Health education is the process by which people learn about their health and more specifically, improve their health. Many different types of people provide health education and there are many different ways health education is delivered, based on various behavioral change models. Health education is critically important in improving the health of communities and individuals.
Results
Health education attempts to increase knowledge on the subject. An increase in knowledge on the subject leads to a change in attitudes about healthy and unhealthy behaviors. This change in attitude ideally leads to a change in behaviors from unhealthy to healthy, leading to an improvement in health, which is the ultimate goal of health education.
Health Care Providers
Doctors, nurses, physician's assistants and nurse practitioners often provide one on one health education to patients on behaviors that improve their health.
Health Teachers
Health education is often provided to youth in schools in the format of a regular weekly class.
Health Educators
Another group that provides health education is health educators. These professionals differ from health teachers in that they focus on behavior change and do not work in a school class format. Health educators may work with individuals or groups.
Scope
Health education encompasses not only the information on what behaviors are healthy, but also achieve those behaviors with skills development and can sometimes include motivation to change. For example, in addition to knowing what foods are healthy, know prepare those foods, and easy ways to incorporate them into your diet. All these aspects together are more likely to result in behavior changes that lead to improved health.
Tags: Health education, their health, health education, health education, improve their