Health Education

Health Education Definition and Principles

• The American School Health Association (ASHA), the American Association for Health Education (AAHE), and the Society of Public Health Education (SOPHE) do not consider "medicine" as an area encompassed by health education.
• Health education is defined by the Joint Committee on Health Education and Promotion Terminology of 2001 as "any combination of learning experiences designed to facilitate voluntary adaptations of behavior conducive to health".
• The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health education as "consciously constructed opportunities for learning, which involve some form of communication, designed to improve health literacy, including improving knowledge, attitudes, and skills, which are conducive to individual and community health".
• The principle of health education is to facilitate voluntary adaptations of behavior conducive to health.
• The purpose of health education is to improve health literacy and promote healthy behaviors.