Spiritual_Wellness_Holistic_Health_and_the_Practic

82 Philosophical Foundations of Health Education
TABLE 10.1
Philosophy
Cognitive-based
Decision-making
Behavior Change
Freeing/Functioning
Social Change
The Five Health Education Philosophies
Description
Content focused, emphasizes factual information and the
expansion of the health knowledge base of the individual.
Designed to teach systematic problem-solving skills and
decision-making processes that can be applied to healthrelated
decisions.
Emphasizes behavioral modification through such methods
as self-monitoring, behavioral contracts, and goal setting.
Program objectives are quantifiable and measurable.
Designed to help learners make self-directed and
autonomous health decisions. Emphasizes concepts of
freedom, individuality, and lifelong learning.
Proposes education as a force for achieving social change.
Health education is closely connected with emphasis on
raising awareness for responsible social action.
The Health Education Philosophy Inventory (HEPI) was developed to ascertain
philosophical beliefs and preferences of health educators. (Requests for copies of
HEPI can be sent to Dr. Helen Graf at Georgia Southern University.) Instrument items
included five vignettes and their corresponding philosophical continuum, open - ended
questions, a rank order exercise, and a demographics sheet (see the box for a sample
vignette). Each vignette represented a different health education setting, topic, and two
philosophies. The corresponding philosophical continuum gave the health educator an
array of choices between two health education philosophies. Vignettes were fashioned
so that respondents were forced, unknowingly, to make choices that reflected certain
health education philosophies. Within these educational situations, health educators
made “ blind ” choices for philosophical preferences in the “ real world. ” Exhibit 10.1 is
a sample of a vignette included in the inventory. Participants were asked to complete
the rank order exercise last, so as not to influence choices made in the vignettes. The
rank order exercise briefly described each philosophy (see Table 10.1 ) and requested
participants to rank them. A score of one indicated a philosophy closest to beliefs, and
a score of five indicated philosophy least like beliefs.