The purpose of this study was to provide basic information about the current state of school health education after addendum to 2007 school health law, and to suggest strategies for strengthening school health education in elementary, middle and high ...
The purpose of this study was to provide basic information about the current state of school health education after addendum to 2007 school health law, and to suggest strategies for strengthening school health education in elementary, middle and high schools. During October 2010 to November 2010, data were collected from 238 elementary schools, 142 middle schools, and 98 high schools in Seoul. The collected data were analyzed using SAS 9.1 program. Nearly 85% of elementary schools provided a school health education on 17 hours of health education per year, whereas only 2% of school nurses in middle and high schools offered it. Top 3 ways for strengthening school health education were ``Making emergency protocols during school health education``, ``Putting one more school nurses into big size schools``, and ``Room for school health education``. The strategy of ``Putting one more school nurses into big size schools``was associated with types of schools, hours of health education per year in elementary schools, hours of health education by a school nurse. In conclusion, policies for strengthening health education are needed to help students learn of good health behaviors for achieving lifelong health and well-being: ⑴ hire an assistant for supporting a school nurse; ⑵ remodel or make a room for health education; and ⑶ establish a health education as a required course before middle and highschool graduation, especially middle and high schools.