Polish Journal of Public Health

Review Article, Pol J Public Health 2014;124(3): 145-147

Abstract

Health education is the main, and at the same time, integral part of complementary health promotion. The main assumption underlying the essence of health education is an assertion that the health of individuals and, consequently, of communities they belong to is significantly conditioned by the behaviour of inter-subject variability, which can be pro-healthily shaped by the educational impact. Thanks to transferred knowledge, shaping attitudes and the acquisition of certain skills, patients receive help in coping with health problems which improves their well-being, satisfaction, and the process of recovery.
The education of a patient has advantages either in the clinical or social field, hence, it is perceived as an inseparable part of a high-quality healthcare. The importance of health education has been also recognized as one of the main factors that determine the long-term health policy, which indirectly may be reflected in the reduction of costs in the healthcare. In the recent years, more and more emphasis has been placed on preventive and educational aspects of the healthcare. Family medicine, as the source of the initiation of shaping health-oriented attitudes, has a prominent place in the system organized in such a way. In patients’ opinion, medical staff is the best and most reliable source of knowledge on health. Such expectations increase the importance of primary care physicians in preventing diseases and shaping health-oriented attitudes in a given society. The main task of a modern health education is primarily to support the creation of conditions for change, the growth competence of individuals and groups in the sphere of independent action for health at different levels of the organization of social life.

FULL TEXT

Keywords

health education, health system, family medicine.