Unit 5: Health Education in Action

Unit 5: Health Education in Action

Health education involves both giving information and training individuals and communities to bring about better health outcomes. This role is a key feature of the role of nurses and other healthcare practitioners. Additionally, health education is also a key focus for the government. The financial budget for health education has significantly increased in recent years due to its significant benefits to health outcomes. This unit will support the development of students’ knowledge, understanding and skills regarding providing and supporting the provision of health education to improve the health and wellbeing of individuals accessing healthcare services. This unit will develop students’ understanding of the factors that impact upon health and the methods that are used to identify health inequalities at a local level. Students will also develop their understanding of the relationship between health beliefs and illness. Students will be able to assess how health beliefs can influence communication between healthcare practitioners and clients, and how to address barriers that may occur as a result. Theoretical models using health education to bring about behaviour change will be examined and students will be able to use one such model to implement a health education initiative. They will also be able to understand and apply methods used to evaluate health education initiatives. This unit will be of interest to those individuals wishing to pursue a career as a nurse, health advisor and in other healthcare-related professions where they will need to take part in health education initiatives.

Learning Outcomes By the end of this unit students will be able to:

1 Examine the factors influencing health status

2 Investigate the impact of health beliefs on wellbeing and illness

3 Explore the relationship between theoretical models of health education and health behaviour 4 Implement a local health education initiative using a theoretical model of health education.