Abstract
Background: The focus on school health has moved from the classroom to a more comprehensive approach focusing on students’ health behaviours and a supportive school environment in health promotion. As school health policy helps to reduce health risk behaviours, knowledge and perspectives of Teachers in school health are key.
Method: An institutional school-based cross-sectional study involving 220 teachers in second-cycle institutions in the Kwadaso Municipal-Ghana from June to August 2022. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire and analysed using STATA version 16, Microsoft Excel, and Jamovi 2.3.12. Descriptive statistics and Chi-square association tests were conducted between the outcome and independent variables.
Results: The age range was 24-56 years. Most respondents were first-degree graduates (52.5%). The study found that the school's health program covers all aspects of the health needs of the students (Mean=2.98, SD= 1.34). Also, the school health programs focused on preventive measures (Mean=2.46, SD= 1.081). Again, about 41.63% perceived that they passionately share the view that effective implementation of the health policy in their school is associated with their classroom responsibility (Mean=2.34, SD=0.918). Items such as 'My school has adequate classrooms’ (110 [50.2%], Mean=2.33, SD 1.169, 'My school has friendly facilities for People Living with Disability (84[38.0%], mean=2.70 and SD of 1.315) have seen a high agreement. About 44.3% of the respondents believe that the school health program has improved their knowledge.
Conclusion: Most teachers had adequate perspective in the school health program due to their high knowledge of school health issues.
Reference29 articles.
1. Adebayo, Ayodeji M., Gabriel I. Makinde, and Pauline K. Omode. 2018. “Teachers’ Training and Involvement in School Health Programme in Oyo State, Southwest Nigeria.” PubMed 6 (1): 9–15.
2. Adebayo, Ayodeji M., and Modupe O Onadeko. 2015. “Knowledge of School Health Programme among Public Primary School Teachers in Oyo State, South-West Nigeria: A Rural-Urban Comparative Study.” PubMed 19 (3): 55–60.
3. Adu-Mireku, Samuel. 2004. “Schools and Health: A District-Level Evaluation of School Health Education in Ghana.” Journal of Social Development in Africa 18 (2). https://doi.org/10.4314/jsda.v18i2.23828
4. Allensworth, Diane, Elaine Lawson, Lois Nicholson, and James Wyche. 2019. “Guidelines for Comprehensive School Health Programs.” Nih.gov. National Academies Press (US). 2019. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK232686/.
5. Bartlett, E E. 1981. “The Contribution of School Health Education to Community Health Promotion: What Can We Reasonably Expect?” American Journal of Public Health 71 (12): 1384–91.