Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1 Department of Curricula and Methodology, Beni-Suef University, Beni-Suef, EG
2 Self Development, Deanship of Preparatory Year, Imam Abdul Rahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Courses’ resources is an important ingredient for building awareness, despite the
availability of health and environmental knowledge in some subjects, students’ practices still need
more improvement. The study aims to investigate the level of health and environmental practices
among university female students of both scientific and humanities subject majors, and its relationship
to the academic major.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: A descriptive research design is applied to a sample of 410 female
students enrolled in scientific and humanities majors during 2017/2018 academic year. A “Health and
Environmental Practices Scale” is prepared for data collection. It includes 58 items with Cronbach’s
alpha = 0.71 and 0.69 for the two domains. The means percentage and independent t‑test for the
two majors applied, as P ≤ 0.05 was statistically significant.
RESULTS: Results showed that (i) the level of health and environmental practices is “moderate”
with a mean of 2.89, 3.17 for both domains, respectively; (ii) there is no statistically significant
difference between health practices level and environmental practices level; (iii) there is no statistically
significant difference between humanities and scientific majors and health and environmental
practices level among students of humanities and scientific majors, which means that the impact of
the interdisciplinary courses on the level of health and environmental practices is not clear.
CONCLUSIONS: Health and environmental awareness among students are found to be moderate.
However, actual health and environmental practices are still a huge challenge because of the gap
between theory and practice.
Keywords
public health: Understanding (un) healthy practices. Critical
Public Health 2016;26:36‑50.
2. Petherick L. Race and culture in the secondary school health and
physical education curriculum in Ontario, Canada: A critical
reading. Health Educ 2018;118:144‑58.
3. Hollands GJ, Shemilt I, Marteau TM, Jebb SA, Kelly MP,
Nakamura R, et al. Altering micro‑environments to change
population health behaviour: Towards an evidence base for choice
architecture interventions. BMC Public Health 2013;13:1218.
4. Musaiger A. Khunji Z. Environmental concepts and issues among
students and teachers of high Schools: A field study. Arabic,
Bahrain: Dar Al‑Hekma Library; 1994.
5. Astalin P. A study of environmental awareness among higher
secondary students and some educational factors affecting it. Int
J Multidiscip Res 2011;1:90‑101.
6. Al‑Khaldi TH. Awareness Level of the Importance of Public
Health among Students of the Haculty of Physical Education at
Yarmouk University. MA thesis. Arabic, Yarmouk University;
2015.
7. Abd Al‑Haqq E. Shana’eh M. Nu’erat Q. Al‑Amad S. The health
awareness level for the students of Al‑Najah National University
and Jerusalem University. An‑Najah Univ J Res‑B (Humanit)
2012;26:939‑58.
8. Abu Al‑Laban I. Environmental awareness among students
of faculties of education in Palestinian universities in Gaza
Governorate and its relationship to some variables. MA thesis.
Islamic University, Gaza, Palestine, 2005. Arabic.
9. AlanaziM. Health awareness among Northern Boarder University
students in Saudi Arabia. Al‑Azhar Univ J Edu 2014;2:631‑57.
10. Reda H. The effectiveness of social software in the development of
health awareness and some 21st century skills to Jazan University
students .J Sci Educ 2013;16:199‑270.
11. Hamid S, Ijab M, Sulaiman H, Anwar R, Norman A. Social media
for environmental sustainability awareness in higher education.
Int J Sustain High Educ 2017;18:474‑491.
12. AL Arjan J, Deeb M, El‑Kailani Gh. Health awareness level and
sources of health information of Al‑Balqa Applied University
Students in Jordan. J Educ Psychol Sci 2013;14:311‑44.
13. Al‑Imamy B. Health awareness and practices level among basic
stage students in Ma’an Governorate Schools. Al‑Azhar Univ J Educ 2011;145:117‑49.
14. Kenzig M. Health Status during College Students’ Transition to
Adulthood: Health Behaviors, Negative Experiences, and the
Mediating Effects of Personal Development. Dr.P.H. Thesis:
Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University; 2013.
15. Al‑Zou’bi A. The Level of Environmental Awareness among
Educational Sciences Colleges’ Students and its Relationship to
Some Variables. Stud Educ Sci J 2015;42:821‑30.
16. Zaidat M. The level of social studies teachers’ environmental
awareness in Jordan and its relationship to some variables. Stud
Educ Sci J 2013;40:1334‑51.
17. Ashraah M, Mahasneh A, Al‑Sawalmeh A, Abusheikh A. Health
awareness among university students in Jordan. Rev Eur Stud
2013;5:197‑204.
18. Hansen H, Shneyderman Y, Belcastro P. Investigating the
Association of Health Literacy with Health Knowledge and Health
Behavior Outcomes in a Sample of Urban Community College
Undergraduates. Am J Health Educ 2015;46:274‑82.
19. Shehadeh I. Evaluation of the content of basic stage’s general
science curriculum in the light of the health literacy requirements.
MA thesis: Arabic, Faculty of Education, Islamic University of
Gaza; 2009.
20. Sulaimany, N. The extent to which the developed textbooks of the
primary stage earlier years cover the concepts of health education.
MA thesis, Faculty of Education, Umm Al‑Qura University,
Arabic, Makkah, KSA; 2009.
21. Eltenawy E. The role of science courses in building the health
culture of general education stages students, in 5th Scientific
Conference in Egypt, 2001. J Egypt Assoc Sci Educ 2001;1:43‑99.
22. Rassafiani H, Ghazanfari M, Ravanipour M, Motamed N,
Ravanipour M, Vakilabadi DR, et al. Evaluation of the knowledge
level of health violations in food production, distribution, sales
centers and public places and their authorities investigating
among the women of Bushehr city. J Educ Health Promot
2016;5:11.
)