Developing a model for health education interventions in the hospital setting

Health education interventions in hospitals represent a factor of major influence with regard to the effectiveness of treatment and the prevention of relapse. A purposeful health education system aimed at patients, their families and friends has therefore been developed in the USSR after due experimentation. As regards patients, focus is placed on raising their level of knowledge about adequate health behaviour during hospitalization and after discharge, in order to prevent relapses, acute states and complications. Topics covered include regimen, diet, physical exercise, developing resistance to cold, giving up harmful habits (smoking, for example), etc. This includes individual, semi individual, semi group and group activities at all stages of the patient's stay in hospital. The mass media supplements this approach through hospital radio and TV programmes and popular scientific literature from the hospital library. For patients' relatives and friends, a programme of individual talks has been developed. Another facet of health education involves correspondence with patients and their relatives, to whom special leaflets are distributed. Preliminary evaluation carried out by public health administrators and health education workers indicates that the system yields satisfactory results.