Abstract:

The main goal of health education is to promote health literacy. Health literacy includes cognitive and social skills which determine the motivation and ability of persons to obtain access to, understand and use information, so they can promote and maintain good health and health behaviour (Nutbeam, 1998). According to Arnold (2018), health education, which will be taught in school science education, in general focuses on scientific knowledge rather than on personal values and motivational factors. Not paying attention to these factors leads to the so called “knowledge-behaviour gap” (Rimal, 2000).

Leukaemia is a cancer of the hematopoietic and lymphatic systems, which leads to death without appropriate treatment like stem cell donation (Robert Koch-Institut, 2016). The goal of this study is to prove that health education in context of “leukaemia and stem cell donation” close this gap if both knowledge and motivational factors are taking in account and reflected in health-related decision-making processes. For this purpose, as a theoretical framework an extended model based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) is used (Ajzen, 2005), namely the TPB+ model. TPB+ model includes motivational internal factors of TPB (behavioural, normative and control beliefs as well as attitudes, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control), and external factors such as content knowledge, moral obligation, moral reasoning and empathy.

In order to promote health literacy the teaching unit “Wake up - sensitisation for stem cell donation”, which was based on theoretical frame, was developed and conducted with 263 10 to 12-graders from German high schools. Two main research questions were examined:
(1) Which factors have a significant influence on the intention to become a stem cell donor?
(2) To what extent do the measured constructs of TPB+ changed after participation in the “Wake up” teaching unit?

The participants completed a questionnaire in pre-post-design concerning the above-mentioned factors and their intention to register as a stem cell donor for leukaemia patients. The data were analyzed especially with t-tests and regression analyses. The findings demonstrate that the TPB+ model permits an accurate prediction of intention. In addition, the teaching unit influences significantly some factors (e.g. negative attitude-related beliefs, control beliefs, moral obligation and content knowledge) as well as the intention itself regard stem cell donation. Based on results it is recommended to consider the mentioned factors when developing teaching units in context of health education.

References:
[1] Ajzen, I. (2005). Attitudes, personality and behavior (2nd ed.). New York: Open University Press.
[2] Arnold, J. C. (2018). An integrated model of decision-making in health contexts: The role of science education in health education. International Journal of Science Education, 40(5), 519–537.
[3] Nutbeam, D. (1998). Health promotion glossary. Health Promotion International, 13, 349–364.
[4] Rimal, R. N. (2000). Closing the knowledge-behavior Gap in health promotion: The mediating role of self-efficacy. Health Communication, 12(3), 219–237.
[5] Robert Koch-Institut (Hrsg.). 2016. Bericht zum Krebsgeschehen in Deutschland 2016. Berlin. URL: www.krebsdaten.de

Keywords:

Theory of planned behavior, health education.