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Philosophy Paper
Being a Health Educator has always been one of my goals in life. It all started when I was
in the seventh grade watching my grandfather battle diabetes and kidney failure. He also
suffered an amputation of his right leg. My grandfather was a great influence in my life, and I
always knew if he had had proper knowledge of his condition, he would have tried to change
his health condition. This situation alone brought me to believe that if I could just educate
people on how important taking care of themselves is, then maybe I can help save someone’s
life. I have watched countless family members and friends disregard their health statuses, as if
it was okay to have diabetes, or to be overweight. I believe with the proper education on how
these health conditions could affect their lives, and even life expectancy, they could still be here
today.
Being a true Health Educator to me means to provide the information needed to
patients about their health status, and ways to prevent. This does not include prescribing
medications or treatments, but include suggestions and knowledge. I like that health educators
work in various fields, such schools, colleges, hospitals, and major corporations. With these
varieties Health Educators can meet and serve people from different financial backgrounds,
rather than on just one specific background.
Through my journey of becoming a Health Educator my classes such as Public Health,
Principles and Foundations of Health Promotion and Education, and Contemporary Health
Issues are helping me reach my professional goals by enhancing my knowledge on what the
profession is, what I needed to understand while pursuing this profession, and general
information that can equip me into becoming a successful Health Educator. There have been

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countless times I have helped educate people just as a professional health educator does. For
example, I have helped educate a group of high school students, raising their awareness about
specific sexually transmitted diseases. I took this opportunity to tell them what signs to look for,
and ways to prevent the contractions of sexually transmitted diseases. This was a very
interesting experience because it surprised me on how little knowledge high school students
knew about sexually transmitted diseases, this also brought me to becoming a Health Educator.
Health Educators need a philosophy when dealing with patients on a everyday basis. A
predominant health education philosophy that I will use is the behavior change philosophy.
Behavior change philosophy is when a health educator uses specific behavior tactics to foster a
modification of a specific bad habit within a patient he or she is taking care of. This philosophy
would be important to me when I become a professional because understanding the patients
specific behavior, and making sure they understand the specific goals they are trying to reach
through the process, would enhance better outcomes for the patient. This philosophy would
serve as a reminder to what my job as a Health Educator truly is, which is to change
unbeneficial behaviors affecting ones health.
My personal philosophy on being a health educator would be “Educate and Provide”.
The “Educate and Provide” philosophy would focus on providing education about health to
everyone, not limiting access to people who are financial stable, but to everyone in need,
despite their situation. My philosophy will determine the contents and methods I implement by
influencing all of my actions. For example, if I was placed in a situation with people of diverse
paths and histories because of my philosophy, I will continue to educate and provide care,
despite their situations. My philosophy would remind me that all of my programs are for

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everyone, not a specific group or ethnicity, but serving all communities. My personal
philosophy helps shape and enhances my personal happiness by reminding myself that I am a
minority and have been discriminated against because of my financial status, and if I can be one
more person that refuses to repeat the cycle of discrimination and treat people fairly, then I can
help better the world by educating others about health.