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Improving the effectiveness of gender education in schools
Theory for change in health literacy
Improving the effectiveness of gender education in schools
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Introduction
Health literacy is the degree to which individuals have the ability to obtain, communicate, synthesize and understand the basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions to benefit their health (About health literacy, 2013). Being able to communicate, process and interpret health information helps individuals learn the essential steps needed to make sound decisions that will prolong lives. Low health literacy has negative impacts on an individual's health status and their ability to access health care and other health services and resources around them. The majority of Canadians who are considered to have lower health literacy are seniors followed by adults (Romagnoli, 2013). Roughly, 88% of seniors and 60% of adults in Canada are health illiterates (About Health Literacy, 2013). It is estimated that six out of ten Canadian adults lack the literacy skills needed to adequately manage their health and health care needs (Fact sheet, 2008). Research has shown that Canadians with lower health literacy skills are more than 2.5 times more likely to have poor health compared to Canadians with higher health literacy due to their inability to process and understand health related materials (Fact sheet, 2008). This paper aims to emphasize the role and importance of health literacy in relation to sexually transmitted infections in youth and the promotion of sexual health among the elderly.
Role of Health Literacy in Relation to STI’s ans Sexual Health Promotion
Sexually transmitted infections and sexual health promotion among individuals are sensitive Public Health issues that need to be addressed with care (STI’s in Niagara youth, 2014). Many people find it really difficult to talk about thei...
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...ly transmitted infections and improving the health of the population (Nutbeam, 2006).
Conclusion
Health literacy plays a critical role in our everyday knowledge about health. In Canada, a large proportion of seniors and adults are considered to be health illiterate. Lower health literacy means poor health due to the fact that people with low health literacy have difficulties accessing and using health information to make informed decisions about their health. Health literacy uses plain language to transmit sensitive information about the benefits, the risk and where individuals can access health information to improve their sexual health. This encourages people to seek information, navigate the health system care, engage in meaningful conversation with physicians, health promoters and educators and adopt behaviors that will enhance their sexual and overall health.
The focal point of this report is the Victorian Health and Wellbeing plan 2015 – 2019, created by the Victorian State Government after the imminent success of the original Victorian Health and Wellbeing plan allying the years of 2011 – 2015. The plan shares the ambitions of the World Health Organisation’s Global action plan on prevention and control of non-communicable disease. These ambitions of the distinct plan are “to reduce modifiable risk-factors and underlying social determinants by creating equitable health-promoting environments while aiming to strengthen and orient health systems for disease prevention and control through people-centred healthcare” (Department of Health, 2015). The report will tackle the priority area of Improving Sexual Health and Reproductive Health along with major components of the priority area such as the determinants of health and the at-risk groups affected by such an alteration. The determinants discussed are both biological and social, the biological; sex, the social; the social gradient, education and social support. The at-risk groups influenced by the priority area are; adolescents, pregnant women and new born children.
In developing this guide, ARHP/SRHU was addressing a major concern in regards to adolescent sexual and reproductive health: knowledge about accessibility of resources and the proper contraceptive methods to use for optimal protection against pregnancy and STIs. The workshop developed by ARHP had been designed with pre and post surveys in order to accurately assess the impact of the workshop on the participants. The surveys assessed the teens knowledge about parental permission, free services, whether ...
Individual level interventions are essential when creating sexual health related interventions that target college aged students. Interventions targeting the individual level of the social ecological model are devised to make an impact on the individual’s knowledge, perception, and self-efficacy, among other factors, in regard to the behavior being changed (Glanz & Rimer, 2005). To find the relevant literature, the following search terms were referenced in both PubMed and Google Scholar: “STI”, “Screening”, “Behavior”, “Knowledge”, “Chlamydia”, “Students”, and “College”. This literature review focuses on interventions that targeted behavior changes in individuals in relation to a variety of STIs, including chlamydia, the outcome of interest.
The syphilis outbreak affected many teenagers in this community and revealed their lives unknown to parents: group sex, binge drinking, drugs and violence. Some were as young as twelve and thirteen years old. But how a nurse leader can fix this? My recommended nursing intervention covers: the individual/family, community and systematic levels. Interventions include: sex education curriculum, afterschool recreation programs, and parental patrol.
Conaty-Buck, S. (2009). Unblocking barriers: Clearing the channel to improve communication between practitioners and patients with low health literacy. (Order No. 3364864, University of Virginia). ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, , 121. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.uproxy.library.dc-uoit.ca/docview/305011452?accountid=14694. (305011452).
Sexual Education while attending high school is an advantage that children need in today’s society. By having a ...
However, health literacy is more than just read and write; it is the ability to understand and able to use health information to make choices about their health (Benyon, 2014). Low health literacy can have detrimental effect on the health of the client because it may cause misunderstand of the medical label or health information. According to McMurray & Clendon (2015), health literacy divided into three different levels which are functional, interactive/communicative and critical health literacy. As for functional levels, it is the most general and fundamental level for the general public because individuals need to receive and understand the information of health such as risk of health decision, consent forms, health instruction or medicine labels. (McMurray & Clendo , 2015) Turning to the next level, interactive/communicative health literacy, mainly involved personal skills to spread health knowledge to the community, and also , people are able to influence social norm and help others individuals to develop their personal health capacity. Because of this, understanding of how organization work and resounding communication skill which can help to support others and knowing how to get different health services other individuals need (McMurray & Clendo , 2015). The third level is critical health literacy, mainly divided to
Reducing sexually transmitted diseases in women ages 15-24 does not have a simple solution. In fact, changing sexual behaviors encompasses various different approaches that can at times be difficult to reach. For an approach to show significant improvements a consistent change in personal factors, environmental factors, and human behaviors must occur (U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, National Cancer Institute, 2005, p. 20). The social cognitive theory describes these three important factors and introduces how they are all intertwined to produce the desired outcome of changing health behavior. The social cognitive theory approach has been chosen to indicate that sexual behavior can be changed but it must begin with those who are engaging
Health literacy is a term not widely understood by the general population. It is defined as “the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process and understand basic health information needed to make appropriate health decisions and services needed to prevent or treat illness,” (About health literacy, 2014). A person’s level of health literacy is based on their age, education level, socioeconomic standing, and cultural background. Patients with low health literacy have a more difficult time navigating the health care system. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, this group of patients may find it harder to find medical services and health care providers, fill out health forms, provide their complete medical history with their providers, seek preventative care, understand the health risks associated with some behaviors, taking care of chronic health conditions, and understanding how to take prescribed medications (About health literacy, 2014). It is to a certain extent the patient’s responsibility to increase their own health literacy knowledge. But to what extent can they learn on their own? Those working in the health field have been trained to navigate the health system and understand the medical terms. They have the knowledge and capability to pass on that understanding to their patients. Health care professionals have a shared responsibility to help improve patients’ health literacy.
Strasburger conveys the message that there is a problem with sexual education and urges his readers to do something about it. Teens should be able to make educated decisions, so they can protect themselves and their partners from unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and be able to maintain that safety from teenage years to adulthood. The bulk of sexual education programs within the United States are not assisting teens to achieve and uphold these standards. Sexual education curriculum in the United States needs to be examined on both a federal and state level, and comprehensive sexual education programs must be implemented.
Merging multi-literacies in Health and Physical Education could allow students to talk about topics of the genre more successfully and have knowledge of Health and Physical Education terms and language in daily life. According to Nutbeam (2000) interactive health literacy is a term which outlines the individual inspiration to maintain personal health. By teaching skills in the primary years to communicate and cope with health issues and physical activity will assist students in the schools of South Australia to know their personal requirements.
Today it is no longer a novelty to hear that teenagers are having sex. However, while this “bedroom” activity may be fun, there are now ample reports indicating that rates of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in teenagers have skyrocketed. Current data reveal that nearly 25% of adolescent girls who have sex are infected with one of the four commonly sexually transmitted infections-namely gonorrhea, chlamydia, herpes and HIV (Kann et al, 2015). Nationally, the prevalence of STDs account for 50% of cases in people under the age of 25. While every ethnic and race has been known to be affected, African American youth are disproportionately affected. These data are not a surprise to professionals who are engaged in adolescent sexual health because the numbers have been slowly creeping up over the decades, despite national educational policies to counter the threat of STDs (Sales & DiClemente, 2016). All the STDs have a significant impact on sexual and reproductive health, if they are mot promptly diagnosed and treated. Although many preventive strategies have been implemented in all communities, the rates of STDs are still increasing (Madkour et al, 2016).
Not surprisingly the lack of useful sexual information is one of the reasons of the spreading sex related diseases. According to The American Social Health Association (1998) each year there are near ten million of new cases of sexually transmitted diseases among the teenage...
Rates of sexually transmitted disease and teen pregnancy are higher in the United States than in any other domesticated country. Not surprising since American culture has brought sex to the forefront over the last few decades. The need for comprehensive sex education in schools can teach children that the romanticized relationships and sexual interactions in the media aren’t showing the whole story. For children with ...
Health is a vital component in our everyday life. If it is compromised, everything else goes down with it. Health affects an individual drastically; therefore, it is imperative that we take good care of our bodies in order to maintain normal body functions that can help us go through our normal day-to-day lives without fail. There are many factors that can affect health--one of them is Education. Health education feeds emotions that will motivate us to do a better job at being caretakers of ourselves. It can therefore, be said that health education can encourage people to act on their own personal health.