Health Education in Dentistry

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CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

     The word education is derived from the latin word “educare” and “educere” which means to bring out and to lead. Health education is the process of imparting information about health in such a way that the recipient is motivated to use that information for the protection or advancement of his own,his family’s or his community’s health.

Health education is an active learning process,which aims at favorably changing attitudes and influencing behavior with respect to health practices.

DEFINITION

The national conference on preventive medicine in USA defines health education as “Health education is a process that informes,motivates and helps people to adopt and maintain healthy practices and lifestyles,advocates environmental changes as needed to facilitate this goal and conducts professional training and research to the same end”

OBJECTIVES

1.    Informing the people (cognitive objective)

People are informed about the different diseases, their etiology and how to prevent them. Information increases knowledge and helps people become aware of their health problems and this helps in preventing diseases and promoting health.

2.    Motivating people (affective objective)

 It is concerned with clarifying, forming or changing attitudes, beliefs, values or opinions. The mere presence of information does not improve health. After proper health information is given, it is necessary to motivate them to alter their lifestyles so that it becomes favorable to promoting health and preventing disease. Motivation has been defined as “a combination of forces which initiate, direct and sustain behaviors”.

3.    Guiding in to action ( behavioral objective)

It is concerned with the development of skills and action. A person  who has obtained health information might be motivated to change his behavior  and lifestyle. However he might need professional help and guidance so as to bring about these changes and to sustain these altered lifestyles.

The final goal of any health education program is to make realistic improvements in the basic quality of life.

APPROACHES TO ACHIEVE HEALTH

1.       Regulatory or legal approach

2.       Administrative or service approach

3.       Educational approach

4.       Primary health care approach

Legal or regulatory approach

·         This is the form of approach that makes use of the law to protect the health of the public. The government makes laws and regulations in order to safeguard the health of its people. Examples for this type of approaches include,

·         Epidemic  disease act,Pollution act, food adulteration act and environmental act.

Drawbacks

·         They are applicable only at certain times or in limited situations

·         They may not alter the behavior of the individual

·         These laws are not democratic since they interfere with and individuals personal choices.

Administrative or service approach

·         This form of approach intends to provide all the health facilities to the people with the hope that they will use it

Drawbacks

·         It becomes a failure if the service is not based on the felt needs of the people.

Educational approach

·         This form of approach is found to be the most effective means for achievement of chanes in the health practices and lifestyles of the community.

·         The components of this approach are motivation,communication and decision making.

·         The results obtained from this approach may be slow, but they are permanent and enduring.

·         Another important factor in this approach is that sufficient time should be allowed for the individual to bring about the desired changes in his behavior.

·         It may involve not only learning new facts but unlearning wrong information as well.

Primary health care approach

·         This is an approach that involves full participation and active involvement of the people starting from the planning stage till the delivery of health services.

·         This is based on the principles of primary health care, i.e., community participation.

·         This can be achieved by providing the necessary guidance to help people identify their health problems and to find solutions to these problems.

MODELS OF HEALTH EDUCATION

Medical model

 This model is concerned with the recongnition and treatment of disease and technological advances to facilitate this process. Health education id provided to the people hoping that they will use this information to improve their health. However since this model gave no importance to the social,cultural and psychological factors, it did not bridge the gap between knowledge and behavior.

Motivation model

When people did not use the information provided to them,it was felt that just providing information is not sufficient ; the individual must be motivated to translate the health information in to action.

Social intervention model

However, with the complex public health problems present today, it has become necessary to focus not only on the individual but also on his social environment, which shapes his behavior and the behavior of the community.

An effective health education model should be based on precise knowledge of human ecology and understanding of the interaction between the cultural,biological,physical  and social environmental factors.

PRINCIPLES OF HEALTH EDUCATION

The principles of health education, can be categorized as follows:

1.       Credibility

2.       Interest

3.       Participation

4.       Motivation

5.       Comprehension

6.       Reinforcement

7.       Learning by doing

8.       Known to unknown

9.       Setting an example

10.   Good human relations

11.   Feedback

12.   Community leaders

1.      Credibility

It is the degree to which the message is perceived as trustworthy by the receiver. It should be scientifically proven, based on facts and should be compatible with local culture and social goals.

2.      Interest

If the health education topic is of interest to the people, they will listen to it. The health educator should identify the felt needs of the people and then prepare a program that they can actively participate into make it successful.

Felt needs is the requirement of or care as determined by the patient or the public.

3.      Participation

The health educator should encourage people to participate in the program. Once the people are given a chance to take part in the program it leads to their acceptance of the program. Certain methods like group discussion, panel discussions, etc. provide opportunities for peoples participation.

4.      Motivation

·         Motivation can be defined as the fundamental desire for learning in an individual.

·         Motives are of two types – Primary motives and secondary motives.

·         The primary motives in life are inborn desires and/or forces, which drives an individual into action. Food, clothing and housing are examples of primary motives.

·         The secondary motives are desires that are the result of outside forces. Examples for secondary motives are gifts, love, a word of praise, rewards, etc.

·         Health education can be facilitated by the motivation provided by the desire to achieve individual goals. For example, for a teenager, esthetics might be a motive to take care of his or her teeth whereas for an adult, the expenses of undergoing restorative care might be the motivating factor for taking care of his/her teeth.

5.      Comprehension

It refers to the level of understanding of the people who receive the health education. The health educator should first determine the level of literacy and understanding of the audience and act accordingly. Words that are strange or new to the people should not be used. Usage of technical or medical terms, which are not familiar to the common man should be avoided.

6.      Reinforcement

This is the principle that refers to the repetition needed in health education. It is not possible for the people to learn new things in short period of time. So, repetition is a good idea. This can be done at regular intervals and it helps people to understand new ideas or practices better. This principle can be called as a booster dose in health education.

7.      Learning by doing

Just by listening to new ideas or seeing new things, it might be difficult to implement them. If the learning process is accompanied by doing new things, it is better instilled in the minds of people.

8.      Known to unknown

Before the start of any health education program, the health educator should find out how much people already know and then give them the new knowledge. The existing knowledge of the people can be used as the basic step upon which the new knowledge can be placed.

9.      Setting an example

The health educator should follow what he preaches. He should set an example for the people to follow.

10.  Good human relations

This principle states that the health educator should have good personal qualities and should be able to maintain friendly relations with the people. The health educator should have a kind and sympathetic attitude to watch the people and should always be helpful to them in clarifying their doubts or repeating what is not understood.

11.  Feedback

For any program to be successful it is necessary to collect a feedback to find out if any modifications are needed to make the program more effective.

12.  Community leaders

Community leaders can be used to reach the people of the community and to convince them about the need of health education. The leaders can also be used to educate the people, as they will have a rapport and will be familiar with the people of their community. The leader will have an understanding of the needs of the community and advice and guide them. Health education for the rural people can be achieved through the head of the village, whereas school children can be approached through the headmaster or the school teacher.