Health education is an educational activity and process to help individuals and groups master health knowledge, establish health concepts, make rational use of resources and adopt healthy behaviors and lifestyles through information dissemination and behavioral intervention. The purpose of health education is to eliminate or reduce the risk factors affecting health, prevent diseases, promote health and improve the quality of life.
Health education is a planned, organized and evaluated systematic intervention activity with the premise of investigation and research, the main means of spreading health information, the purpose of improving the health-related behaviors of subjects, and the ultimate goal of preventing diseases, promoting health and improving the original quality of life.
Second, the definition of health promotion
The World Health Organization (WH0) defines health promotion as: "It is a process to urge people to maintain and improve their own health and a strategy to coordinate human beings and the environment. It stipulates the responsibilities of individuals and society for health. "
Three. Research field of health education
The research field of health education is very extensive, which is mainly divided into two categories.
(a) according to the target population or place classification
1. School health education refers to providing students with complete and positive health experience and knowledge structure through the joint efforts of schools, parents and members of the community to which the school belongs. Including offering formal and informal health education courses, creating a safe and healthy school environment and providing appropriate health services to promote students' health. The objects of school health education include preschool children, primary and secondary school students and college students.
2. Health education for occupational groups refers to providing health knowledge, skills and services, and encouraging occupational groups to consciously adopt healthy behaviors and lifestyles.
3. Hospital health education refers to a purposeful, planned and systematic health education activity that focuses on patients and their families who receive medical care services in hospitals, and aims at preventing and treating diseases and promoting physical and mental rehabilitation.
4. Community health education refers to a planned, organized and evaluated health education activity with the community as the basic unit, the community population as the education object and the goal of promoting residents' health. The purpose of community health education is to tap the health care potential of individuals, families, communities and society, so as to improve health level and reduce disability.
(two) according to the purpose or content of education.
According to the purpose or content of education, health education can be divided into disease prevention health education, nutrition health education, environmental protection health education, reproductive health education and so on.