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The Scope of Health Education – Purpose, Basic Principles, Functions and Opportunities and Career Prospects

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The Scope of Health Education – Purpose, Basic Principles, Functions and Opportunities and Career Prospects


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.

 


Areas covered by 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.

 


Purpose/ Importance of Health Education

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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