Contribution of educational actions for knowledge of high school students about Leprosy = Contribuição de prátiquas educativas para conhecimento de escolares de ensino médio sobre Hanseníase.

Editor's introduction:

Objective: to analyze the knowledge of High School students about Hansen’s disease before and after the practice of health education in the classroom. Method: exploratory, descriptive study with a quantitative approach. The school chosen for the study had 280 students enrolled in High School at Parnamirim-RN, Brazil, and the sample consisted of 190 students. Data were collected through questionnaire and received descriptive statistical analysis. The project was approved by the Research Ethics Committee, Certificate of Presentation for Ethical Consideration No. 00780051000-09. Results: leprosy was little known by students and the lecture informed 100% of the target population of educational activities about the disease. Conclusion: it is important that nurses develop educational activities in health care for the control of leprosy, since knowledge about it can lead to early detection of its signs and symptoms, and pursuit of treatment.

This study leads to the realization of similar actions in the context of school, family and society, given that the health education practices result in positive impacts regarding early identification of leprosy and appropriate referral to health services.