Health promotion

• Health Educator's Role in Learning

  • Assessing the problems or deficits
  • Providing important information and presenting it in unique ways
  • Identifying progress being made
  • Giving feedback and follow-up
  • Reinforcing learning
  • Evaluating learners' abilities
• Importance of assessing the educational process

  • Identifies and prioritizes information to set goals and objectives, plan instructions, and evaluate learning
  • Ensures optimal learning with least amount of stress and anxiety
  • Prevents needless repetition of known material
  • Increases the motivation to learn
• Determinants of Learning


  • The needs of the learner
  • The state of readiness to learn
  • The preferred learning style
  • The personality of the learner
• Learning needs


  • Gaps in the knowledge exist between a desired level of performance and the actual level of performance
  • Gaps between what someone knows and what someone needs or wants to know
  • Individual perceived need for education
  • Educator perceived need for education
• According to cognitive experts 90-95% of the learners can master the subject if they are given sufficient time and appropriate support
• Steps in Assessing Learning Needs


  1. Identify the learner

  2. Choose the right setting

  3. Collect data about the learner

  4. Collect data from the learner

  5. Involve members of the health care team

  6. Prioritize needs

  7. Determine availability of educational resources

  8. Assess the demands of the organization

  9. Take time-management issues into account
• Criteria for prioritizing learning needs

  • Mandatory: Needs that must be learned for survival in which the learner's life or safety is threatened
  • Desirable: Needs that are not life dependent but are related to overall quality of care
  • Possible: Needs for information that is nice to know but not essential to current situation
• Methods to Assess Learning Needs (Health Care Providers)

  • Job descriptions
  • Formal and informal requests
  • Quality assurance reports
  • Rules and regulations
  • Health care providers' self-assessment
• Readiness to learn


  • The time when the learner demonstrates an interest in learning the information/skills necessary to maintain optimal health or to become more skillful in a job
  • It occurs when the learner is receptive, willing, and able to participate in learning
  • If the learner is ready, the information will be absorbed
  • Anything that affects physical or psychological comfort will affect readiness
• Types of readiness


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


  • Measures of ability
  • Complexity of the task
  • Health status
  • Environmental effect
  • Gender
• Emotional readiness


  • Anxiety level
  • Support system
  • Motivation
  • Risk-taking behavior
  • Frame of mind
  • Developmental stage
• Experiential readiness


  • The learner's past experiences with learning
  • Level of aspiration
  • Past coping mechanisms
  • Cultural background
  • Locus of control
  • Orientation
• Knowledge readiness


  • Present knowledge base
  • Cognitive ability
  • Learning and reading disabilities
  • Learning styles
• Preferred Learning Styles (VARK)


  • Visual
  • Auditory
  • Read/Write
  • Kinesthetic