Menstrual education is a vital aspect of adolescent health education. Culture, awareness, and socioeconomic status often exert profound influence on menstrual practices. However, health education programs for young women in developing countries do not often address menstrual hygiene, practices, and disorders. Developing culturally sensitive menstrual health education and hygiene programs for adolescent females has been recommended by professional health organizations like the World Health Organization and UNICEF. These programs cannot be developed without understanding existing myths and perceptions about menstruation in adolescent females of developing countries. Thus, the purpose of this qualitative study from India was to document existing misconceptions regarding menstruation and perceptions about menarche and various menstrual restrictions that have been understudied. Out of the 612 students invited to participate by asking questions, 381 girls participated by asking specific questions about menstruation (response rate = 62%). The respondents consisted of 84 girls from sixth grade, 117 from seventh grade, and 180 from eighth grade. The questions asked were arranged into the following subthemes: anatomy and physiology, menstrual symptoms, menstrual myths and taboos, health and beauty, menstrual abnormalities, seeking medical advice and home remedies; sanitary pads usage and disposal; diet and lifestyle; and sex education. Results of our study indicate that students had substantial doubts about menstruation and were influenced by societal myths and taboos in relation to menstrual practices. Parents, adolescent care providers, and policy makers in developing countries should advocate for comprehensive sexuality education and resources (e.g., low-cost sanitary pads and school facilities) to promote menstrual health and hygiene promotion.

The National Teacher-Preparation Standards for Sexuality Education represent an unprecedented unified effort to enable prospective health education teachers to become competent in teaching methodology, theory, practice of pedagogy, content, and skills, specific to sexuality education. Higher education will play a key role in ensuring the success of these standards.

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The purpose of the two studies presented in this article was for master health education teachers at the middle school and high school levels to identify content, skills, and experiences that are important for professional preparation in school health education. Teachers were identified by health education directors in state departments of education. The Delphi technique was used for data collection and analysis for both studies. Teachers completed three rounds of questionnaires gradually coming to consensus on content, skills, and learning experiences in nine areas related to professional preparation. Fifty high school teachers representing 29 states and 46 middle school teachers representing 32 states provided input. Professional preparation priorities were identified for both middle school and high school levels. Four responses--awareness/use of a variety of instructional techniques; skill in working with parents; knowledge of health content; and awareness of, and ability to work with community agencies/organizations--were ranked as priorities at both levels. Recommendations for future research and practice activities are presented.

This study examined whether receiving preservice instruction in health education methods affects the health instruction provided by elementary classroom teachers. Using a researcher-constructed self-report questionnaire, 800 third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade teachers in Indiana were randomly selected to complete the questionnaire. Returns included 366 usable responses from an effective sample of 772, for an overall response rate of 48.06%. Analysis of variance indicated a statistically significant difference among respondents in the mean number of 10 health content areas taught, the depth of coverage of all content areas except Community and Environmental Health, the mean number of health lessons taught per week, and the minutes spent teaching health per week. Pairwise comparisons indicated respondents who completed both a health education methods course and a physical education methods course taught a greater number of health content areas, and taught more topics in eight of the 10 health content areas, than did respondents who did not complete preservice instruction in health education methods.

Health educators have an ethical obligation to participate in professional development. Such professional development can take many different forms including writing textbooks. This article provides a rationale why textbook writing is professional development, why professionals might take on the task of writing a textbook, how the process evolves, and how professionals who are not quite ready to write a book can prepare to do so in the future.

The quality of delivery of health education services is connected to landmark events in the history of health education. Quality assurance is one type of professional development in which practicing health education specialists engage. This article presents the steps of an accreditation/approval process, brief overviews of the major accreditation/approval systems, and the opportunities within the accreditation/approval process for professional development.

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