Principles of Health Education:
Health Education is a process of imparting or exchanging information and knowledge about health in a manner which motivates the recipient to use the same for the betterment and protection of his own, his family, community and the society. Health Education is vital to the prevention of many diseases. As per World Health Organization, “Health education comprises consciously constructed opportunities for learning involving some form of communication designed to improve health literacy, including improving knowledge, and developing skills which are conducive to individual and community health”
There are ten principles of health education:
Credibility: The health education should be consistent and backed by scientific knowledge and should have references to local culture and health goals.
Interest: Good health education should be designed keeping in mind the people’s interest and should be based on ‘FELT NEEDS’ so that it can become people’s program. Felt Needs are the real health needs of the people.
Participation: For the success of any health educatio program, the participation of community is an integral part. The Alma- Ata Declaration states “The people have a right and duty to participate individually and collectively in the planning and implementation of their health care”
Motivation: For the success of any health education, there should be a fundamental desire to learn and awakening the same is known as motivation. The health teacher can incentives for the participant. The main aim of motivation is to change behavior.
Comprehension: To achieve the desired outcomes of the program, the health educator should communicate the lessons in a language understable by the learners and should know the level of understanding, education level and the mental capacity.
Reinforcement: To increase the retention, the health educator should make sure to reinforce the knowledge takeaways via repetition of key points at regular intervals and in different possible ways.
Action Learning: The importance of action learning can be gauged by chinese saying of Confucious “i hear and i forget, i see and i remember, i do and i understand”. To achieve the success of health education, the educator should involve the elements of action learning by implementing props and simulation.
Feedback: For the success of any learning, effective feedback mechanism is a must. Health educator should design a mechanism for effective feedback from the audience and should modify his message accordingly.
Setting an example: If you set an example, you encourage or inspire people by your behaviour to behave or act in a similar way. The health educators should setup an example during the health education.
Leaders: The health educator should create leaders who can be the agent of change and who can inspire other people to take up proper health hygiene. These leaders are accessible to the people and are receptive to the needs and demands of the people
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