Question

Write down the implementation process of the strategy of implementing school nurse in every schools of blue mountains local health district. How do you implement it within all schools of blue mountains local health district?

Answer 1

Implementation is the steps which involves action or doing and the actual carrying out of nursing intervention outlined in a plane of care. With a care plan based on a clear and relevant nursing diagnosis.

since school brings large no of students and staff together so this places deals with first aid, medical emergency etc.... a system must also use to established in school to provide routine administration. because they donot have the responsibility due to they are young students. appropriate education such as vital signs ,changing dressing, catherisation, tube feeding or administration of oxygen and also immunization. school nurses wear many hats in the school setting. They provide care for minor illnesses and injuries; give or supervise health care for children with special health care needs; monitor health screenings; advocate for students; participate in multidisciplinary teams; and counsel students, families, and school staff. An important role for nurses in all settings is health education.Most nurses are quite comfortable delivering information to patients/clients and families on the individual level. one teaching, also known as patient teaching, usually focuses on the specific information needed by a individual at this particular time. It can be customized to the individual’s situation and his or her level of understanding, validated during the interaction, this type of teaching is done by nurses in all settings, including school nurses in the school health office. From a cost-effectiveness perspective, individual patient teaching is a time-consuming and expensive nursing intervention. A more cost-effective method of health education is to target large groups interested in specific topics such as nutrition and weight loss, groups at risk for certain conditions such as sexually transmitted diseases, or groups who have a need for specific information such as hand washing or oral hygiene.Health education, rooted in the origins of modern nursing, has become one of nursing’s major roles.

School nurses wear many hats in the setting. They provide care for minor illnesses and injuries; give or supervise health care for children with special health care needs; monitor health screenings; advocate for students; participate in multidisciplinary teams; and counsel students, families, and school staff. An important role for nurses in all settings is health education. In nursing education programs, much emphasis is given in the classroom and in the clinical practice setting about the importance of patients or clients understanding their health care requisites in order to restore, maintain, or promote health. This information enables them to make informed decisions, cope more effectively with temporary or long-term alterations in health, and to assume greater personal responsibility for their health. Most nurses are quite comfortable delivering information to patients/clients and families on the individual level. One on one teaching, also known as patient teaching, usually focuses on the specific information needed by a individual at this particular time. It can be customized to the individual’s situation and his or her level of understanding, validated during the interaction, and questions answered during the teaching session. This type of teaching is done by nurses in all settings, including school nurses in the school health office. From a cost-effectiveness perspective, individual patient teaching is a time-consuming and expensive nursing intervention. A more cost-effective method of health education is to target large groups interested in specific topics such as nutrition and weight loss, groups at risk for certain conditions such as sexually transmitted diseases, or groups who have a need for specific information such as hand washing or oral hygiene.

Although some of the steps in preparing teaching for individuals are the same as preparing an educational program for a group, there are a number of factors that must be considered when delivering health education to a group. Many baccalaureate nursing education programs emphasize health education in community health nursing and have content on the process of developing, implementing, and evaluating educational programs. Practicum students in community settings, including schools, often develop and implement health education programs as part of their clinical experience. School nurses need to continually develop their skills as health educators in the school setting. This not only includes information about topics of interest that are appropriate for the school-age population, but also encompasses the skills needed in doing a needs assessment, writing objectives, developing programs, selecting strategies used in delivering programs, and devising measurement tools needed to determine the outcomes or effectiveness of health education.

Health education, rooted in the origins of modern nursing, has become one of nursing’s major roles. Many of the early definitions of nursing emphasized the role of nurses in helping patients achieve self-care by having the information and skills necessary to restore health, maintain health, prevent disease, or move to a higher level of wellness. At the beginning of the 20th century, a major concern of nursing was educating individuals, families, and communities about the importance of nutrition, cleanliness, and preventing the spread of communicable disease. As the knowledge about diseases and their treatment increased, nurses moved from the community where health education was a major focus to hospitals where the emphasis was on treating illness and delivering patient teaching to individuals and families. As we move into the 21st century, the importance of health education is once again evident as further gains to be made in the health of Americans will be in the area of lifestyle modification, which will benefit many, rather than highly technical and expensive treatments that benefit a few. Working to prevent the chronic conditions that affect the health of many Americans, such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and cancer, is more cost-effective than treating these diseases once they are established. Because many of the health behaviors that contribute to these conditions begin and are reinforced during childhood, nurses who work with children and families have an opportunity to promote healthy lifestyles by providing health education in the schools.

Many school nurses wonder about their role as health educators in schools. A discussion about teaching health on the School Nurse . Some school nurses did not believe that health teaching in the classroom is a nursing role—they viewed health education in the classroom as a role for teachers. Many wondered if they had the time to assume this time-consuming role, whereas others were not sure they had the skills needed to plan, implement, and evaluate health education, to say nothing of managing a large number of students in the classroom setting. In addition, some stated salary issues or reimbursement for overload needed to be resolved before they would take on this additional responsibility. On the other hand, there were school nurses who stated that health education is an important role for school nurses, giving them the opportunity to see students in a more natural setting, rather than only during a health crisis. These nurses also used these opportunities to have students see them in a different role, increasing their visibility in the school. Classroom contact also gave students who rarely or never visit the health office an opportunity to become acquainted with the nurse and make them more comfortable with the nurse in the event they wanted to ask health-related questions

The nursing intervention Health Education is defined as “developing and providing instruction and learning experiences to facilitate voluntary adaptation of behaviour,The Nursing Interventions Classification (NIC) lists activities needed to implement health education, from the identification of high risk populations and describing learner characteristics to the planning, implementation, and evaluating of health education programs. This process is similar to the familiar nursing process. These activities provide a framework for school nurses as they embark on health education in the school setting.

Health education is a higher level nursing skill that requires education to efficiently and effectively accomplish goals. Many nurses tend to teach as they were taught without thinking about the theoretical base underpinning the educational process or taking adequate time to plan engaging presentations that will enhance learning. It is important to consider that learning takes place in three domains, and each needs to be considered when developing health education programs.

The first is knowledge, or information about the topic. For example, it is important to know that the food pyramid is a guide to food selection in a healthy diet. The second level is comprehension, or understanding, of the information presented. Students need to know what the various components of the food pyramid mean and why they are important to good health. Being able to apply this information is the third level of learning. Knowledge about nutrition is not very useful unless it can be applied to daily life in a practical way. Students need to know how to make healthy nutritional selections in different situations—at school, at home, at a fast food restaurant, or when selecting snacks. Emphasis on application is essential if there is to be any practical relevance to the content presented. The fourth level of cognitive learning, for more advanced learners, is the ability to analyze the information. In this instance, students would be able to look at a typical diet recorded in a food diary and analyze the diet in relation to the food pyramid. The fifth level, synthesis, indicates that the learners can take apart the information and put it back together in a new and creative way. By using a food diary, students could analyze the components of the diet and then plan or create a menu that was consistent with the daily recommendations on the food pyramid. The final stage is evaluation, or being able to determine the adequacy of the diet on a more global level and making recommendations for modifications based on numerous factors considered during the evaluation process.

Too often nurses view health education as the giving or dispensing of information. There is the belief that knowledge is power, and knowledge will have a dramatic effect on the target audience of learners. Although knowledge is necessary, it is not sufficient to achieve the goal of health education—healthy behaviors. For example, we know that adolescents have considerable knowledge about the transmission of HIV and the risk of unintended pregnancy, yet they do not personalize the risk or engage in behaviors that would protect them from the potential consequences of unprotected sexual activity. On a more personal level, I often ask undergraduate or graduate students in my health education classes if they know that regular exercise is an important health promotion behavior. All agree about the importance of exercise, yet when asked if they act on that knowledge, few report actually engaging in vigorous exercise on a regular basis every week. I then pose the same question about getting adequate sleep and eating breakfast every morning. This gives students a new appreciation that alone does not ensure healthy behaviors. Ask yourself, do you act on all the health information you have? Yet we expect that giving information to students and families will change their behavior.

The next and very important question is: How can we bridge the gap between knowledge and behavior? We need to consider the next domain of learning—the affective domain. The affective domain relates to values and beliefs (Bastable, 1997). In order to act on information, the individual must believe that the content is important and personally relevant. The information also needs to be congruent with personal, cultural, and religious beliefs. Students who value athletic performance may be motivated to change their nutritional practices. Steps of learning in the affective domain include being receptive to new information; being responsive to the information; attaching a value to the information; and finally internalizing, or valuing, the information.

Learners may need skills in reading nutritional labels, shopping for foods with the desired nutrients, and actually preparing healthy meals and snacks. These skills are acquired through strategies such as demonstration and actual hands-on practice of the desired skill. It is essential to consider each of the domains—cognitive, affective, and psychomotor—when planning health education to ensure that students not only have the desired information, but also have developed an appreciation for the desired behavior and possess the skills to achieve it.

Assessing the Need for Health Education

Doing a needs assessment is the first step in the development process. We may know risk factors of a particular population or age group, have an idea of problems frequently seen in our schools, or have an idea of what we think is important. However, a needs assessment will gather information from students, parents, staff, or community members who can provide a wider perspective and data about needs prevalent in the school population. Information for a needs assessment can be gathered informally through feedback from a variety of individuals and groups or more formally through questionnaires, data from health records, and community statistics. This diagnosis will provide direction for health education and assure that the time, effort, and money spent will target specific needs. Many times, numerous needs, all seemingly important, are identified. The challenge is in being realistic about what can be accomplished and prioritizing the needs identified. Important questions to ask include the following: What is the most pressing need? What is the most realistic to achieve? What do you have the skills and resources to do well? What is acceptable to the target audience? What is acceptable to the community? The last two questions are particularly important when planning health education related to sexuality.

Identifying the Target Population

The next step is identifying the target population, whether it be kindergartners or adolescents, and the characteristics of this population. Characteristics may be general in nature, such as developmental abilities or behavioral attributes of a certain age, or more specific, relating to cultural and family factors or risk factors in a specific school population. These factors will help guide in planning the outcome goals and the strategies chosen to meet these goals.

Formulating Goals and Objectives

After a topic has been identified, it is time to articulate a goal statement that answers the question: What is it you are seeking to achieve? This should be a clear, concise statement that is general in nature. For instance, the goal may be that elementary students wash their hands after using the restroom and before lunchtime. Another goal might be that girls in a special education class understand menstrual hygiene. More specific objectives are then written that delineate the components of the program. Objectives should specify who is to exhibit the desired behavior (the target audience of the health education); what behavior is expected at the completion of the program; and the criteria for minimal performance standards. It is essential to make objectives realistic, attainable, and measurable.

Planning for Health Education

Once the topic, the target audience, and the learner characteristics have been identified and the goals and objectives formulated, it is time to plan the program. Considerations include the time frame. This may be determined by the time allotted for a specific class or the developmental level of the learners. Another important consideration is the topic and the proposed strategies. When time is limited, as it usually seems to be, there is a temptation to want to cover a lot of content in a short period of time. This leads to information overload or the “little bit of everything, not much of anything” syndrome. It is better to select a few main points and make those points memorable and practical.

Determine what resources are available for handouts, audiovisuals, or materials to be used in practicing psychomotor skills, such as toothbrushes or feminine hygiene products. Advance planning provides time to write for information or products needed. The skills of the school nurse are important in the development of programs—some are creative at developing hands-on activities; others have excellent computer skills used to develop signs, handouts, or games; whereas others are good at the use of humor to hold the attention of the learners. Know your gift and use it in health education programs. On the other hand, work at developing new skills that will enhance your effectiveness as a health educator.

In addition to Health Education, a number of other nursing interventions appropriate for the school setting such as “Teaching: Sexuality,” “Teaching: Group,” “Sports Injury Prevention,” and “Substance Use Prevention.” These NIC interventions list suggested activities specific to the intervention; other activities can be developed to customize the intervention to the target population.

Outcome Measurement

An essential part of the planning process is determining if the program goals and objectives have been met. Too often health education classes or programs are delivered with no thought about evaluation. In this era of accountability, health professionals and teachers alike are being asked to show in a very concrete manner the effectiveness of the effort. Unfortunately, most nurses have not been taught or have not developed the skills needed to perform this essential component of the nursing process. Carefully worded objectives provide the framework on which to construct an evaluation tool. Data collected, whether from a quiz, interview, or behavioral observation, needs to be directly related to the objectives. A real challenge is in having baseline data, such as the knowledge or behavior status before the intervention. Without this data, it is impossible to determine if the education made any difference. Gathering this data takes planning and time, but provides the information needed to justify the continuation of resource allocation for health education. The guiding principle here is that anything worth doing is worth evaluating.

The number of outcomes that would be appropriate to measure the effectiveness of health education. These include “Knowledge: Health Behaviors,” “Knowledge: Personal Safety,” “Health Beliefs,” and “Health Promoting Behavior.” Each of these outcomes has a list of indicators related to the specific outcome and a five-point scale used to measure the effectiveness of nursing interventions. Indicators relative to the outcome can be selected from the list available, or new indicators can be developed to measure the effectiveness of the specific health education class. The knowledge-related outcomes measure outcomes in the cognitive domain, whereas “Health Beliefs” relates to the affective domain, and “Health Promoting Behavior” is appropriate for the psychomotor domain. Use of NOC outcomes gives the school nurse a readily available tool to measure the outcomes of health education.

Learning Strategies

Selection of teaching strategies is crucial to the success of any educational endeavor. As Green and Johnson (1983) emphasize in their discussion on health education, a combination of strategies is needed. Knowledge of the learning domains assists in the selection of strategies. When the goal is to present information in the cognitive domain, appropriate strategies may include lecture, slides, videotapes, pictures, and handouts. When developing or selecting handouts, a readability index will make sure that the material is appropriate for the target audience. For presentations that plan to instill a value for a health-related behavior, appropriate strategies for the affective domain include discussion, role playing, examples, and value-clarification exercises. Manipulation of materials is essential for learning psychomotor skills necessary to perform health-related behaviors. Strategies may include a demonstration of techniques, allowing students to practice the behavior, and then return the demonstration. Because most health education topics include learning in all three domains, the use of multiple strategies not only promotes learning in each domain, but also helps maintain the attention of the learner.

The Intervention

The most important part of the process is actually implementing the health education intervention. However, the success of health education depends on careful planning. The intervention is actually the shortest and most challenging part of the process, yet it is most rewarding for the school nurse. It is a time when all the skills and planning come together to educate children on a wide variety of h setting about the importance of patients or clients understanding their health care requisites in order to restore, maintain, or promote health. This information enables them to make informed decisions, cope more effectively with temporary or long-term alterations in health, and to assume greater personal responsibility for their health. Most nurses are quite comfortable delivering information to patients/clients and families on the individual level. One on one teaching, also known as patient teaching, usually focuses on the specific information needed by a individual at this particular time. It can be customized to the individual’s situation and his or her level of understanding, validated during the interaction, and questions answered during the teaching session. This type of teaching is done by nurses in all settings, including school nurses in the school health office. From a cost-effectiveness perspective, individual patient teaching is a time-consuming and expensive nursing intervention. A more cost-effective method of health education is to target large groups interested in specific topics such as nutrition and weight loss, groups at risk for certain conditions such as sexually transmitted diseases, or groups who have a need for specific information such as hand washing or oral hygiene.

Although some of the steps in preparing teaching for individuals are the same as preparing an educational program for a group, there are a number of factors that must be considered when delivering health education to a group. Many baccalaureate nursing education programs emphasize health education in community health nursing and have content on the process of developing, implementing, and evaluating educational programs. Practicum students in community settings, including schools, often develop and implement health education programs as part of their clinical experience. School nurses need to continually develop their skills as health educators in the school setting. This not only includes information about topics of interest that are appropriate for the school-age population, but also encompasses the skills needed in doing a needs assessment, writing objectives, developing programs, selecting strategies used in delivering programs, and devising measurement tools needed to determine the outcomes or effectiveness of health education.

Health education, rooted in the origins of modern nursing, has become one of nursing’s major roles. Many of the early definitions of nursing emphasized the role of nurses in helping patients achieve self-care by having the information and skills necessary to restore health, maintain health, prevent disease, or move to a higher level of wellness. At the beginning of the 20th century, a major concern of nursing was educating individuals, families, and communities about the importance of nutrition, cleanliness, and preventing the spread of communicable disease. As the knowledge about diseases and their treatment increased, nurses moved from the community where health education was a major focus to hospitals where the emphasis was on treating illness and delivering patient teaching to individuals and families. As we move into the 21st century, the importance of health education is once again evident as further gains to be made in the health of Americans will be in the area of lifestyle modification, which will benefit many, rather than highly technical and expensive treatments that benefit a few. Working to prevent the chronic conditions that affect the health of many Americans, such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and cancer, is more cost-effective than treating these diseases once they are established. Because many of the health behaviors that contribute to these conditions begin and are reinforced .

The nursing intervention Health Education is defined as “developing and providing instruction and learning experiences to facilitate voluntary adaptation of behavior conducive to health in individuals, families, groups, or communities” (Iowa Intervention Project, 2000). This definition was adapted from the classic definition of health education by Green (Green & Johnson, 1983), who also emphasized using a variety of strategies to achieve the goal of healthy behaviors. The Nursing Interventions Classification (NIC) lists activities needed to implement health education, from the identification of high risk populations and describing learner characteristics to the planning, implementation, and evaluating of health education programs. This process is similar to the familiar nursing process. These activities provide a framework for school nurses as they embark on health education in the school setting.

Health education is a higher level nursing skill that requires education to efficiently and effectively accomplish goals. Many nurses tend to teach as they were taught without thinking about the theoretical base underpinning the educational process or taking adequate time to plan engaging presentations that will enhance learning. It is important to consider that learning takes place in three domains, and each needs to be considered when developing health education programs.

The cognitive domain relates to the knowledge or information that learners need to know about the topic (Bastable, 1997). There are six levels of learning in the cognitive domain. The first is knowledge, or information about the topic. For example, it is important to know that the food pyramid is a guide to food selection in a healthy diet. The second level is comprehension, or understanding, of the information presented. Students need to know what the various components of the food pyramid mean and why they are important to good health. Being able to apply this information is the third level of learning. Knowledge about nutrition is not very useful unless it can be applied to daily life in a practical way. Students need to know how to make healthy nutritional selections in different situations—at school, at home, at a fast food restaurant, or when selecting snacks. Emphasis on application is essential if there is to be any practical relevance to the content presented. The fourth level of cognitive learning, for more advanced learners, is the ability to analyze the information. In this instance, students would be able to look at a typical diet recorded in a food diary and analyze the diet in relation to the food pyramid. The fifth level, synthesis, indicates that the learners can take apart the information and put it back together in a new and creative way. By using a food diary, students could analyze the components of the diet and then plan or create a menu that was consistent with the daily recommendations on the food pyramid. The final stage is evaluation, or being able to determine the adequacy of the diet on a more global level and making recommendations for modifications based on numerous factors considered during the evaluation process.

Too often nurses view health education as the giving or dispensing of information. There is the belief that knowledge is power, and knowledge will have a dramatic effect on the target audience of learners. Although knowledge is necessary, it is not sufficient to achieve the goal of health education—healthy behaviors. For example, we know that adolescents have considerable knowledge about the transmission of HIV and the risk of unintended pregnancy, yet they do not personalize the risk or engage in behaviors that would protect them from the potential consequences of unprotected sexual activity. On a more personal level, I often ask undergraduate or graduate students in my health education classes if they know that regular exercise is an important health promotion behavior. All agree about the importance of exercise, yet when asked if they act on that knowledge, few report actually engaging in vigorous exercise on a regular basis every week. I then pose the same question about getting adequate sleep and eating breakfast every morning. This gives students a new appreciation that knowledge alone does not ensure healthy behaviors. Ask yourself, do you act on all the health information you have? Yet we expect that giving information to students and families will change their behavior.

The next and very important question is: How can we bridge the gap between knowledge and behavior? We need to consider the next domain of learning—the affective domain. The affective domain relates to values and beliefs (Bastable, 1997). In order to act on information, the individual must believe that the content is important and personally relevant. The information also needs to be congruent with personal, cultural, and religious beliefs. Students who value athletic performance may be motivated to change their nutritional practices. Steps of learning in the affective domain include being receptive to new information; being responsive to the information; attaching a value to the information; and finally internalizing, or valuing, the information. Once an individual values the health information, it is more likely to be acted on or become a part of the health-related behavior of that person.

Assessing the Need for Health Education

Doing a needs assessment is the first step in the development process. We may know risk factors of a particular population or age group, have an idea of problems frequently seen in our schools, or have an idea of what we think is important. However, a needs assessment will gather information from students, parents, staff, or community members who can provide a wider perspective and data about needs prevalent in the school population. Information for a needs assessment can be gathered informally through feedback from a variety of individuals and groups or more formally through questionnaires, data from health records, and community statistics. From the data gathered during the needs assessment, a nursing diagnosis, such as risk for infection or risk for injury, can be made (North American Nursing Diagnosis Association [NANDA], 2001). This diagnosis will provide direction for health education and assure that the time, effort, and money spent will target specific needs. Many times, numerous needs, all seemingly important, are identified. The challenge is in being realistic about what can be accomplished and prioritizing the needs identified. Important questions to ask include the following: What is the most pressing need? What is the most realistic to achieve? What do you have the skills and resources to do well? What is acceptable to the target audience? What is acceptable to the community? The last two questions are particularly important when planning health education related to sexuality.

Identifying the Target Population

The next step is identifying the target population, whether it be kindergartners or adolescents, and the characteristics of this population. Characteristics may be general in nature, such as developmental abilities or behavioral attributes of a certain age, or more specific, relating to cultural and family factors or risk factors in a specific school population. These factors will help guide in planning the outcome goals and the strategies chosen to meet these goals.

Formulating Goals and Objectives

After a topic has been identified, it is time to articulate a goal statement that answers the question: What is it you are seeking to achieve? This should be a clear, concise statement that is general in nature. For instance, the goal may be that elementary students wash their hands after using the restroom and before lunchtime. Another goal might be that girls in a special education class understand menstrual hygiene. More specific objectives are then written that delineate the components of the program. Objectives should specify who is to exhibit the desired behavior (the target audience of the health education); what behavior is expected at the completion of the program; and the criteria for minimal performance standards. It is essential to make objectives realistic, attainable, and measurable.

Planning for Health Education

Once the topic, the target audience, and the learner characteristics have been identified and the goals and objectives formulated, it is time to plan the program. Considerations include the time frame. This may be determined by the time allotted for a specific class or the developmental level of the learners. Another important consideration is the topic and the proposed strategies. When time is limited, as it usually seems to be, there is a temptation to want to cover a lot of content in a short period of time. This leads to information overload or the “little bit of everything, not much of anything” syndrome. It is better to select a few main points and make those points memorable and practical.

Determine what resources are available for handouts, audiovisuals, or materials to be used in practicing psychomotor skills, such as toothbrushes or feminine hygiene products. Advance planning provides time to write for information or products needed. The skills of the school nurse are important in the development of programs—some are creative at developing hands-on activities; others have excellent computer skills used to develop signs, handouts, or games; whereas others are good at the use of humor to hold the attention of the learners. Know your gift and use it in health education programs. On the other hand, work at developing new skills that will enhance your effectiveness as a health educator.

In addition to Health Education, the Nursing Interventions Classification (NIC) (Iowa Intervention Project, 2000) has a number of other nursing interventions appropriate for the school setting such as “Teaching: Sexuality,” “Teaching: Group,” “Sports Injury Prevention,” and “Substance Use Prevention.” These NIC interventions list suggested activities specific to the intervention; other activities can be developed to customize the intervention to the target population.

Outcome Measurement

An essential part of the planning process is determining if the program goals and objectives have been met. Too often health education classes or programs are delivered with no thought about evaluation. In this era of accountability, health professionals and teachers alike are being asked to show in a very concrete manner the effectiveness of the efforts (Denehy, 2000). Unfortunately, most nurses have not been taught or have not developed the skills needed to perform this essential component of the nursing process. Carefully worded objectives provide the framework on which to construct an evaluation tool. Data collected, whether from a quiz, interview, or behavioral observation, needs to be directly related to the objectives. A real challenge is in having baseline data, such as the knowledge or behavior status before the intervention. Without this data, it is impossible to determine if the education made any difference. Gathering this data takes planning and time, but provides the information needed to justify the continuation of resource allocation for health education. The guiding principle here is that anything worth doing is worth evaluating.

Another consideration in evaluating the effectiveness of health education is when to measure outcomes. Certainly outcome measures administered soon after the completion of a class or program are likely to show the most change. However, many of the goals for health education involve long-term outcomes, such as classes designed to prevent tobacco use. The ultimate goal of such programs is to have students choose to be smoke free not just the day after the program, but for life. When, then, is the appropriate time to measure the effectiveness of the program? One day, 1 week, 1 month, 1 year, or 5 years after the intervention?

The Nursing Outcomes Classification (NOC) (Iowa Outcomes Project, 2000) has a number of outcomes that would be appropriate to measure the effectiveness of health education. These include “Knowledge: Health Behaviors,” “Knowledge: Personal Safety,” “Health Beliefs,” and “Health Promoting Behavior.” Each of these outcomes has a list of indicators related to the specific outcome and a five-point scale used to measure the effectiveness of nursing interventions. Indicators relative to the outcome can be selected from the list available, or new indicators can be developed to measure the effectiveness of the specific health education class. The knowledge-related outcomes measure outcomes in the cognitive domain, whereas “Health Beliefs” relates to the affective domain, and “Health Promoting Behavior” is appropriate for the psychomotor domain. Use of NOC outcomes gives the school nurse a readily available tool to measure the outcomes of health edu

Outcome Evaluation

The final step in the health education process is to measure the effectiveness of the class or program. The method and timing of program evaluation was determined during the planning stage. It is important to consider other types of evaluation.