April Bentley

2179160 Inquiry Project Report

Introduction:

How has the Inquiry Project experience advanced my understandings of what good health
education might be, and why?

Health education is a unique approach to health advertising. Its purpose is to help individuals
to learn and translate the learning into real life situations.
The issue of health education is what good health education might be, and why? The issue
will be discussed using Second Opinion; An Introduction to Health Sociology, fifth edition and
peer review journals to determine the outcome of the inquiry projects experiences in
developing my knowledge. Before tackling the issue of what good health education might be,
I will be exploring the pros and cons of working in a group for the inquiry project and converging
on my own personal discovery.

Personal learning:

Discovering and learning about Domestic Violence, its effects on children, and on society was
particularly interesting. I discovered, studies that have shown that children from violent homes
are more likely to be victims of violence themselves, to commit violence themselves as teens
and adults, to have a higher interaction with the criminal justice system, and to have a much
higher likelihood of negative adult health consequences (Brown, 2007). I too learnt about
sexual objectification according to the imposition account, inspired by Catharine MacKinnon
to be sexually objectified means having a social meaning imposed on your being that defines
you as to be sexually used (Jtten, 2010) and in society how the media objectifies women
and girls, placing value on the way they look over any other quality (Crittenden, 2016).

I personally feel that with the information I have learnt through researching domestic violence,
its effects on children and what I have additionally learnt about sexual objectification in my
Womens Studies classes has made me view Domestic Violence, its effects on children and
sexual objectification in society in a different way. I understand the value of extra education
and support early on for children living in a violent environment. I too recognise the importance
of stopping sexual objectification in order to eliminate domestic violence.

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The pros and cons of working as a group:

I found areas of the inquiry project group experience difficult in some ways and particularly
eye opening in others.

We did not have ample time to prepare and with a few members of the group being very
unwell, this did make it problematic in trying to get everything done in time. In saying this
everyone tried their best to not let ill health get in their way.

As a team, we chose to prepare a power point. After discussions, we had the idea that simply
having the notes on the power point to purely read out was pointless and distracting. Instead
we chose effective pictures to emphasise what we were imparting and used short clips to help
highlight the message. Feedback that we received stated that certain students would have
liked more notes which is reasonable and something to keep in mind for the future is that
individuals learn and absorbed information differently. I also feel that because of the choice
about how we displayed our information that parts were missed, unclear and improvised by
individuals. As some of the listeners mistook the information as being about women
exclusively. When it was predominantly concerning the question does violence create
violence? The presentation was also covering how our behaviour in the home and in public
can create an acceptance for objectification and violence.

For myself I found my dyslexia held me back more than it usually does. Unfortunately,
regardless of how hard I practised I continued to stumble over several words and in doing so
I felt that I let the team down in this way. The feedback we received about the stumbling over
words and being told to practise more did not help in the feeling of having let the team down
and showed a lack of compassion and understanding of other peoples disabilities. The word
dyslexia comes from the Greek language and means difficulty with words. Individuals with
dyslexia have trouble with aspects of reading, spelling and writing (Singleton, 2014).

Although I felt this way I found my group to be very positive, encouraging and supportive when
it came to my dyslexia. My group helped me with the words that I struggled with and cheered
me on when I managed to get them right. Their support and encouragement was enormously
eye opening. It helped me to find a strength from my group and to see individuals true
compassion. The understanding shown by my group assisted by helping me feel relaxed when
it came to presentation time and comforted when we did receive feedback about my stumbling.

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What good health education might be? What I have learnt:

Through the group inquiry project into domestic violence I have confidence that my
understanding of what good health education could be has developed. Building a broader
view of what is required to create better health education.

By knowing that improvement in health is likely to come from modification of the conditions
which lead to disease, rather than from intervention in the mechanism of disease after it has
occurred (McKeown 1979 cited in Germov, 2914, p. 15.), by identifying that in an Australian
survey done in 2003 there are seen to be three class models of Australian society which
are upper class with 15 per cent, Middle class with 47 per cent and working class with 38 per
cent (Germov, 2014, p. 82) and also having the knowledge that Australia has been
successful in enacting a wide range of health-related legislation. Laws include those
addressing industrial pollution, cigarette advertising, and smoking in public places, as well as
laws requiring water fluoridation and compulsory car seat belts (John Germov, Maria Freji,
and Kathy Richmond, 2014, p. 473).

Acknowledging this alongside the awareness that putting pressure on people to change
their lifestyles can lead to victim- blaming, and does nothing to correct the structural causes
of ill health (John Germov, Maria Freji, and Kathy Richmond, 2014, p. 471) has all lead me
to identify the ultimate goal to having good health education is to empower individuals by
teaching them the life skills they need to sustain healthy choices, having accessible
information and supportive help (Herbert, Patrick C. ; Lohrmann, David K., 2011).

Also, the importance and value of health in the educational curriculum plus the importance of
starting the education at a young age. It has too guided me to the role that the class system
plays, its impact on the community and in the world.

Methods that could be applied to good health education may well be encouraging the
broader community to understand the definition of public health and to have knowledge of
what the public health issues are for example issues relating to smoking and drug usage.
Public health can be defined as a science-based, multidisciplinary, prevention focused,
collaborative, and culturally sensitive discipline that 748 VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN /
June 2002 examines the health of populations and the social, emotional, and physical well-
being of communities. A problem that is not recognized, however, cannot be addressed
adequately. An issue becomes a public health problem when it is transformed from the realm
of the given to that of the unacceptable. Science-based advocacy using the public health
approach can be a powerful tool for health, safety, advocacy, and social change. Indeed, as

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2179160 Inquiry Project Report

it relates to community health, public health is often viewed as synonymous with social
justice (Alpert, Elaine ; Shannon, David ; Velonis, Alisa ; Georges, Maura ; Rich, Rachel,
2002).

It is for these reasons that the knowledge and expertise gained through the lens of public
health can be key to the intervention and prevention of family violence. An understanding of
the public health approach to family violence intervention and prevention is crucial (Alpert,
Elaine ; Shannon, David ; Velonis, Alisa ; Georges, Maura ; Rich, Rachel, 2002). Teaching
about public health intervention and prevention in schools is highly important in the struggle
to good health.

Conclusion:

Therefore, by having thorough health education starting from a young age and continuing
throughout life we are better prepared for the public health problems facing us as a
community. Continuing to have workshops in schools that focuses on smoking, drug usage,
family violence, etc will help in preventing these issues in the future. Also by having easy
access to organisations that help victims and perpetrators for example drug and alcohol
services, the reach out program and help lines for example the 1800 RESPECT service for
domestic violence victims and support programs will help eliminate common public health
issues.

In conclusion, the inquiry project experience has contributed to my knowledge of health and
what good health education could be and a recommendation would be to have the laws
change for drug usage. As drug users are somewhat a victim and instead of jail being the
first option for them, there should be affordable or government funded rehabilitation centres
that are available to everyone in need. There should also be more help for violence victims
from the government such as more accessible shelters, family counselling and harsher
penalties for the abusers.

Weebly Page: http://aprilkbentley.weebly.com

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References
Alpert, Elaine ; Shannon, David ; Velonis, Alisa ; Georges, Maura ; Rich, Rachel. (2002).

Family violence and public health education: A call for action. Violence Against

Women, 746-778.

Brown, P. (2007). Judges Can Help Break the Cycle of Domestic Violence and Its Impact on

At-Risk Youth. The Judges' Journal, 1.

Crittenden, J. (2016). Not just a Barbie girl: Miss Representation and objectification in the

media.(TALKING SOCIETY). Screen Education, 72.

Germov, J. (2014). Imagining Health Problems As Social Issues. In J. Germov, Second

Opinion; An Introduction to Health Sociology (5th ed., pp. 1-22). Victoria: Oxford

University Press.

Germov, J. (2014). The Class Origins of Health Inequality. In J. Germov, Second Opinion; An

Introducation to Health Sociology (5th ed., pp. 81-102). South Melbourne: Oxford

University Press.

Herbert, Patrick C. ; Lohrmann, David K. (2011). It's All in the Delivery! An Analysis of

Instructional Strategies from Effective Health Education Curricula. Journal of School

Health, 258-264.

John Germov, Maria Freji, and Kathy Richmond. (2014). A Sociology of Health Promotion. In

J. Germov, Second Opinion; An Introduction to Health Sociology (5th ed., pp. 464-

483). South Melbourne: Oxford University Press.

Jtten, T. (2010). Sexual Objectification . Ethics, 27 - 49.

Singleton. (2014). What is Dyslexia. Retrieved from Australian Dyslexia Association:

http://dyslexiaassociation.org.au/how-is-dyslexia-evaluated

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