Poor Health, its Implications on Students’ Educations and an Initiative Towards a Solution – Author: Eric Huh

Abstract:
Research conducted by several foundations, such as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, has linked poor health to a number of psychosocial aspects of an individual’s or community’s life. One such area that has proven to be heavily impacted is education. When a community suffers from chronic illnesses and systemic diseases, all types of resources, such as monetary, labor, and capital, are diverted away from other civil sectors that could benefit. One such sector that is heavily impacted is the education system. Poor health also has more direct consequences of either hindering a student’s ability to concentrate during school or keeping the student out of school altogether. Introduction:
Recent trends that are guiding research in the field of public health have been focusing heavily on investigating the relationship between health, both at the individual and community level, and various psychosocial aspects of life. For example, since 2002, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has released numerous publications highlighting the correlation between a community’s access to healthcare to socioeconomic status, education, and other areas. When a community suffers from chronic illnesses and systemic diseases, all types of resources, such as monetary, labor, and capital, are diverted away from other civil sectors that could benefit. One such sector that is heavily impacted is the education system. This project focuses on exploring aspects of health and wellness in the village of Kadod, India that can have direct and indirect effects on a student’s education. The scope of this project was first proposed upon initial observations of students’ frequent absences and students exhibiting clear symptoms of illness while in the classroom. It is hypothesized that poor health has a direct consequence of either hindering a student’s ability to fully apply him/herself in the classroom or keeping the student out of school altogether. The results of this study can be divided into two major categories: first, health and wellness as major factors that contribute to students’ attendances and second, sources of disease and causes for poor health. Methods The sample population (n=54) to be surveyed was chosen among 9th standard students from 4 different classes. 63 subjects were surveyed, but 9 subjects were unable to provide usable results because of language restrictions. It was ensured that 27 boys and 27 girls were included in the study, but beyond this requirement, students were chosen without any further discrimination. All 54 students were given the same oral survey (Appendix A). Prior to subject participation, the scope of the project and hypothesized results were not disclosed so as to not skew results and induce subject bias. To minimize other student involvement, when chosen to be surveyed, subjects were asked to be surveyed in a private location. Duplicating other students’ work is a prevalent issue that was anticipated to skew results. As a result, only students who had no knowledge of the contents of the survey were chosen to participate. Questions were first posited in the form written on the survey. If students were unable to comprehend and respond appropriately, the question was rephrased until there was proper comprehension. Surveys were conducted over the course of 10 days. (Due to restrictions of the web format, full methodology, data, and results are included in pdf format, below.) Download the Full Article