranges, such as physical, mental, enthusiastic, and social
health. Advance, it persuades students to make strides and keep up their
fitness, anticipate illness, and diminish practices that seem to put them at
the chance.
Health
education curricula and instruction offer assistance students learn aptitudes
that will be of utility to them in making solid choices all through their
lifetime.
The conclusion result of the viable educational module is positive changes in conduct that decrease understudy dangers around liquor, tobacco, and other drugs, damage avoidance, a mental and passionate health, sustenance, physical action, avoidance of infections as well as sexuality and family life.
Health
education advances learning results in other subjects.
A
study appeared that perusing and arithmetic scores of students who got
comprehensive health education were altogether higher than those who did not.
In
general, healthy students learn better.
Previous
studies have shown that more healthy students tend to do better in school. They
have higher participation, better grades, and perform better on tests. Health
education propels individuals to receive health-promoting practices by giving
legitimate information and making a difference to create a positive demeanor.
It
makes individuals form choices around their health and have confidence and
aptitudes to put their decisions into practice.
Why do you think health education is necessary for individuals in society?
Health
education generally promotes healthy living among people in society.
Basic Principles of Health Education
All
health education ought to be need-based. Therefore, including any person,
people or the community in health education programme must be with a specific
reason or purpose.
The requirements ought to be set up.
It must be significant issues and accessible arrangements must be made.
Health education basically points to behavioral
changes.
Subsequently, the multidisciplinary approach is vital for the understanding of human behavior as well as for successful health education.
It is crucial to have a free flow
of communication for successful health education undertaking.
The
two-way communication is especially significant in health; a message is sent
from the sender to the receiver and vice-versa.
Why is the two-way communication important in health education?
Two-way
communication is important because the educator will be able to appreciate
better if the people are clear about health instruction given. The people will
also be able to express their fear and anxiety; the teacher and the learner
will be on the same page.
Functions of Health Educations (What Trained Health Educators Do)
Health
educators teach people about behaviors that promote wellness. They are change
agents (positive behavior change)
They
also:
•
Teach health education in schools
•
Assess individual and community needs
•
Plan health education programs
•
Develop health education programs
•
Coordinate health education programs
•
Implement health education programs
•
Manage health education programs and personnel
•
Evaluate health education programs
•
Write grants
•
Build coalitions
•
Identify resources
•
Make referrals
•
Develop social marketing and mass media campaigns
•
Organize/mobilize communities for action
•
Handle controversial health issues/content
•
Advocate for health-related issues
•
Encourage healthy behavior
•
Use a variety of education/training methods
•
Develop audio, visual, print and electronic materials
•
Conduct research
•
Write scholarly articles.
What is the main work of health educators?
Health
educators teach people about behaviors that promote wellness; they are change
agents (positive behavior change).
Job Opportunities and
Career Prospects for Health Education Graduates in Nigeria
1. Specialist Careers in
Health Education
• Certified
Education Specialist:
The certified health
educational master, or CHES, works to assist patients in progressing their
everyday health and quality of life through healthcare-related instructive
programs.
Whereas their work
is just as centered on the entire community as that of other masters. The
healthcare education professionals have more centers intelligent with
individual people in traditional clinical situations, in this way, making the
world a better place, one individual per time.
·
Healthcare
Information Analyst:
The information
analyst works with healthcare providers to raise broadly-focused educational
campaigns. Their work is vital to distinguishing existing, far-reaching issues
in clinical healthcare settings, as well as in pinpointing current deficiencies
in existing open mindfulness activities. Whereas they may take part effectively
in specific outreach programs, their part is fundamentally within the gathering
and examination of essential data. For that reason, they may plan overviews,
surveys, and interviews, as well as program planning, to assemble vital
information over time.
• Community
Promotion Specialist:
This specialization,
inside the entire field of healthcare and open mindfulness, centers basically
on general community mindfulness. Their community may be an expansive
association, a government body, a metropolitan range, or a few other
comprehensive statistics; ordinarily, it incorporates thousands of different
people unless their center is on a specific racial, ethnic, or other narrowly defined
statistics. The objective of the CHPS position is to collate and examine
healthcare-related data, report on their findings, and plan campaigns to assist
the foremost fundamental data reach the whole community.
• Product
Development Specialist:
The corporate world
offers expanding opportunities for healthcare educational and promotional
experts. One of the foremost sweeping career opportunities accessible to the
public with this capability is that of the item improvement master. They
incorporate a vast extend of obligations, but what it sums to in a nutshell
could be a two-pronged approach to open wellness: the specialist helps within
the design process, decreasing potential health dangers, and is additionally
capable for creating materials relating to the right utilize of an item or
service.
• Healthcare
Promotional Specialists (HPS):
A promotional
specialist is something of a general practitioner within this profession's
range of careers, and who they interact with in terms of how they associate as
well as who they connect with. A few may work with huge associations or other
communities, whereas others might take a patient-by-patient approach. They tend
to center on specific areas of concern. There are HPS professionals who
concentrate on a wide range of growing concerns today, from the spread of sexually
transmitted diseases to contagious viral organisms, to dental problems in
children within a particular county or state.
2.
Other Careers include;
• Health educator in
schools (primary, secondary and universities)
• Community
development worker
• Further education
teacher
• Health service
manager
• Health Counselor.
Admission to Study Health Education in Nigeria
In Nigeria, to study
health education, the person must possess the minimum of West African
Examination Council (WAEC) result, or it is equivalent; s/he must have passed
WAEC with a minimum of five credits at not more than two sittings in
science-related subjects.
Usually, the person
should pass the Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) examination in the
standard acceptable to the University of Choice.
However, the JAMB
pass is exempted for admission to the National Open University of Nigeria
(NOUN). Students admitted at 100 level with credit passes in WAEC in relevant
subjects in the sciences, but admission could be at 200 level with other
qualifications as necessary (NCE, RN, passed Advanced Level Certificate, etc.).
Conclusion on the Scope of Health Education – Purpose, Basic
Principles, Functions and Opportunities and Career Prospects
Health education is
to certainly impact the health behavior of people and communities as well as
the living and working conditions that impact their health. It could be exceptionally
wide disciplines that touch all branches of human life. Health education ought
to be based on needs and must be specific and significant to the issues and
accessible solutions.
There are numerous
ranges of specialization in health education, with various career
opportunities.
This article
examined the general scope of health education, its importance, basic
principles, and functions of health educators, opportunities, and career
prospects as well as its admission criteria in Nigeria.
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