Age-Specific Health Education Design

Designing Health Education for Age-Specific Groups

• Outlines the understanding of developmental stages to individualize health education approaches.
• Includes assessment of physical, cognitive, and psychosocial maturation.
• Facilitates tailored teaching and learning processes.

Learning Outcomes

• Define stages of development in health education.
• Differentiate between Pedagogy, Andragogy, and Geragogy.
• Learn how to deliver health education at a specific age group.
• Identify a variety of tasks in every stage of development.

Developmental Stage of the Learner

• Developmental stage influences the ability to learn.
• Pedagogy, andragogy, and gerogogy represent different learning orientations.
• A developmental approach is necessary to meet health-related educational needs.
• Lifespan development covers age-related changes from birth to old age.
• Developmental tasks arise in certain periods, success or failure affects later abilities.

Developmental Characteristics

• Chronological age is only indicative of someone’s physical, cognitive, and psychosocial stage.
• Developmental stage confirmed by psychologists guides education approaches.
• Human growth and development are sequential but not always age-related.

Andragogy, Pedagogy, Geragogy

• Andragogy, coined by Knowles (1990), describes adult learning, defined as the art and science of helping adults learn.
• Education is learner-centered, power dynamics between educator/learner are more horizontal (Milligan, 1997).
• Andragogy is used as guidance for patient teaching, and staff continuing education.
• Pedagogy is helping children to learn, divided by developmental theorists.
• Educational psychologists describe specific behavior patterns during growth and development.
• Throughout childhood, learning is subject-centered.
• Geragogy describes teaching older persons; effectiveness requires accommodating physical, cognitive, and psychosocial changes.
• Developmental tasks of the elderly allow nurses to approach well and ill individuals in counselling and teaching.
• Disease intervention/prevention may be affected by issues like declining cognitive function, sensory deficits, and reduced energy.

Infancy and Toddlerhood

• (First 12 months of life, 1-2 years of age)
• Physical characteristics include dependence on the environment, needs security, self-exploration, and natural curiosity.
• Infants need others to meet needs for safety/security early in life.
• Warm care/attention from caregivers allows infants to establish trust.

Sensorimotor Stage

• Learning enhanced through sensory experiences, movement, and object manipulation.
• Toddlers have basic reasoning, object permanence, beginnings of memory, and causality.

Trust vs. Mistrust

• Children develop a sense of trust with their primary caretaker.

Autonomy vs. Shame

• Toddlers learn to balance feelings of love/hate, cooperate, and control desires.

Teaching Strategies for Infants

• Use repetition and limit information to orient to a caregiver.
• Stimulation of the senses and physical safety should be provided.
• Make sure there is emotional security, and allowing play/object manipulation

Short Term Learning for Infants

• Read simple picture stories, use dolls/puppets to act out feelings/behaviors.
• Use simple audiotapes with music/cartoons.
• Role play to relate imagination to reality.
• Perform procedures on toys first to anticipate the experience.
• Give simple, concrete, explanations that accompany visuals.
• Keep teaching sessions under 5 minutes due to short attention spans.

Long Term Learning for Infants

• Use reinforcement to achieve learning through practice.
• Employ teaching through gaming/modeling to explore the world and ideas.
• Focus on rituals, imitation, and repetition of information in words/actions.
• Encourage parental role modeling as values and beliefs reinforce behaviors.

Early Childhood (3-5 years)

• During this period fine and gross motor skills refine for daily living activities, increased independence. Develop imaginary playmates/control of events.
• Young children continue to be egocentric and unaware of others thoughts during the preoperational period.
• Preschoolers are curious, think intuitively, and pose questions.
• Initiative versus guilt can occur at this time while directing play and interaction.

Initiative vs Guilt

• Children develop self-starter abilities and assert themselves through play and social interaction

Teaching Strategies for Early Childhood

• Warming approach along with building trust can lead to use of repetition.
• The manipulation of equipment can lead to explaining of procedures briefly.
• Providing a safe environment with positive reinforcement.
• Utilizing play therapy with dolls/puppets to stimulate senses is beneficial.

Short-Term Learning for Early Childhood

• Nurses need to teach parents promotion of normal health, along with the prevention of measures to teach proper growth.
• Nurses can allow children to feel fear of pain, because it has fantasies/imagination.
• Correct language must be used to give the correct procedures and treatments.

Long Term Learning for Early Childhood

• Give both verba and nonverbal expressions, so that learning is better for a child.
• Allowing children to manipulate with replicas and tools can allow them to better understand tools and body parts.
• Holding group session to ease anxiety, and using stories will allow them to have normal interactions with nurses

School Age (6-11 years)

• The gross- and fine abilities are increased, allowing more bodily control than before.
• Some bodily change occur faster in girls that boys, but the the boys do mature faster.

Concrete Operations

• The ability to go through a logical process can occur at this part, and allow kids to think more objectively

Industry vs Inferiority Stage

• Start to see themselves greater than the outside world, but family values will come into view.

Teaching Strategies

• Encouraging independence with diagrams and pictures, while understanding models to participate more.

Short term learning

• The teaching is for school age, that kids are able to take care of there own health
• Give visual aids (digital model)
• Show visual models of kids who have gone through similar situations.

Long Term Learning

• The older children should care for themselves, while the caregivers should only slightly assist them.

Adolescence (12-19 years)

• The size shape and function of the body can fluctuate based on sexual urges.
• Adolescents can understand diseases in formal operations.
• Children at this stage undergo "role confusion" which will have them look for role model and find "themselves"

Teaching Strategies

• Provide support for the child, with out having the parents be too intrusive.
• They can set their goals, but should still be checked in on by teaching and health professional

Short Term Learning

• Only give 1-1 feedback for information.
• Allowing group discussions on important topics:
• Help teens stay safe but allowing them to make decisions.
• Use games to assist, but do not act as a authority figure.

Young Adulthood (20-40 years)

• Bod is at top functioning and able, however some one will use all of there experience
• The cognitive side is matured, but can gain more maturity through experience.
• They value intimacy, but some times face isolation.

Teaching Strategies

• The best way to teach them is to use meaningful experiences, using hands on practice

Short Term Planning

• Have the younger adults participate more in active learning.
• Show them and help them find different options and what to look for.

Long Term Planning

• Give younger adults help to decrease risk for future diseases

Middle Adulthood (41-64 years)

• The top career point, but the body starts decreasing and skin gets effected.

Learning Objectives

The nurse has to be aware of the potential stressors, to get the people healthier.

Elderly (65 and above)

• Health problems are a daily occurrence, the mind and body struggle with them.
• Allow the mind to have memories, to reduce permanent problems,

Memory Strategies

• Teach in bright and glare-less lighting.
• Keep a low level of noise.
• Show them that they are cared for by letting them speak a lot about anything