Learning and Health

1. Learning and Health Adult Learners’ Week 2012

2. The case for learning… • Supports general wellbeing and public health • Increases health awareness and health literacy • Enables communities to participate in health decision making • Supports skills development for the health workforce and potential workforce • Supports a healthy workforce • Can reduce costs of medical bills

3. What’s the evidence? • Learning is 1 of the 5 ways to wellbeing. Foresight Report • Learning has positive effects on smoking cessation, taking exercise and improvements in self rated health and well being. Centre for the Wider Benefits of Learning • Learning prolongs active life, delays dependency, sustains independent living. NIACE • Learning appears to slow the development of two brain lesions that are the hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease. Journal of Neuroscience; 24th January 2007

4. Return on Investment…… Learning in a residential care home meant: • Better sleeping patterns for residents • Less sleeping in chairs during the day • A reduction of approximately one third in medication costs such as anti-depressants • Chair- based exercise reduced orders of incontinence materials by 75% • Residents have improved social contact -with 80% now going out on a regular basis.

5. Case study 1 • “When you go to your doctor you don’t understand what he’s telling you. All the information he gives you requires reading. It’s so frustrating to me. If you take the pamphlet home and you can’t read it - it goes straight in the bin. I didn’t understand what kind of surgery they were going to do. I was very terrified. It’s my body I should know. Before I went to classes I was not able to ask the doctors a question and I came out of the surgery more confused than when I went in. I’d leave with literature I couldn’t read. You don’t understand why you have to take medicine. You have to try not to feel intimidated. I know they don’t have all day but - slow down and help me understand!”

6. Case Study 2 “Illness for me is like being in a dark room, but getting involved with learning is like having a window in that room that lets light in. My pain will never go away, but learning helps me cope with it better.”

7. Case Study 3 http://youtu.be/YARfUwFaD2I

8. How does Learning impact on Health? Physical changes • Distraction from dwelling on problems • Less aches and pains • Being more active, sleeping better, improved diet • Less reliance on medication • Fewer health consultations • More interest in physical appearance • Emotional and psychological changes • Happier and more optimistic for the future • Increased confidence and self-esteem – ‘can do’ • Improved motivation – a sense of ‘will do’ • Sense of self-empowerment • Greater sense of trust • More assertive Health and well-being Learning • Social benefits • Increased friendships and networks • Getting out of the house • Being more assertive in using services • A sense of ‘solidarity’ and ‘shared learning’ • Being skilled • Improved work and voluntary work opportunities • Managing own lives • Accessing services and information • Critically evaluating and using services

9. What next?