Phyllis M. Levenson

Health Information Sources and Preferences as Perceived by Adolescents, Pediatricians, Teachers and School Nurses

To facilitate establishment of comprehensive health education systems for students, the responses of 600 adolescents, 99 pediatricans, 71 teachers, and 70 school nurses were compared. Major findings are that professionals, across groups, were concordant in their perceptions of all items except one pertaining to preferred and actual sources of health information for students. Adults, however, differed from adolescents (p < .001) in their perceptions of all concerns pertaining to prefered and actual sources of information, student knowledge of where to get help, student ability to get help, the value of additional health information, the selection of various topics for classroom presentations, and the timing of topic introductions into classrooms. Results suggest the need to examine simultaneously the views of students and professional groups in order to provide salient, coordinated adolescent health education.

Ethical and Philosophical Issues in Developing A Health Promotion Consortium

This case study describes the establishment and operation of a community-based health promotion consortium. The ethical implications of membership criteria, use of mailing lists, public education and policy, and communications are examined. The organizations responses to questions raised in these areas are discussed. Increased com munication and sharing of ideas and experiences among health promotion consortia are recommended. Issues in the activities of health promotion consortia which require further philosophical and sociological examination are identified.

A Comparison of Noninteractive and Interactive Video Instruction about Smokeless Tobacco.

To compare learner cognitive and affective responses to a lesson on smokeless tobacco, 205 undergraduate students were randomly assigned to a control or one of three experimental groups. Experimental groups viewed a videotape in the classroom or individually, or viewed an interactive video version of the lesson. They then completed a questionnaire to ascertain knowledge and attitudes about smokeless tobacco and lesson satisfaction. The interactive video group demonstrated the most accurate and comprehensive recall. While neither videotape group answered as many questions correctly as the interactive video group, the individual videotape group did better than the classroom videotape group and all experimental groups did better than the control group. Additionally, the interactive video group was more willing to promote cessation among users. Learner satisfaction with the interactive video equipment and lesson was high. The increased knowledge and motivation to act reported suggest opportunities for future uses of interactive video.