Disease Prevention
For the most part, a health educator is supposed to assess the needs of their target group and develop a curriculum for school health education based on those needs. Before the health educator can fully develop the curricula, they should think about all of the different aspects of school health education that need to be covered. While the initial assessment of what the target group is going to play a large part in what a health educator teaches, the curriculum must be well balanced, and there are some main focal points that should be hit. For those of you that are not familiar with what is offered in school health education, below you will find the main points that are covered by a health educator in their classes.
1. Health promotion – Obviously this is going to cover different aspects for different age groups, but the important part is that good health habits are formed during these pivotal years. School health education for the younger age groups will cover things like how to brush your teeth well, flossing, bathing daily, and washing your hands with soap and water. A health educator has to make sure that young children know about basic hygiene. As they get older, their school health education will go on to cover maintaining a healthy diet, exercising to keep in shape, and whatever else the health educator feels is necessary.
2. Seeking help – Students should be taught by their health educator how to seek health treatment if they need it. If they are sick, they should be visiting a doctor to see what is wrong. When they are feeling depressed or unstable, perhaps a visit to a therapist is in order. For a toothache, they should be making a trip to the dentist. Knowing how to help yourself is a large part of school health education.
3. Disease prevention – This can actually overlap with health promotion in a few aspects. Having good hygiene, keeping a good diet, and exercising regularly are definitely going to help to keep somebody disease free, that is for sure. However, in later years, school health education will more geared toward issues that are dealt with by teens on a regular basis. A health educator will be teaching teenagers about their bodies, the changes they will be going through, and how to prevent diseases and pregnancy. At this point, school health education regarding sex will delve into proper condom usage, what type of sexual transmitted diseases are out there, and how they can keep from contracting those diseases. It is very important that a health educator lets no issue be taboo for them or their students.
These are the three major issues that are dealt with in school health education, but there are plenty more that are tapped during grade school. A health educator has to take many things into account when they are creating curricula for their classes, but these topics will most definitely be included.
