Effectiveness of a Health Course at Influencing Preservice Teachers' Attitudes Toward Teaching Health

• Published in: The Journal of school health 2001-11, Vol.71 (9), p.462-466
• Main Authors: Myers-Clack, Susan A., Christopher, Suzanne E.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Attitude Change; Attitude to Health; Attitudes; Competency-Based Education; Comprehensive School Health Education; Courses; Curricula; Education, Professional - methods; Education, Professional - standards; Effectiveness; Elementary Secondary Education; Faculty - statistics & numerical data; Female; Health education; Health Education - methods; Health Education - standards; Health Educators; Higher Education; Humans; Lesson Plans; Male; Methods; Montana; Nursing; Outcomes of Education; Preservice Teacher Education; Preservice teachers; Professional Education; Program Evaluation; Regression Analysis; Student Experience; Student Teacher Attitudes; Study and teaching; Teacher centers; Teacher centres; Teacher Certification; Teacher education; Teachers; Teaching; Teaching - methods; Training
• ISSN: 0022-4391; 1746-1561
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1746-1561.2001.tb07327.x

ABSTRACT Research has shown that effective school health education depends on the effectiveness of health training for prospective teachers. This research tested the effectiveness of a university course in preparing preservice teachers in the area of school health. Education majors enrolled in the course “Drug and Health Issues for Educators” at Montana State University were administered a pretest/posttest questionnaire at the beginning and end of spring semester 2000 to gather data for testing five hypotheses. Analyses were conducted on 119‐paired samples. The course appeared effective at influencing how a preservice teacher values health education in the school, their intentions to include and confidence in including health in their teaching, and their ability to provide a student with information on personal health issues.