Methods in health education.

Abstract

HEALTH has been described in what appear to be universally acceptable terms as &dquo; a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being.&dquo; However inadequate this attempt at definition may be, however much it may require elucidation or expansion, at least it recognizes and draws attention to different aspects of health, grants them an equivalence in value, and implies their inter-relationship in the unity of health. The need to raise the health standards of individals and communities in our society is obvious. It is seen not only in the incidence of serious yet preventable ill-health, but also in the indifferent health endured by many; it is evident in the consequent and material losses borne by society and, above all, in the existence of unnecessary physical and mental pain and suffering in our midst. The raising of health standards is the aim of health education, the sum of all the efforts made to this end. Health education is the responsibility of many individuals and institutions, but among those with special responsibilities are parents, teachers, and public health workers. Unfortunately, however, the health education of children by their parents is frequently casual and indifferent, of pupils by their teachers generally limited in scope and results, and that of the public by health authorities less effective than it might be, not through any lack of desire to promote it, but because of limited acquaintance with and practice in the application of appropriate methods. We are not concerned here with the health education of children and young people by parents or teachers, but with that of the general public by health authorities. Our present purpose, then, is to consider the use of more promising methods to supplement