Schools and health

Description:

This study evaluated Ghana's school health education programme, policy guidelines, curriculum topics and evaluation methods at the district level. A modified version of the Health Education District Questionnaire, a self-administered instrument developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), was used to collect data from the country's 110 district school health education programme co-ordinators. The response rate was 80 percent. Information was also gathered through in-depth interviews with the national co-ordinator and her staff and by reviewing programme documents. The results indicated that the programme is focused on building life skills by using participatory teaching methods. However, although the programme guidelines require the use of two strategies the unit course approach and the integrated/infusion approach fully to cover health topics within the curriculum, the extent of actual coverage of the topics as reported by the district coordinators varied (ranging from 52.3 per cent for consumer health to 98.9 per cent for personal hygiene). In addition, less than 40 percent of the co-ordinators reported having conducted any formal or informal evaluation of key aspects of the programme at the district level The findings of this study have implications for Ghana's school health education programme. These are discussed, along with some recommendations.

Date Issued:

2003-07-01T00:00:00Z

Data Provider:

Michigan State University. Libraries

Collection:

Journal of Social Development in Africa

Language:

English

Rights:

In Copyright

URL:

https://n2t.net/ark:/85335/m5n29qk26