Health education monographs最新文献

Two pilot discussion groups were conducted for patients who met selected criteria indicating they were worried well patients (not requiring conventional medical care services). The objective of the groups was to explore and demonstrate the feasibility of utilizing an educational approach conducted by paraprofessional personnel, under physician supervision, for helping to meet the needs of such patients, thereby reducing utilization of more expensive physician resources. The findings indicated that 50 percent of the patients reduced the number of visits to the physician, and 60 percent perceived the experience as helpful.

A variety of indicators favors the development of self-care systems for inner-city populations. This cannot be conceived as an isolated individual or a family enterprise. To be effective, self-care must be a community concept. This type of system requires (1) an information base; (2)an organized method of dissemination in a community; (3) support structures; and (4) an evaluation sybsystem. A community-oriented system would be an alternative and a complement to formal health services; individuals and families would manage common health problems, but would have ready access to formal services through community organizations. Links must also be provided between personal self-care and other forms of community development.

A two-stage process of gaming-simulation design was conducted: the first stage of design concerned national planning for hemophilia care; the second stage of design was for gaming-simulation concerning the problems of hemophilia patients and health care providers. The planning design was intended to be adaptable to large-scale planning for a variety of health care problems. The educational game was designed using data developed in designing the planning game. A broad range of policy-makers participated in the planning game.

Metro-Apex is a computerized gaming-simulation designed to give practitioners and students an understanding of the environment of health care delivery systems. The exercise allows participants to explore the interaction of health roles and the health system's interaction with the larger community system. Originally developed as an air pollution control exercise, it has evolved to be a game about communities and how they operate. In 1972, the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare funded the Center for Multidisciplinary Educational Exercises (COMEX), of the University of Southern California to modify Metro-Apex for use with health service planners, health care administrators, and students in programs leading to these positions. The game runs in several rounds of from three to eight hours for groups of from 40 to 120 persons. Used in both educational and training settings, Metro-Apex is found to be a flexible addition to the health educator's tools.

This annotated bibliography describes 66 simulation games in health education under the headings: diseases; drug use and abuse; ecology; family planning and human sexuality; health care planning; mental health; nursing; nutrition; physical fitness; and safety. Those reviewed are a selection of the more useful games from among a large number available. Few health education games are suitable for classroom use and few include social modeling through simulation. Games in drug education and mental health areas may contain distorted, out-of-date, or false information. Promising areas for development include: aging, venereal disease, sexuality, consumer health, health careers, safety education, and health planning.

This article deals with the dimensions of evaluating simulations and games in health education, provides a procedural model which incorporates these dimensions, and illustrates this model with a case history of the evolution of a game through repeated evaluation. The four major dimensions of evaluating a game are the purposes of evaluation, sources of evaluative data, emphasis on main or side effects, and timing of evaluation. The procedural model incorporates these dimensions of evaluation and is divided into stages of self-evaluation, expert appraisal, informal player tryouts, typical-use testing, field testing, and long-term evaluation. The case history illustrates the application of each of these stages to a short game in consumer health education.

A cable television channel was used to inform residents in a housing project for the elderly about a series of preventive health services. Screening and referral services for common health problems were offered to this group. The televised communications included a series of brief, informal advertising-style and direct teaching-style messages developed for each of five screening areas. An evaluation found that the televised messages had both direct and indirect effects on participation in the screening programs; overall attendance was about 8% of the estimated potential attendance. Knowledge and health attitude effects of the messages were also assessed.

A review of the problems that led to the development of a social simulation game, entitled "Life-Cycle" and an explanation of the objectives of the game and how it is used in the training of health care personnel in geriatrics is presented. Additionally, the results of a controlled experimental evaluation of the game's impact upon participants in terms of change in emotional responses and attitudes toward the elderly is covered.

The Health Belief Model is an inadequate conceptual framework for explaining the motivational dynamics of acceptance or rejection of contraception, although it does satisfy criteria of a good theory in explaining individual disease prevention behavior. Cues to action are the variables in the Model most clearly applicable to contraceptive behavior. The motivational variables, which are more important to the Model, are ambiguous at best is this area, however.

Critiques of research on the Health Belief Model have been directed at the need for: (1) applying the Model to behavior related to chronic illness; (2) multivariate testing of the major dimensions of the Model; (3) developing reliable scales; and (4) explicating the relationships among the beliefs. In an attempt to respond to these concerns, data are presented from a prospective study of mothers' adherence to a diet regimen prescribed for their obese children. The Model components were found, both singly and in combination, to be correlated with the study's measure of dietary compliance. Multiple regression analysis utilizing five belief indices accounted for a substantial portion of the variance in children's weight change. Questionnaire items employed in creating indices for each Model dimension are presented, together with discussion of the internal consistency of each index. Belief intercorrelations appear to demonstrate that distinct Model dimensions exist.