The relationship between selected characteristics of health education programs and the acquisition of student health knowledge in secondary schools of the state of Virginia

Abstract

Kilander-Leach Health Knowledge scores of 702 high school students in the state of Virginia were obtained by standard survey techniques in order to investigate the relationship of selected variables to the acquisition of health-related topics. A health education research questionnaire filled out by respective teachers (N = 50) was used to determine teacher preparation, type of schedule, use of facilities and equipment, and curriculum content of A, AA, and AAA size schools. Size of school produced the strongest relationship to health knowledge acquisition (r = .46) with students from the AAA schools demonstrating significantly higher scores than those from A or AA schools. However, of the remaining factors investigated, only curriculum content level differentiated students' health knowledge scores; the greater the number of topics covered in the health classroom, the higher was the mean student score. In addition, there was some indication that the separate classroom approach was superior to the format combining health with physical education. Finally, the scores of students in the state of Virginia did not compare favorably with national norms, ranking only in the tenth percentile. Thus, it was recommended that a more extensive health curriculum be considered for state-wide adoption and that closer supervision of instruction programs be instituted.