Spiritual_Wellness_Holistic_Health_and_the_Practic

Guiding Principles on Health Education 33
INTERCONNECTEDNESS
Regardless of subject matter or course title, I try to demonstrate the many interconnections
that exist between and among the topics that are generally considered within the
health science curriculum. In a study of alcohol and other drug problems, I emphasize
the potential effects of drug use on college performance and dropout rates as well as the
influence of advertising on the mind - set of many Americans who believe firmly that
one cannot have fun at a party without consuming alcoholic beverages. When the
course deals with human sexuality, I also discuss the expenses of childbirthing, the
selection of a marriage counselor or sex therapist, and the portrayal of sex roles in
movies and television programs. Whenever the topic is weight control, cancer, cardiovascular
health, or even mental health, there is always a need to evaluate news reports,
radio and/or television guests, and newly released books that claim some novel remedy
or recommended regimen. We must have some basic criteria by which to assess
the latest cure or approach to health maintenance, especially when dealing with “ alternative
medicine. ” And when the topic is AIDS, I will focus not only on transmission
of the HIV virus and specific prevention techniques, but also on the impact of this
modern epidemic on the current health care system and on the psychological responses
of the person with AIDS.
First introduced to the ideas of interconnectedness and conceptualization by analyzing
the School Health Education Study, or SHES ( “ Health Education, ” 1969), I still
try to demonstrate the linkages between many topical areas and prove that all health
education is really consumer health education. The original SHES study also made me
more conscious of the comprehensive nature of the health curriculum and of the continuing
need for establishing behavioralized teaching objectives to guide my classroom
activities.
ADMISSION OF HEALTH EDUCATION LIMITATIONS
It didn ’ t take long for me to realize that health education does not have all the answers
to personal or social health problems. Sometimes we recommend certain modes of
action or lifestyling changes that are quite impossible for our target audience to adopt,
due to unavailability of resources or lack of accessibility to those resources.
Increasingly, I even question my right to intrude on the privacy of others so they will
more likely accept predetermined reforms of their health behaviors. As a health educator,
I willingly admit that I do not have all the answers to promoting health and preventing
disease. But that will not stop me from asking probing questions that disturb
people out of their complacency.
There is yet another aspect of health education ’ s limitation that I have begun to
realize: the very best health education experience may not result in changed health -
related behavior if there is a lack of environmental supports, such as health - promoting
legislative initiatives and governmental policies, engineering technology, and regulation
of mass media advertising and business practices. With regard to alcohol abuse,