Public health education for young students aided by technology

Abstract

Brazil is a large country with a population of nearly 200 million people. There are difficulties in providing public health education. To ensure its effectiveness, health education should begin during adolescence, to encourage young people to adopt healthy habits. A web-based tele-education platform was developed. Thirty students from a public high school in the rural city of Tatui took part in a pilot trial. Six teachers coordinated the student's activities. After face-to-face training, the students participated in tele-education, using a ‘cybertutor’ (an educational environment based on the website) and discussion lists. There were 15 face-to-face interactions, followed by more than 200 offline and 50 online interactions. The students learned about seven health topics. During the following year, 20 of the students used their knowledge to teach people from their local communities. We estimate that about 3000 people, including children, adults and the elderly, received public health education during events in Tatui and in their schools. The pilot trial showed that face-to-face and distance interventions in the rural city of Tatui were a feasible method of disseminating public health information.

Programa de educação em síndromes genéticas: avaliação motivacional de um material educacional on line

“…This positive assessment regarding the Cybertutor as an e-learning interactive material corroborates with the literature checked 4,10,12,13,15,[17][18][19][20] . Thus, if an e-learning material has a high motivational quality, the users visit, explore the content and access again 17 .…”

“…Some studies 4,[12][13][14] show that the early incorporation of healthy habits can generate a change in the behavior; therefore, it must be encouraged by The high motivational satisfaction was also verified in a study 21 on the theme genetic syndromes, demonstrating similar findings in the assessment of e-learning materials carried out by students who live in the state of Amazonas.…”

A elaboraçao de um ambiente virtual de aprendizagem em síndromes genéticas

“…The Cybertutor, as VLE interactive, also was used in other projects, verifying that it demonstrate to be an excellent option to knowledge acquisition, therefore, corroborating to this study 3,8,9,13,14,16,17 .…”

“…This tool allows comprehending the thought of other people, construct and express ideas and stimulate arguing 15 . Several studies 8,9,13,14,16 , also used the discussion list to maintain the interaction and motivation of students in VLE.…”

“…However, Teleducation must be seen as an optimization of process, in an environment that combines technologies to improve the educational efficacy, of both the traditional methods and the distance courses 2 . Several studies of health education associated to TICs are being developed in Speech-Language Pathology and Hearing area, embracing education activities to the professional [3][4][5] , to the patient [6][7] and to population in general [8][9][10] …”