Health Services

Santé publique France provides students, their instructors, and the organizations that will host them in the field with resources to help them prepare and implement prevention and health promotion initiatives as part of the health service. 

These resources have been selected based on the health service’s objectives, target populations, and priority areas.

They complement the instruction, resources, and support provided by educational institutions and student-hosting organizations. Student training and support will be key factors in ensuring the quality of student health services.

Prevention and Health Promotion: Theoretical and Practical Guidelines for the Activities of the Health Services Department for Health Sciences Students

This document provides students, host organizations, and instructors with theoretical and methodological guidelines aligned with the training objectives of the student health service. These operational guidelines are based on the work and resources of Santé publique France.

Contents:

  • Theoretical Guidelines

    • The relative importance of different risk factors at the international level

    • The impact of various risk factors in France

    • Prevention and health promotion: what are we talking about?

  • Practical guidelines

    • The importance of involving the target audiences

    • Methodology and project management

  • Glossary

  • Bibliographic references

Communicating for All: A Guide to Accessible Information

This guide provides recommendations for developing information that is accessible to everyone, taking into account the needs of the target audiences, and in particular their varying levels of literacy. It is organized into five chapters:

  • Designing Printed Materials

  • Design and use of images

  • Designing websites and digital media

  • Oral communication

  • How to become a “literacy-friendly” organization?

Each chapter outlines best practices, lists potential pitfalls, and provides specific examples to illustrate them. A table summarizes the key takeaways for each section. The specific needs of people with intellectual, hearing, or visual disabilities are taken into account.

COVID-19: Facilitation Guides for Professionals

Two guides produced by the Cultures & Santé association (Belgium) have been adapted by Santé publique France for France:

These guides are intended for professionals, volunteers, and health students working with adults in precarious situations. They include a theoretical section on conducting health education sessions in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and a practical section with suggested activities to help develop the skills of the target populations.

Promoting Health in Prisons. Intervention Framework

This guide serves as a resource:

  • to provide information on the legal and institutional framework for the care of incarcerated individuals;

  • for reflection on health promotion concepts and their application in settings of deprivation of liberty;

  • as a methodology for implementing health promotion actions or programs;

  • to support on-the-ground initiatives through concrete examples.

Social and Regional Health Inequalities

Health inequalities affect the entire population across the social spectrum and can emerge from a very young age. Measures promoting equal opportunities for all, particularly for the most vulnerable populations, would help prevent them.
In this issue:

  • Health inequalities: a multitude of factors

  • Which populations are most affected?

  • Social and regional health inequalities: a priority issue for Santé publique France

  • Some actions implemented to combat inequalities

  • Some recent population-based studies

Learn more:

  • Some reference websites that may be useful for developing intervention content. This selection includes the main institutional and public websites, professional associations and societies, as well as general and national associations in public health, prevention, and health promotion. It is therefore not exhaustive.

  • On terms used in prevention and health promotion:

Each kit contains various types of resources:

  • informational materials (brochures, flyers, posters, etc.) intended for the target audience of the activities. These can be handed out during or at the end of a session;

  • digital or interactive materials (videos, quizzes, apps, online tests, etc.). Some of these can be shown during group sessions, while others support individual activities that can be offered to the beneficiaries of the initiatives;

  • intervention kits to prepare and implement initiatives. These may include educational tools (binders, DVDs, etc.), developed according to pedagogical quality criteria and qualitatively evaluated, or intervention guides aligned with scientifically validated programs.

Resources for initiatives are selected and categorized to align with the target populations and priority themes of the public health department:


Note: Resources should be selected based on the objectives of the interventions and their suitability for the target audiences.

Regarding the selection of resources for initiatives targeting children or youth, two points to keep in mind:

  • verify that the learning abilities specific to each age group align with the educational objectives of the selected resources;

  • ensure that these resources do not expose children to age-inappropriate content.

In general, it is recommended to pay attention to the accessibility of messages, using resources from the "Pour comprendre" collection if necessary. Brochures and videos are specifically designed to be understandable by audiences who have difficulty accessing information.

Santé publique France offers a variety of resources that instructors can use to prepare their lessons or directly during class.

11 thematic dossiers (available here)

  • Illegal drugs and gambling

  • Alcohol

  • Diet and physical activity

  • COVID-19

  • Sexual health/sex education

  • Mental health

  • Tobacco

  • Vaccination

  • Perinatal and Early Childhood

  • Climate and the consequences of climate change

  • Chemical risks

2 population-based studies (available here)

  • Health of the elderly

  • Health of vulnerable populations

Exchange and sharing of best practices

Other resources (reference sites) are also presented.