Teaching Children Self-Care: A Counter-Cultural Proposal.

Projects and research studies, often involving minority or low income students, developed by two medical specialists, focused on health attitudes and behaviors of elementary school students. A 2-year study of the impact of allowing students to initiate their own health care, with the aid of school nurse practitioners, identified distinct characteristics of frequent utilizers of school health care. These findings reinforced those from later studies on children's decision making processes in self initiated health care. Several curricula were developed to teach children to identify symptoms and to initiate appropriate responses to several health problems: (1) Actions for Health, a four-unit supplement to traditional health programs; (2) Circle of Care program, which presents teachers with insights into the family background of their students; and (3) a teaching unit for Egyptian schools based on the Actions for Health and Circle of Care programs. The major lesson learned from the studies is that, if one talks and listens to children, it is apparent that most are quite rational and more competent to deal with health matters than adults choose to believe. (FG)