Students' conceptions of health: A cross educational stage survey

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to reveal participants' health concepts via a cross- sectional survey examining students at different educational stages. Four dimensions of health are integrated within an overall health concept, as drawn from relevant literature: the physical, mental, social, and cultural dimensions. An open questionnaire was administered to 551 students in three educational stages in Taiwan: junior high (13 ± 0.6yrs), senior high (16 ± 0.6yrs), and college (19 ± 0.6yrs). The results indicated that the total participants' major health concerns were situated within the physical dimension, followed by the social and mental dimensions. No participants mentioned a cultural dimension of health. Senior high school students were relatively more concerned with the mental rather than the physical dimension when compared to responses from the other two stages. Moreover, a gender difference was found in that female participants were more concerned with physical aspects while male participants focused more on the social dimension. Different concerns were obvious across the three educational stages; accordingly, an educational approach was suggested to address these findings.