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Education

Health Education, Society and Research Skills

Introduction

Health education is the form of education that is designed for both the individuals and the public with the aim of gaining skills, knowledge, values and also attitude de that is required for the promotion, maintenance, improvement, and restoration of their health or the other people’s health (Artem, 2017). Historically, the modern organized health education started some few decades that have passed. However, the field of health education and the promotion of public health have existed for many millennia that have passed in one shape or the other. The knowledge of health education leads to the original civilization. The basic needs of food, shelter, water and also safety are all health-related and the writing of the Greeks, the Egyptians, the Romans and the medieval times shows that there was an existence of different health promotions that were being utilized.

For instance, in the Greek community they were collecting rainwater which was safe for drinking (Bundy & Guya, 2006). There were different methods of disposing of sewage like the use of earth closets. The cleanliness of the person was mainly advocated, and intoxication was considered to be troublesome. Despite the fact that the diseases were not well understood by the ancient people, they were known to be contagious and therefore different forms of quarantines were being implemented as there were different herbal medicines. The days of rest were being prescribed, and there was also regulation in sexual conduct. The dietary restrictions were being considered, and different sanitary restrictions governed the preparation and the supply of food. They realized that things like the diet, environment and the person’s activities play a role in disease control and disease influence. The regulations that regarded the pregnancy, menstruation and the birth of the child existed.

The Greeks understood the importance of their lifestyle, health, and environment. Inevitably these ideas of Greek were incorporated by the Romans. The Romans also set the laws governing the burial of dead, prostitution, and regulation of dangerous animals. They incubated against smallpox and them isolated people with leprosy. For the case of the ancient Egyptians, they observed cleanliness, and it was considered to be paramount. Egyptians also treated health problems by use of magic, medicine or a combination of the two. In the medieval period, the people suffering from risky diseases like leprosy were being isolated. Some powers were also being involved in raising the Black Death and then subsequent the plague.

As more people became concerned about the transmission of diseases, more methods were being learned so that they can assist in the control and prevention of diseases. Some of the methods include immunizations. Different healthcare facilities and also public health organizations were established to enhance better and secure prevention and secure treatment services. In the earliest civilization religion and health overlapped, the organized religion sectors were used to sponsor a lot of healthcare amenities and different practitioners required for the healing purpose. At different instances, the righteous people went to pray to God to seek for the healing. In some civilization, in Britain, the first temple was also being used as the first hospital, and the medical missionaries were very common in the religious societies. Despite religious practitioners, and the motivation, the desires to enhance improvement of health and the wellbeing of one another has been considered to be one of the powerful forces that have been driving the history of health education, medicine, health research skills and also health promotion.

The effort for the improvement of health in Britain can be illustrated in four different waves of activities. The first wave deals with the social hygiene of the people, and it was advocated in the 19th century where it was concerned with the improvement of environmental conditions, i.e., provision of clean drinking water, proper disposal of sewage and also proper working conditions. It is an illustration of the achievements made by people like John Snow in 1854 where there was an outbreak of Cholera, and he plotted the cases of the disease on the map and established water pumps in the affected areas as a source of water. Snow explored that cholera is a water-borne disease and thus he was considered as the founder of epidemiology which is the study of distribution and cause of health-related issues like diseases and public health.

The second wave deals with personal service where it mainly concentrated on the prevention and treatment of the diseases using the antibiotic and vaccines. The wave is dated from the 1890s to 1950s. The third wave concerns the eclipse of health education, and it was advocated from the 1940s to 1980s. This wave concerns the improvement of the peoples understanding of the connection between the diseases and the lifestyle like the identification of some actions, e.g., smoking, high cholesterols and also high blood pressure may lead to heart diseases. This knowledge aims at educating people that are of higher risks concerning such lifestyle. The last wave of health education is on the new health education where it focused on the social and economic factors are affecting the people’s health. This wave was dated from the 1970s to date. This is the best way to illustrate the history of health education in Britain, but in a simplified way, the overlapped one another during their occurrence.

Role of health education in improving the health of individual and society

The first role of health education is empowering individual health choices. This is done through the building of self-confidence and the establishment of skills. At the present health education is considered to be essential since it establishes awareness, skills and also encourages people to have a positive concerning their wellbeing. It, therefore, raises the student’s knowledge and skills about the physical, emotional, mental and social health. The second role is critical consciousness raising and also community empowerment. This is the direct congruencies with Ottawa charters that aim to build public health policy. For this reason, one of the roles of health education is just to bring health issues to the attention of the people. The enhancement of the consciousness concerning social issues may be unnecessary for the community actions, but it is mainly supplemented by the belief, attitude and also competent that contributes to the empowerment of the community. Lastly, it’s essential important in motivating the youths in the society and in the institutions to maintain and improve their health status, prevent transmission of diseases and also avoid behaviors that are unhealthy (Cottrell et al., 2009).

References

Artem, C., 2017. What is Health Education? – Definition, Topics & Role in Society. [Online]

Available at: https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-health-education-definition-topics-role-in-society.html [Accessed 15 April 2018].

Bundy, D. & Guya, H., 2006. Schools for health, education and the school-age child. Psychology Today, pp. 1-16.

Cottrell, R. R., Girvan, J. T. & McKenzie, J. F., 2009. Principles and Foundations of Health Promotion and Education. New York: Benjamin Cummings.

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