Health Education Capstone
Respond to your classmate posts with a substantive response that addresses the following
Review the determinants of health that were mentioned by your classmates. Explain how one of these determinants could be reduced or eliminated by the work of a health educator. (i.e. describe specifically what could be done to reduce or eliminate that particular determinant?).
What barriers may exist for the health educator in working on this determinant? Regina Brown Information about the effects of poor diets and little physical activity is readily available to anyone who has an interest. There is equally an abundance of information and ideas on how to eat healthy and incorporate exercise into daily life.
Prevention and behavior change in health promotion and education is important because people are seeking ways to live longer, healthier lives and teach their children how to do the same. For some, behavior change may include cutting meat out of their diet or only eating organic foods. Either way, more and more people are looking for ways to make better health decisions.
The overall goal and purpose of health education initiatives is to help people think about and learn ways to take better care of themselves and implement healthy habits into their daily lives. As health education specialists, we should educate people with the hope of influencing them to put more thought into what they can do to improve their overall health. The desire is to encourage positive changes in the amount and types of physical activity people participate in on a regular basis, and by doing so, reduce diseases and injuries that are caused by improper or lack of exercise.
The steps involved with developing a health education/health promotion program are: evaluate needs, set goals and objectives, formulate and implement interventions, assess the results (McKenzie, Neiger, & Thackeray, 2012).
Following these steps is the best way to ensure the right program is developed for the right audience in an effort to achieve or even exceed the desired goal.
The underlying concepts of the health education profession are to understand the people they are trying to help, decrease barriers that can delay the help that is needed and provide effective, professional services.
Determinants of health such as individual actions, physical environment, education and biological makeup must be taken into consideration when planning health programs so that specialists can plan according to what is needed. Limitations such as language barriers can make it harder to plan an effective program, therefore specialists will have to work with people who can facilitate communication with the target audience. Health risk reduction such as public health advisories, healthy eating education and tips on proper ways to exercise are essential to ensuring people are on the right track to better living.
McKenzie, J. F., Neiger, B. L., & Thackeray, R. (2012). Planning, implementing, & evaluating health promotion programs: A primer (6th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Benjamin Cummings.