An Analysis of Educational Videos for Health Promotion and Education

Abstract

Video is one of the easy-to use materials for health educators in Korea, because health educators usually teach groups of people rather than individuals. One of the merits of using video in educational settings is that it can show real situations and model cases. So videos are useful for teaching skills related to healthy lifestyles. The purpose of this study is to review availability of educational video materials for public health education. Researchers administered a survey of governmental and non-governmental organizations which produce health education materials. A telephone survey of 378 health educators working in schools, public health centers, and industries was administered to examine utilization of video materials. Results of survey have shown that there have been few educational materials for public health education. The governmental organizations and non-governmental organizations have produced video materials mostly in the area of maternal and child health education (32.9%), alcohol and drug education (12.7%), and industrial health (12.7%). The target population of the educational material was middle and high school students (44.9%), adults (37.2%), and elementary school children (14.1%). Results of the telephone survey showed that educational materials did not meet the need of the educators. Health educators thought that they could not find good health promotion information in health education materials. This is partly because these materials deliver outdated information. The government should pay more attention to systematic public health education and support development of educational materials for health promotion and education. This is because public health education should be based on the national scheme of life-long health care and health promotion. The effort to provide adequate materials will be the foundation for the National Health Promotion Programs.