Health education for the child/adolescent/family: Nurses’ training needs

Abstract

Objective: to identify nurses’ training needs in Health Education for the child/adolescent/family. Method: quantitative survey applied to a sample of 311 nurses who performed Health Education for the child/adolescent/family in two hospital centers and two primary care groupings in the province of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro in the second half of 2018. Results: among the respondents, 84.9% (n=264) did not follow any model/theory of health education; 66.2% (n=206) did not attend any training in the context of Health Education in the past five years; 98.7% (n=307) considered that the training in Health Education is important for their professional development; and 93.6% (n=291) reported the need for specific training in the field of Health Education, particularly in “communication techniques” (50.5%; n=157) and “technical-pedagogical strategies” (50.5%; n=157). Conclusion: the nurses felt the need for training in models/theories, communication techniques and technical-pedagogical strategies of intervention in Health Education.