About this chapter

This chapter is called Education for Health rather than Health Education. The choice of title is intended to reflect recent changes in the theory and practice of health education. The chapter aims to provide:

• the underlying theory of education for health
• an outline of the changes in theory and practice
• advice on the actions people can take to include education for health processes in work practice

As a theoretical framework this chapter underpins many of the strategies described in other chapters of this resource. The chapter content particularly draws, with permission, on the recent work of experts in the health promotion field in Australia.

See related chapters:

• the chapter 'Sharing Health Information' offers a format for planning and evaluating information sharing sessions
• the chapter 'Planning and Evaluating a Health Promotion Project' outlines a step-by-step process for planning a health promotion or public health project. It offers information and guidelines which you may find useful for setting learning objectives, organising education activities and evaluating them
• the 'Working with Groups' section in the 'Strategies for Health Promotion' chapter includes a guide for small group education sessions
• the 'Using Media section' in the 'Strategies for Health Promotion' chapter includes information about health education resources

For further information read the recommended text Promoting Health: The Primary Health Care Approach by Wass (1994)