Kindergarten teachers’ health literacy: understanding, significance and improvement aspects

VINCENTAS LAMANAUSKAS, DALIA AUGIENĖ

Abstract

One can claim that one of the main ambitions of every society is to assure children’s healthy life start and their further development creating a favourable environment for this. Preschool education institution is a favourable context to take care of children’s health, shape healthy lifestyle skills, develop various health care activities taking into account the child’s development peculiarities. However, more and more research show that children’s health has a tendency to become worse, regardless of various carried out health care programmes and/or projects. In this respect, kindergarten teachers’ health literacy becomes a cornerstone. However, very little is known about kindergarten teachers’ health literacy and this undoubtedly makes a research problem. A qualitative research was carried out in the months March to May 2019, participating 105 kindergarten teachers. Applying a research instrument of 5 open ended questions, the gathered verbal data array was analysed using a quantitative content analysis. The findings show that kindergarten teachers’ health literacy understanding is more focused on the knowledge about health than on practical health education aspects, e.g., health promotion, disease prevention and prophylaxis. Health literacy promotion is basically identified with various educational events. The support of preschool education institutions themselves in this field is not considered important. Health promotion, knowledge conveyance, practical behaviour are poorly expressed in health literacy understanding. It is obvious that this can influence children’s health competence education. Therefore, it is very important that kindergarten teachers’ health literacy does not become an obstacle for children’s health education implementation. Further research is urgent and necessary, seeking to ascertain how kindergarten teachers’ health literacy understanding influences their practical activity educating children’s health competence, forming children’s healthy lifestyle demand.

Keywords

Health literacy, kindergarten teacher, qualitative research, content analysis

Full Text:

PDF

References

Adaškevičienė, E. (2004). Vaikų fizinės sveikatos ir kūno kultūros ugdymas [Education of children's physical health and physical education]. Klaipėda: KU leidykla.

Bačiulienė, K., & Zaborskis, A. (2004). Požiūris į vaiko sveikatą Jungtinių Tautų Vaiko teisių konvencijoje [Health in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child]. Medicina (Kaunas), 40(8), 714-718.

Bislytė, V. (2018). Saugią aplinką kuri – sveiką vaiką augini. In D. Sabaliauskienė (Ed.), Misija: vaikų sveikatos kompetencija. Gerosios patirties knyga [Mission: Excellence in Child Health. Good practice book] (pp. 38-39). Vilnius: Sveikatos mokymo ir ligų prevencijos centras.

Bitinas, B. (2002). Pedagoginės diagnostikos pagrindai [Basics of pedagogical diagnostics]. Vilnius: Vilniaus pedagoginio universiteto leidykla.

Bröder, J., Okan, O., Bauer, U., Bruland, D., Schlupp, S., Bollweg, T. M., Saboga-Nunes, L., et al. (2017). Health literacy in childhood and youth: A systematic review of definitions and models. BMC Public Health, 17, 361.

Chałas, R., Maksymiuk, P., & Fajgier, T. (2014). The evaluation of kindergarten teachers’ preparation to promote oral health among children. Polish Journal of Public Health, 124(1), 33-37.

Cottrell, R., Girvan, J., & McKenzie, J. (2011). Principles and foundations of health promotion and education, 5th edition. California: Benjamin-Cummings.

Creswell, J. (1998). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five traditions. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Executive Board, 25. (‎1960)‎. Joint WHO/UNESCO expert committee on teacher preparation for Health Education. World Health Organization. Retrieved from https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/87492.

Guščinskienė, J. (2002). Taikomoji sociologija: struktūrinės loginės schemos ir komentarai [Applied sociology: Structural logical schemes and comments]. Kaunas: Technologija.

Gudžinskienė, V., Česnavičienė, J., & Suboč, V. (2007). Sveikos gyvensenos ugdymas mokyklose: tyrimo ataskaita [Healthy living education in schools: A research report]. Vilnius. Retrieved from https://www.smm.lt/uploads/documents/kiti/SVEIKOS%20GYVENSENOS%20UGDYMAS%20MOKYKLOSE.pdf.

Hayman, J. (2016). Personal, social, health and economic education: The bridge between public health and education. International Journal of Health Promotion and Education, 54(4), 157-161.

Jourdan, D., Pironom, J., Simar, C., & Sormunen, M. (2018). Health education in schools: Factors influencing parents’ views of the home–school relationship in France. International Journal of Health Promotion and Education, 56(1), 32-50.

Kalinkevičienė, A., Česnavičienė, J., Ustilaitė, S. (2016). Iššūkiai vaikų sveikatos ugdymui XXI a. mokykloje: mokytojų subjektyvus sveikatos raštingumas [Challenges for children's health education in the 21st century at school: teachers' subjective health literacy]. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jurate_Cesnaviciene/publication/318598282_Issukiai_vaiku_sveikatos_ugdymui_XXI_a_mokykloje_mokytoju_subjektyvus_sveikatos_rastingumas/ links/5972367da6fdcc83488165ec/Issukiai-vaiku-sveikatos-ugdymui-XXI-a-mokykloje-mokytoju-subjektyvus-sveikatos-rastingumas.pdf.

Kuojienė, I., Norkūnienė, G., & Tarvydienė, V. (2009). Augu sveikas ir stiprus: vaikų sveikatinimo patirtis Palangos lopšelyje-darželyje "Gintarėlis" [I grow healthy and strong: Children's health promotion experience in Palanga kindergarten "Amber"]. Vilnius: Ciklonas.

Lamanauskas, V., & Augienė, D. (2018). Pre-service teacher health literacy: understanding, development, significance aspects. In A. Jober, M. Andree & M. Ideland (Eds.), Future educational challenges from science and technology perspectives. XVIII IOSTE Symposium Book of Proceeding (pp. 152-165). Malmö: Malmö University. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.24834/978-91-7104-971-1.

Liu, H., Xu, X., Liu, D., Rao, Y., Reis, C., Sharma, M., Yuan, J., Chen, Y., & Zhao, Y. (2018). Nutrition-related knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) among kindergarten teachers in Chongqing, China: A cross-sectional survey. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 15(4), 615.

Mayring, P. (2002). Qualitative content analysis: Research instrument or mode of interpretation? In M. Kiegelmann (Ed.), The role of the researcher in qualitative psychology (pp. 139-148). Tübingen: Ingeborg Huber.

Merriam, S. B. (1998). Qualitative research and case study applications in education. Jossey-Bass Publishers: San Francisco, CA.

Morse, J. M. (1994). Designing funded qualitative research. In N. K. Denizin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (2nd Ed). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Moynihan, S., Paakkari, L., Välimaa, R., Jourdan, D., & Mannix-McNamara, P. (2015). Teacher competencies in health education: Results of a Delphi study. PLoS ONE, 10(12), e0143703. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0143703.

Neuman, W. L. (1997). Social research methods: Qualitative and quantitative approaches (3rd ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Pantanowitz, M., Eliakim, A., Igbaria, N., Geva, D., & Nemet, D. (2016). Teachers’ perspective on a health promotion intervention in low socioeconomic status kindergartens. Advances in Physical Education, 6, 336-343.

Pope, C., & Mays, N. (1999). Qualitative research in health care (2nd Ed.). London: BMI Publishing group, BMA House, Tairstock square.

Priešmokyklinio ugdymo bendroji programa [Preschool Education general programme] (2014). Vilnius: Švietimo ir mokslo ministerija. Retrieved from https://www.ikimokyklinis.lt/uploads/files/dir930/dir46/dir2/5_0.php.

Sandelowski, M. (2000). Combining qualitative and quantitative sampling, data collection and analysis techniques in mixed – method studies. Research in Nursing and Health, 23(3), 246-255.

Sanders, L. M., Shaw, J. S., Guez, G., Baur, C., & Rudd, R. (2009). Health literacy and child health promotion: Implications for research, clinical care, and public policy. Pediatrics, 24(Supplement 3), 306-314.

Sansolios, S., & Mikkeslen, B. G. (2011). Views of parents, teachers and children on health promotion in kindergarten – first results from formative focus groups and observations. International Journal of Pediatric Obesity, 6(S2), 28-32.

Sørensen, K., Pelikan, J. M., Röthlin, F., Ganahl, K., Slonska, Z., Doyle, G., et al. (2015). Health literacy in Europe: Comparative results of the European health literacy survey (HLS-EU). European Journal of Public Health, 25(6), 1053-1058.

Slabe, D., Fink, R., Dolenc, E., & Kvas, A. (2016). Knowledge of health principles among professionals in Slovenian kindergartens. Zdravstveno Varstvo, 55(3), 185-194.

St Leger, L. (2001). Schools, health literacy and public health: Possibilities and challenges. Health Promotion International, 16(2), 197-205.

Strukčinskienė, B., Griškonis, S., Raistenskis, J., & Strukčinskaitė, V. (2012). Ikimokyklinio amžiaus Lietuvos vaikų fizinio aktyvumo ypatumai [Physical activity in preschool children in Lithuania]. Sveikatos mokslai / Health Sciences, 22(4), 10-14.

Strukčinskienė, B., Raistenskis, J., Šopagienė, D., Kurlys, D., Stasiu¬vienė, D., Griškonis, S., & Radžiuvienė, R. (2012). Vaikų fizinis aktyvumas ir sveika¬ta [Children's physical activity and health]. Klaipėda: S. Jokužio leidykla-spaustuvė.

Sveikatai palanki ugdymo įstaiga (socialinis projektas) [Health-friendly educational institution (social project)] (2019). Retrieved from https://sveikataipalankus.lt/sveikatai-palankiu-ugdymo-istaigu-tinklas/.

Whitley, J., Smith, D., & Vaillancourt, T. (2012). Promoting mental health literacy among educators: Critical in school-based prevention and intervention. Canadian Journal of School Psychology, 28(1), 56-70.

World Health Organization, WHO (1986). The Ottawa charter for health promotion. WHO. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/healthpromotion/conferences/previous/ottawa/en.

Zagurskienė, D., & Misevičienė, I. (2010). Skirtingų sveikatos raštingumo lygių pacientų nuomonė apie slaugytojų teikiamą sveikatos informaciją [Opinion of patients with different health literacy levels about health information provided by nurses]. Medicina, 46(1), 27-34.


DOI: https://doi.org/10.26220/rev.3207

View Counter: Abstract | 1056 | times, and PDF | 464 | times



Re S M ICT E | ISSN: 1792-3999 (electronic), 1791-261X (print) | Laboratory of Didactics of Sciences, Mathematics and ICT, Department of Educational Sciences and Early Childhood Education - University of Patras.

Pasithee | Library & Information Center | University of Patras