[How to develop health education within general medicine and pharmaceutical practice? Implementation methods used in an experiment with pregnant women, adolescents and elderly people]

Through the impetus of the National Institute of Prevention and Health Education (INPES) and the National Funding Agency for Social Security (CNAMTS), five different health education interventions were designed and implemented by 61 general practitioners and pharmacists in 5 pilot locations in France. The projects involved 185 senior citizens, adolescents and pregnant women. The strategic development of these projects required training the participating health professionals for a period of one year within the framework of a structured programme. The educational interventions were subsequently designed to specifically meet health education criteria and standards, namely, incorporating a broad as well as individualised approach to the patient and including active participation in the learning process. The programme elements are not oriented towards a thematic approach, nor around a specific health topic, but rather they focus on the individual as belonging to part of a given population group. It is therefore a population oriented health education approach.