Out-of-school health education for adolescents: Exploring the impact of a hospital visit

Abstract

Objectives: Adolescence is a critical phase of life, involving both risks and opportunities. Preventive health services in this phase contribute to the development of adolescents’ models for adulthood. The current study aimed to illuminate adolescents’ experiences regarding health education through a patient visit in a hospital, which provides a more informal learning environment than classroom instruction. Design: Qualitative one group experimental design. Setting: Participants were 16 high school students of a medium-level socio-economic status in Turkey, some of whom smoked cigarettes. Method: We visited patients in the pulmonology inpatient unit with the students. Data were collected through interviews, video recordings and field notes. Data were analyses using content analysis in which coding schemes are developed directly from the textual data to focus in on students’ health beliefs. Results: Findings revealed that the students who interacted face-to-face with patients and listened to their reflections on their illness and life experienced changes in their health beliefs. The visit provided moral support for the patients as well. Conclusion: Results indicate that such hospital patient visits offer significant opportunities for health education.