The need for health education: Priorities and strategies

Abstract

Heretofore unmatched interest in health education of the public suggests a climate for the development of health education strategies long overdue in the United States. Runaway costs of medical care and skepticism concerning the ability of medical technology to provide more than marginal improvements in the nation’s health are among the factors contributing to the interest in health education. Equally influential are the growing interests in “wellness,” patient education, self-care, holistic health, primary care, preventive intervention in specific disease process, consumers as active (rather than passive) participants in health management, and citizen participation in the design and management of health delivery systems. Clear-cut manifestation of these interests has been evidenced by the creation of the Bureau of Health Education within HEW, the establishment of the private, not-for-profit National Center for Health Education, and the new Office of Consumer Health Information and Health Promotion within the Assistant Secretary for Health’s Office in HEW. It is unsettling, however, that while the aforementioned organizations have come into being, they have yet to aggrandize the financial resources which will allow them to become major forces in educating the American people about health. Among the reasons for that fact is a natural assumption by many proponents that if the structures exist they automatically have financial bases. Another reason for the lack of financial support is skepticism by critics that health education can produce what is being asked of it. Others want to see “cost effectiveness” demonstrated before committing substantial dollars, and yet others are confused as to what health education really means. Thus health education finds itself generally being widely acclaimed at the very same time it is denied the wherewithal to launch major efforts aimed at improving the public’s understanding of health matters. Because unrealistic expectations are being imposed upon health education, because education is a complicated, long-term undertaking, and because health education has much to contribute, it is imperative that long-range national strategies be developed. And it would seem essential that the three national agencies mentioned above, all interested in health education in the broadest sense, jointly develop plans of attack which embrace priorities, objectives, time-frame for accomplishment, costs, evaluation, collaboration, and specificity of implementation. Assuming finite financial resources and recognizing that modest efforts could be dissipated in all directions upon important problems, what should be the priorities