Effects of an Education Program on Health Promotion Behavior for Hearing Impaired Students

청각장애학생의 건강증진행위를 위한 교육 프로그램 효과

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of an education program on health promotion behavior for students with hearing impairments. Method: For this study a nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design was used. The three components of the study were: 1) the recognition of the importance of health promotion behavior, 2) formation of supportive networks, and 3) practice of health promotion behavior. The study population consisted of 38 students with hearing impairments (experimental group [19], control group [19]). The program was provided to students in the experimental group for 50-120 minutes, once a week for 3 weeks. Descriptive statistics, $X^2$-test, t-test, Fisher's exact test, and ANCOVA were used to analyze the data. Results: Perceived social support and health promotion behavior, but not self efficacy, were significantly different between the two groups. Conclusion: The result of this study indicate that this education program for health promotion behavior was effective for promoting perceived social support and health promotion behavior in students with hearing impairments, but further continuous research is needed to identify effective interventions to promote health behavior in students with hearing impairments and to allow for generalization of the results of this study.