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Sunday, November 13, 2005
This presentation is part of : Improving the Health of Children
"I Feel Good!" A Weekly Wellness Radio Broadcast for Elementary School Children
Jennifer Morton, RN, BSN, Eliot Elementary Schools, Eliot, ME, USA
Learning Objective #1: Understand the importance of innovative programming within the school health environment
Learning Objective #2: Understand how the Health Belief Model supports health behaviors adopted by children

The purpose of “I Feel Good!” is to develop and innovative health program that services all children of this northern New England elementary school with health education. At a time when valuable health programs are being cut from public elementary schools, an innovative program such as “I Feel Good!” is practical, but serves to meet our states health education standards, The Maine Learning Results, while at the same time being thoroughly captivating for the children School nurses are valuable to program development such as “I Feel Good”. Expert knowledge of various child health and disease entities combined with a theoretical framework such as the Health Belief Model serves as an impetus for innovative programmi

I Feel Good!” provides young children with valuable and practical health information that they can apply to their daily wellness practices. Based on the Health Belief Model and the constructs within (perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers), this innovative program provides young children with weekly messages of wellness, illness and injury prevention awareness ranging from handwashing importance to seat belt safety. Messages tie in to weekly, monthly and seasonal observances. Each weekly message “airing” over the school's public announcement system is narrated by “Freeda Feelgood,” played by a local community actress. The messages do not exceed six minutes in length and are filled with music and sound effects for great auditory appeal for the children. Pre-assessments of the children's health knowledge baseline serve as valuable data for content selection. Outcome evaluations will be critical in determining the success of the program.