- Standard 8: Students advocate for behaviors that support personal, family, peer, school, and community health.
Description
Advocacy skills are essential for providing equitable health opportunities for all. This standard empowers students with confidence to apply functional health knowledge and health literacy to persuade others to adopt healthy behaviors.
Advocacy is the ability to take action to secure conditions that support the health and quality of life of self and others. Advocacy involves influencing others to act in ways that support personal, family, peer, school, and community health.
Advocacy skills can include identifying needs, formulating a plan of action, creating messages, and applying strategies to promote health. Students use advocacy skills to encourage others to adopt health-enhancing norms, beliefs, and behaviors as well as to implement policies, programs, and environments that support health.
Teachers foster students’ confidence, self-efficacy, and skill competence in advocacy when they:
- Discuss the importance and relevance of advocacy skills that support healthy behaviors and well-being.
- Explain that students have the capability of learning advocacy skills that support healthy behaviors.
- Present elements of advocacy skills that support healthy behaviors.
- Model advocacy skills with confidence that support healthy behaviors.
- Use real-life scenarios for practicing advocacy skills that support healthy behaviors.
- Allow time and opportunity for students to practice advocacy skills that support healthy behaviors.
- Provide performance-based feedback and reinforcement for advocacy skills.
8.2.1 Demonstrate how to make requests that promote personal health and safety (e.g., asking others for help to avoid exposure to secondhand smoke).
8.2.2 Demonstrate how to encourage family and peers to make healthy choices (e.g., persuading others to follow safety rules and procedures).
8.5.1 Demonstrate how to persuade others to make healthy choices (e.g., persuading others not to bully).
8.5.2 Demonstrate how to persuade others to make positive health choices (e.g., persuading others to avoid all tobacco products).
8.8.1 Use valid and reliable information to identify advocacy positions that meet personal, family, peer, and school health needs.
8.8.2 Create an action plan with advocacy strategies related to a position that promotes personal, family, peer, and school health.
8.8.3 Create an advocacy message about a position using valid and reliable information that support the health of self and others.
8.8.4 Demonstrate how to adapt health-related messages to persuade different audiences.
8.8.5 Demonstrate confidence (e.g., strong voice, body language) when persuading others to make health choices that enhance quality of life and promote equitable health opportunities for all.
8.8.6 Collaborate with others to advocate for personal, family, peer, school, and community health.
8.12.1 Use valid and reliable information to identify advocacy positions that meet personal, family, peer, school, and community health needs.
8.12.2 Create an action plan with advocacy strategies related to a position that promotes personal, family, peer, school, and community health.
8.12.3 Create a persuasive advocacy message about a position using peer and societal norms, supported by valid and reliable sources, that influence the health of self and others.
8.12.4 Adapt health messages and advocacy strategies that meet the needs and interests of specific audiences.
8.12.5 Demonstrate confidence (e.g., strong voice, body language) when using advocacy messages and strategies to persuade others to engage in actions that enhance quality of life and promote equitable health opportunities for all.
8.12.6 Collaborate with others to advocate for personal, family, peer, school, and community health.
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