Health Education

• Several factors have made using principles of learning particularly challenging for the nurse educator to meet learners' needs for information
• Determinants of learning


  Assessing the needs of the learner, recognizing factors involved in the readiness to learn, and being able to correlate teaching interventions with learning styles to maximize opportunities for learning
• The learner remains the single most important person in the education process
• Learning can actually occur without an educator, but it is enhanced by the addition of an educator who can serve as a facilitator
• The educator's role


  Present information in a variety of ways, manipulate the environment so that learners experience meaningful parts and wholes to reach their unique potential, help to identify optimal learning approaches and then provide assistance in choosing learning activities that can both support and challenge the learner based on his or her individual learning needs, readiness to learn, and learning style
• Good assessments ensure that optimal learning will occur with the least amount of stress and anxiety for the learner
• Often patients with the same condition are taught with the same materials in the same way
• Assessment of the learner includes

  • Learning needs (what the learner needs to learn)
  • Readiness to learn (when the learner is receptive to learning)
  • Learning style (how the learner best learns)
• Learning needs


  Gaps in knowledge that exist between a desired level of performance and the actual level of performance
• Steps in the assessment of learning needs

  1. Identify the learners

  2. Choose the right setting

  3. Include the learner as the source of information

  4. Involve the members of the healthcare team

  5. Prioritize the needs

  6. Determine availability of educational resources

  7. Assess demands of organization

  8. Take time-management issues into account
• Methods to assess learning needs

  • Informal Conversations
  • Structured Interviews
  • Focus Groups
  • Self-Administered Questionnaires
  • Tests
  • Observations
  • Patient Charts
• Methods to assess learning needs of staff

  • Written Job Descriptions
  • Formal and Informal Requests
  • Quality Assurance Reports
  • Chart Audits
  • Rules and Regulations
  • Four-Step Appraisal of Needs
• Readiness to learn


  The time when the learner demonstrates an interest in learning the type or degree of information necessary to maintain optimal health or to become more skillful in a job
• The educator must never overuse the expression "The patient is not ready to learn"
• Four types of readiness to learn

  • Physical readiness
  • Emotional readiness
  • Experiential readiness
  • Knowledge readiness
• Physical readiness


  • Measures of ability, complexity of task, environmental effects, health status, gender
• Measure of ability


  Adequate strength, flexibility, endurance, and functioning of sense organs and receptors
• Creating a stimulating and accepting environment by using instructional tools to match learners' sensory abilities will help to pique their interest in learning
• Complexity of task


  The difficulty level of the subject or task to be mastered by the learner
• Environmental effects


  An environment conducive to learning will help to keep the learner's attention and stimulate interest in learning
• Health status


  Energy reducing demands caused by the body's response to illness require the learner to expend large amounts of physical and psychic energy, with little reserve left for actual learning
• Gender


  Research has indicated that women are generally more receptive to medical care and take fewer risks to their health than men
• Health status


  Can be classified as well, acutely ill, or chronically ill
• Health status


  • Must be taken into serious consideration when assessing for readiness
• Ability to move more readily without becoming easily fatigued


  Can signify increased energy and comfort levels
• The physiological and psychological demands vary in chronic illness and are not always predictable
• Patients go through different stages in adjusting to their illness
• Avoidance stage


  Readiness to learn will be limited to simple explanations, because the patient's energy is sapped by the stress involved in emotionally attempting to deny the illness
• Research has indicated that women are generally more receptive to medical care and take fewer risks to their health than men
• Women


  Traditionally have taken the role of caregivers and therefore are more open to health promotion teaching
• Men


  Tend to be less receptive to healthcare interventions and are more likely to be risk takers
• Fear


  A major contributor to anxiety and thus negatively affects readiness to learn in any of the learning domains
• Performance of a task


  May be fear-inducing to a patient because of its very nature or meaning
• Life-threatening or overwhelming situation

  Anxiety will be high, and readiness to learn will be diminished
• Anxiety


  Some degree is a motivator to learn, but low or high anxiety will interfere with readiness to learn
• Mild or severe anxiety


  May lead to inaction on the part of the learner, whereas moderate anxiety may drive someone to take action
• Support system


  If persons in the patient's support system are available to assist with self-care activities at home, then they should be present during at least some of the teaching sessions to learn how to help the patient if the need arises
• Strong support system


  Decreases anxiety, while the lack of one increases anxiety levels
• Motivation


  Emotional readiness is strongly associated with, and knowing the motivational level of the learner assists the educator in determining when someone is ready to learn
• Learner who is ready to learn

  Shows an interest in what the nurse educator is doing by demonstrating a willingness to participate or to ask questions