Skills-Based Health Education for Health Promotion Among School Adolescents Through Participatory Action Research: A Case from Nepal

Abstract

The hegemony of the positivist research paradigm has dominated Nepali higher education for a long time. As a contrast to this hegemonic domination, we adopted participatory action research (PAR) for conducting research in the public schools of Nepal. The study’s primary purpose was to explore the need for context-based health skills among adolescents, design skills-based health education sessions and measure their effectiveness in selected government-funded schools of Chitwan district in Nepal. In this chapter, we describe the process, challenges and lessons learned while conducting the PAR. We included “classroom meditation” and “making improvised reusable sanitary pads” as a skill demanded by adolescents to manage the problems they encounter daily. The PAR approach was adopted along with a peer education programme, collaboration with parents, the involvement of external agencies and health professionals and the capacity building of teachers in skills development. Adolescents were the real actors, while the researchers served as facilitators. This study outlines how multilayers of society could be involved in the PAR process. Furthermore, to sustain the learned skills, such a process should be linked to the curriculum.