Enhancing teacher health literacy in school health promotion: a vision for the new millennium.

While the National Health Education Standards focused interest and attention on student (consumer) health literacy, equal attention should be given to teacher (provider) health literacy. Teacher health literacy may be defined as "the capacity of teachers to obtain, interpret, and understand basic health information and services, with the competence to use such information and services in ways that enhance the learning of health concepts and skills by school students." This paper reviews a traditional model for school health teacher preparation, then presents an alternative, university field-tested model for enhancing health literacy in teacher education. This new model presents an innovative instructional paradigm, the Child and Adolescent Health (CAH) Logic Framework. This training model (vision) illustrates and emphasizes the link between child and adolescent health research and theory, CAH information, and application to health education, public policy, medical care, and health advocacy.

Organizational change: initial results in a health care setting.

An applied study was conducted in a federal health care facility to assess change in organizational climate variables over a 7-yr. period. Using the Survey of Organizations--2000, preliminary results show improvements on five climate indicators from Time 1 to Time 2 of the survey. Potential explanations for the positive changes are provided.

Identification of managerial behavior dimensions in a federal health-care agency.

Understanding the behavior of managers provides an opportunity to assess congruencies between organizational needs and managerial skills. This assessment is critical in federal health-care wherein the environment is rapidly changing. In the current investigation, dimensions of managerial behavior for 267 managers in a federal health-care agency were identified. Recommendations are provided with respect to the relevance of using these dimensions for organizational training and development activities.

Family-centered perinatal education.

Family-centered perinatal education is a health education service focused on the family unit during the childbirth period and is supportive to all family members as the family moves from one stage of development to the next. It is distinct from traditional childbirth education and family-centered maternity care by being a single educational intervention that addresses the needs of the entire family during the prenatal and postpartum periods. The advantages of family-centered perinatal education are discussed from the consumer's and educator's perspectives. Such education emphasizes extending social support into the postpartum period as a buffer against the effects of stress on new parents. Teaching and learning occur in a more timely manner. Family members learn what is most needed when it is most needed and avoid the feeling of being "cut loose" from the health care system right after the birth. Family-centered perinatal education is likely to become an increasingly popular consumer option as hospitals compete to provide the best obstetric/neonatal care.

A descriptive analysis of activity structures in high school health education classes.

The extent of use of activity structures in high school health education classes was examined. Twenty health educators from high schools in a large southwestern city agreed to have their classes observed on four separate occasions. Trained individuals observed, coded, and timed various classroom activities using a standardized coding form. Across all 80 observations, most classroom time was spent in Teacher Presentation of Content (23.4%), Seatwork (23.1%), or Media Presentation (15.6%). Little classroom time was used in Student Presentation (.3%) or Behavioral Presentation (.02%). The project goal was to provide baseline observational data into health education classroom activities. From this initial quantitative description of activity structures, correlational and experimental studies can be designed to link these activity patterns with student outcomes in health instruction.

Facilitating a self-care practicum experience in consumer health education.

There has been an increasing public interest in health care issues such as wellness, self-care, and the importance of taking personal responsibility for one's health. In addition to learning preventive health lifestyle measures, this growing consumer interest involves decisions regarding the purchase and use of health products and health services. There is a significant need for effective consumer health education in the schools that focuses not only on transmission of information, but on the development of decision-making skills and on opportunities for practical application. This paper describes an approach to facilitate the development of a self-care practicum experience in consumer health instruction, making use of the resources and expertise of both the school health educator and the school nurse. The approach describes how a planned practicum can move consumer instruction from an information-receiving experience to a participatory experience that facilitates the development of consumer decision-making skills.

The effects of ethnicity, sex and father's occupation on heart health knowledge and nutrition behavior of school children: the Texas youth health awareness survey.

The relationships of ethnicity, sex and father's occupation with heart health knowledge and nutrition behavior were studied in Texas seventh and eighth grade students. A questionnaire was administered to 2,695 children in schools chosen to represent the urban/rural and ethnic mix of the state population. The findings indicated a strong need for heart health education and for culturally-relevant nutrition education aimed at specific target groups defined by ethnicity, sex and leisure activity. Analysis of eating behavior at school and home confirmed the importance of school feeding programs on the health of minority and low income children.

Child safety programs: implications affecting use of child restraints.

Automobile deaths have been identified as the leading cause of death for children between the ages of one and fourteen. Those children who are unrestrained as passengers are at particularly high risk to injury and death. School health and safety programs need to include an understanding of this problem and implement efforts to increase restraint usage. A study of parental seatbelt and child passenger restraint use was conducted to identify frequency of use and behavioral and attitudinal factors influencing use of child restraints. Self-reported data of driver seatbelt use at all times was 19.0%, and the use of a child restraining device was 49.6%. Data recorded in a previous observational study noted a driver seatbelt usage rate of 14.2% and use of a child restraining device at 25.6%. Major reasons for non-use of seatbelts by drivers included discomfort and restricted movement. Reasons for non-use of child restraints focused upon the dislike and discomfort of the child for the restraint.