Health education must be a critical part of all forms of education so that individuals can take personal responsibility for their health and their health related decisions. This requires incorporating health as a core part of curriculum from an early age, not as a separate class but incorporated into biology, history, social studies and nearly every subject which is taught. Without a core understanding of health and determinants of health, it is not possible for people to truly have control over their health, and without some control over one’s health quality of life will suffer.
By the same token, specialized education in any health field must look to all other disciplines as well in order to contextualize health trends and patterns, the physiological processes of the body, and the technology which could better support health and health related decisions from the routines and habits that we keep to those relating to treatment for ourselves and our dependents.
The medical model of health has been primary for far too long. Health must go far beyond the diagnosis of illness, and be understood in terms of wellness, determinants, prevention and population health. In this paradigm health is an aspect of education in any field, whether one plans to be a primary school teacher or chief executive officer.
Imagine the changes to society if understanding health and the implications of any decision on the health of people were implemented. No longer would there be debates with regard to the ethics of unhealthy products such as fast food- it would be understood as being wasteful and harmful to the economy and its productivity, and it the demand would not be there anyway. With a new focus on health education and the factors of health there would likely be many changes to lifestyle in future generations. Policy decisions would include a health impact statement, regardless of the area of policy making. Imagine a legal precedent that determined a right to health, coupled with a population that well understood health determinants, prevention strategies and their personal responsibility to safeguard their health.
For health education to become the driver of a significant paradigm shift there would also need to be two new supports for health- an emphasis on critical thinking and the use of technology to aid everyone, regardless of developmental stage or intelligence, to understand their health related decision options and how these options might impact their health outcomes.
My mission is for people to not only be more aware and educated about health processes, practices, preventative measures and possibilities but also more confident in autonomy in their health related decisions and choices. This could be summarized as the need to support health literacy, which is ultimately tied to outcomes in individual and public health (Sørensen et al, 1). With health literacy comes the change in personal habits as well as what is found to be acceptable in society (Stewart et al., e43).
As a health educator my mission will be to come as close as I can to that vision, not only through what and how I teach, but in my collaborations and coordination with others. This might include advocacy for the inclusion of health in a new way in public education curricula as well as new social marketing with health education related messaging. It might include lobbying for a tax credit for entertainment, films and media that have real value for extending the health education of people. It must include encouraging all individuals to think deeply about their own health literacy and how they can use their diverse skills sets and knowledge to support the health literacy of others. This is my vision of the mission of health education.
- Stewart, D. W., Adams, C. E., Cano, M. A., Correa-Fernández, V., Li, Y., Waters, A. J., … & Vidrine, J. I. (2013). Associations between health literacy and established predictors of smoking cessation. American journal of public health, 103(7), e43-e49.
- Sørensen, K., Van den Broucke, S., Fullam, J., Doyle, G., Pelikan, J., Slonska, Z., & Brand, H. (2012). Health literacy and public health: a systematic review and integration of definitions and models. BMC public health, 12(1), 1.
