Research and development in health education: focused on value carification among health professionals

Health professionals working in the field of health promotion and education experience certain value conflicts: their professional and personal values, the values of their clients or of the health services clash with pedagogic values such as participation, involvement, learning and competence development. My educational research is concerned with the exploration and development of the knowledge about values and health education related to competence development among health professionals. The purpose is to contribute to systematic knowledge development with a view to support and diversify the significance that is founded in theory and relevant to the practice of working with values within various cultures and selected settings: schools, local communities, educational institutions and political organisations. The research moreover aims to diversify a number of more general concepts and connections relatable to health educational development. The overall value theme is elucidated by two development projects that transform as well as challenge specific health-educational practices. This forms the basis of the development of a critical, constructive and practice-oriented perspective on competence development within health education. Empirical and systems-theoretical knowledge is generated about pedagogical competence within health promotion and disease prevention and the knowledge about how development work and experiments can strengthen this competence. This article contributes to a) a discussion about professional competence development and the qualification for value clarification not necessarily expressed through ethical rules but rather in fundamental views, reasoning, linguification and reflections - and b) a methodological discussion about the developmental approach. The research strategy is finally reflected into a systems-theoretical perspective.