Getting the word out: Teaching middle-school children about cardiovascular disease

Abstract

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) has roots in childhood; since CVD begins early, a clear strong case for early education focused on CVD primary prevention exists. Scientists are not traditionally involved in disseminating health knowledge into public education. Similarly, public school teachers typically do not have access to biomedical research that may increase their students' health science literacy. One way to bridge the 'cultural' gap between researchers and school teachers is to form science education partnerships. In order for such partnerships to be successful, teams of scientists and teachers must 'translate' biomedical research into plain language appropriate for students.In this article, we briefly review the need for improving health literacy, especially through schoolbased programs, and describe work with one model scientist/teacher partnership, the Teacher Enrichment Initiatives. Examples of cardiovascular research 'translated' into plain language lessons for middle school students are provided and practical considerations for researchers pursuing a science education partnership are delineated. KeywordsHealth education; science educations; atherosclerosis; adolescents; cardiovascular risk scores; cardiovascular health education; teacher professional development The core challenge for health scientists and educators in the United States is to translate the knowledge gained from research into improved health for the public. Even though there have been large gains in prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease since the 1980s, the Corresponding Author: MaryAnne J. Toepperwein, Educational Development Specialist, TEI Teacher Enrichment Initiatives, UTHSCSA Medicine/GCRC MSC 7891, Ph: 210-567-4477 Fax: 210-567-4414, toepperwein@uthscsa.edu. Disclosure Statement: All authors have no competing interests regarding this paper or our ongoing research.Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. Biomedical research often eludes consumers most in need of the results. Informing the broader public about research findings has been a longstanding challenge (2). For cardiovascular disease, the research community was startled in 1953 by evidence that atherosclerosis, a disease primarily of older adults, was found in young Korean War veterans (3). Over the ensuing five decades, confirmatory research amassed (4,5), but remained primarily ensconced within the peer-reviewed literature. Many research findings are slow to reach the public (6); educators, parents, and adolescents are consumers in need of such information, but typically are not exposed to biomedical jou...

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