In the United States, the prevailing view of health, including the design of the U.S. healthcare system, has historically posited that to improve health one must focus on better understanding what causes poor health or disease. This emphasis on disease reduction or risk prevention, also known as a pathogenic approach to health. This article…

A scoping review was conducted, analyzing peer-reviewed literature published between 1995 and 2022, focusing on school stakeholders' perceptions of K-12 health education (HE) in Canada. The results included 37 studies, with articles focused on the perceptions of students, in-service and pre-service teachers, parents, undergraduate students, and…

Purpose: The school subject of physical education (PE) has experienced a "health turn" globally. However, some university undergraduate programs may need to be revised to adequately equip pre-service teachers to teach about health in schools. The aim of this study was to explore the content of an undergraduate university program in PE…

Health education (HE) curricula across Canada are developed by individual provinces/territories, enabling curriculum documents to be responsive to regional needs. However, this autonomy prevents Canadian teachers (and students) from having access to a consistent collection of curriculum competencies/outcomes. Without national HE curriculum…

Background: As summarized in this article, the widespread implementation of modern school health education (SHE) could become one of the most effective means available to improve the well-being of people in the United States and in other nations. However, the development and evolution of SHE largely remains unorganized, underdeveloped, and…

E-cigarettes have rapidly gained popularity among youth in recent years. This scoping review identifies opportunities for school nurses to incorporate e-cigarette prevention strategies into their practice and identifies gaps for future research in school nursing evidence-based practice. Using the methodological framework developed by Arksey and…

The release of the 2024 SHAPE America National Health Education Standards provides an updated take on the learning standards used to teach students how to become healthy and well. In this revision, the standards emphasize both individual and collective health and well-being; greater inclusion of strengths, assets, and opportunities to practice and…

The Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child framework increases the capacity of supporting preK-12 grade students' wellness and educational success. This article describes a performance-based activity, a mock trial, focusing on coordinated school systems and is designed for college/university students. The main focus of this activity is for…

Purpose: Government's role and sex education are vital in promoting inclusivity and sexual health. To understand the impact that the legislation has had on sex education, it is necessary to evaluate it at the different training levels. Design/methodology/approach: The method used is a critical review aimed at comparing educational and state…

By integrating Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences (MI theory) into health and wellness education, we can honor student uniqueness, promote inclusivity in the learning space, and increase the adoption of positive health behaviors. The MI theory proposes that every individual possesses unique strengths and weaknesses for learning that…

Research shows children with poor oral health are nearly three times more likely to miss school than their healthier peers which can lead to lower academic performance and ability to succeed in school. Furthermore, poor oral health remains one of the top reasons why California students miss school, resulting in a loss of $28 million per year to…

Background: Youth mental health needs have worsened following COVID-19. Rising demand for school mental health services is straining capacity. Several states have added policies requiring mental health education, yet these vary widely and barriers to operationalization exist. Purpose: This paper explores the onerous landscape of mental health…

This article details how a team of university professors representing five PETE/HETE programs in Washington State work together for success. At a time when enrollment in higher education is down across the nation, it is crucial for university programs to work together to strengthen their programs to recruit and retain future health and physical…

THE FUSED health education series was developed as a one-stop guide for developing a quality curriculum for teaching health education. This first, two-part article introduces a new approach to teaching health education called THE FUSED Technique. THE stands for Teaching Health Education and FUSED stands for Functional (data driven) information,…

Background: Since the 1990s, national standards have been developed in K-12 subject areas. National standards in health education were first released in 1995 with a second set released in 2007. A third edition, the "National Health Education Standards: Model Guidance for Curriculum" and Instruction was developed in 2022 under the…