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NCEA Level 2 Health Education study materials
NCEA Level 2 Health Education study resources

NCEA Level 2 Health Education practice questions

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Question 1Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

Under the NCEA Level 2 Health Education programme, which statement best describes the concept of hauora?

  1. A fitness measure based on how often a person exercises each week.
  2. A medical checklist used only by doctors to record physical symptoms.
  3. A model of wellbeing made up of four interconnected dimensions: physical, mental and emotional, social, and spiritual. Correct answer.
  4. A legal framework that sets rules for school health clinics.

Explanation

Hauora is a Māori concept of wellbeing describing four interconnected dimensions - taha tinana, taha hinengaro, taha whānau, and taha wairua. Because the dimensions interact, a change in one dimension affects the others, so wellbeing is more than just physical health.

Question 2Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

A student describes feeling strong and connected to their ancestors and their values during a pōwhiri. Which dimension of hauora does this most directly reflect?

  1. Taha hinengaro
  2. Taha whānau
  3. Taha tinana
  4. Taha wairua Correct answer.

Explanation

Taha wairua refers to spiritual wellbeing, including a person's sense of connection to values, beliefs, identity, and ancestry. Feeling connected to ancestors and personal values is the defining feature of this dimension.

Question 3Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

Which action best demonstrates the health-promotion strategy of 'creating supportive environments' in a school setting?

  1. Giving each student a pamphlet about nutrition at the start of the year.
  2. Running a one-off assembly where a guest speaker describes the risks of vaping.
  3. Publishing a newsletter article listing the school's rules about bullying.
  4. Providing free drinking water fountains and shaded seating areas that make healthy choices easier. Correct answer.

Explanation

Creating supportive environments means changing the physical and social setting so healthy choices become the easy choices. Water fountains and shaded seating change the environment itself, not just individual knowledge. Information-only strategies target individual awareness rather than the environment.

Question 4Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

The Ottawa Charter identifies five health-promotion actions. Which of these is one of them?

  1. Increase hospital funding
  2. Standardise national curricula
  3. Strengthen community action Correct answer.
  4. Privatise health insurance

Explanation

The Ottawa Charter's five actions are building healthy public policy, creating supportive environments, strengthening community action, developing personal skills, and reorienting health services. Strengthening community action is one of these recognised actions.

Question 5Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

A community group wants residents to decide for themselves how a new youth health hub will run. Which Ottawa Charter action does this most closely reflect?

  1. Building healthy public policy
  2. Reorienting health services
  3. Strengthening community action Correct answer.
  4. Developing personal skills

Explanation

Strengthening community action involves giving communities ownership and a voice in decisions that affect their health. When residents decide how the hub operates, decision-making power sits with the community.

Question 6Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

Which situation best illustrates a determinant of health related to the 'physical environment'?

  1. A student's family income limits which sports gear they can buy.
  2. A student's friends encourage them to try vaping.
  3. A student feels anxious about an upcoming exam.
  4. A student lives in a cold, damp house with mould in the bedrooms. Correct answer.

Explanation

Determinants of health are the conditions and factors that influence health outcomes. The physical environment includes housing quality, so living in a cold, damp house with mould is a physical-environment determinant.

Question 7Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

Which of these is an example of a socio-economic determinant of health?

  1. The temperature of the local climate
  2. A person's level of educational attainment and income Correct answer.
  3. The genetic conditions a person inherits
  4. The number of parks within walking distance of a home

Explanation

Socio-economic determinants include income, education, and employment status, which shape access to resources that support health. Educational attainment and income directly affect housing, nutrition, and healthcare access.

Question 8Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

A health promoter uses the 'develop personal skills' action from the Ottawa Charter. Which activity matches this action?

  1. Teaching students to read food labels and plan low-cost meals Correct answer.
  2. Introducing a city-wide smoke-free policy
  3. Changing zoning laws to limit fast-food outlets near schools
  4. Funding a new community gym

Explanation

Developing personal skills involves education and training that build people's knowledge and ability to make healthy choices. Teaching label-reading and meal planning gives individuals practical skills they can use.

Question 9Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

Which statement best describes the difference between equity and equality in health?

  1. Equity means everyone receives identical support regardless of need, while equality means support is matched to need.
  2. Equity applies only to physical health, while equality applies only to mental health.
  3. Equity means support is distributed according to need so everyone can reach similar health outcomes, while equality means everyone receives the same. Correct answer.
  4. Equity and equality are interchangeable terms in health promotion.

Explanation

Equality gives everyone the same resources, while equity recognises that people start from different positions and allocates support according to need. Equity aims for fair outcomes rather than identical inputs.

Question 10Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

A school wants to reduce harm from alcohol at after-ball parties. Which approach best reflects harm reduction?

  1. Providing safe transport and information about standard drinks and emergency help Correct answer.
  2. Requiring students to sign a pledge never to drink alcohol
  3. Banning all discussion of alcohol at school
  4. Expelling any student who attends an after-ball party

Explanation

Harm reduction accepts that risk behaviour may occur and focuses on reducing the harm rather than eliminating the behaviour. Safe transport and practical information reduce injury and risk without requiring abstinence.

Question 11Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

Which of these is the best example of primary prevention?

  1. Rehabilitating a person after a stroke
  2. Screening women for early signs of breast cancer
  3. Immunising children against measles Correct answer.
  4. Providing medication to manage diagnosed diabetes

Explanation

Primary prevention acts before disease occurs, aiming to stop it developing in the first place. Immunisation prevents measles in people who have not yet been exposed, so it is primary prevention.

Question 12Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

A person recovering from a heart attack joins a cardiac rehabilitation programme to regain function and prevent further events. Which level of prevention is this?

  1. Secondary prevention
  2. Primary prevention
  3. Tertiary prevention Correct answer.
  4. Primordial prevention

Explanation

Tertiary prevention supports people with an established condition to reduce complications, restore function, and improve quality of life. Cardiac rehabilitation after a heart attack fits this level.

Question 13Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

Which statement best explains why the four dimensions of hauora are described as interconnected?

  1. Only the physical dimension matters because it determines the other three.
  2. The dimensions apply only to adults and not to young people.
  3. A change in one dimension, such as ongoing stress, can affect sleep, relationships, and sense of purpose. Correct answer.
  4. Each dimension operates independently, so improving one has no effect on the others.

Explanation

Interconnection means the dimensions influence each other, so a shift in one area ripples into the others. Ongoing stress can disrupt sleep, strain relationships, and affect a person's sense of meaning.

Question 14Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

A student analyses why rates of rheumatic fever are higher in some New Zealand communities. Which explanation best reflects a determinants-of-health analysis?

  1. Those affected simply make poorer personal choices than other people.
  2. The illness occurs randomly and cannot be linked to social conditions.
  3. Crowded, cold housing and limited access to primary care increase exposure and reduce early treatment. Correct answer.
  4. Rheumatic fever is caused by genetics alone.

Explanation

A determinants analysis looks at the conditions shaping health, such as housing quality and healthcare access. Crowded, cold housing spreads streptococcal infection, and limited primary care delays treatment of sore throats.

Question 15Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

Which action best reflects the Ottawa Charter strategy of 'building healthy public policy'?

  1. A nurse gives a talk about sunscreen at assembly.
  2. A student joins a weekend sports team.
  3. A teacher explains the risks of sun exposure in class.
  4. A council introduces a policy requiring shade structures at all new public playgrounds. Correct answer.

Explanation

Building healthy public policy involves formal decisions by governments or councils that make healthy choices easier for whole populations. A council policy requiring shade structures changes the environment through regulation.

Question 16Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

Which of these best describes the purpose of the Health and Physical Education learning area in the New Zealand Curriculum?

  1. To rank students against national fitness benchmarks.
  2. To replace community health services within schools.
  3. To help students develop knowledge, skills, and attitudes for healthy, active lives and contribute to healthy communities. Correct answer.
  4. To prepare students only for careers in medicine and sport.

Explanation

The Health and Physical Education learning area aims to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that support students to lead healthy, active lives and contribute to the wellbeing of their communities. It is broader than career preparation or fitness testing.

Question 17Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

A group of students surveys peers about stress and then designs a peer-support programme. Which skill is being demonstrated most clearly?

  1. Memorising definitions of hauora
  2. Reciting the five Ottawa Charter actions
  3. Describing the stages of disease
  4. Applying the health-promotion planning process to address an identified need Correct answer.

Explanation

The health-promotion planning process involves identifying a need, gathering evidence, and designing an action to address it. Surveying peers and building a support programme shows this applied planning cycle.

Question 18Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

Which statement best explains why health promoters should consider cultural factors when designing an intervention?

  1. Cultural factors only matter for international programmes.
  2. Health promoters should avoid involving communities to remain objective.
  3. Cultural factors are irrelevant if the intervention is evidence-based.
  4. Interventions are more effective when they are culturally appropriate and reflect the values and practices of the community. Correct answer.

Explanation

Culturally appropriate interventions are more likely to be accepted, trusted, and sustained by the community. Reflecting local values and practices improves engagement and effectiveness.

Question 19Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

A student argues that 'wellbeing is only about not being sick'. Which critique best challenges this view using hauora?

  1. It is correct because health is simply the absence of disease.
  2. It overlooks the mental, social, and spiritual dimensions that contribute to wellbeing even when a person is physically well. Correct answer.
  3. It is wrong because physical health does not matter.
  4. It is correct only for young people.

Explanation

Hauora frames wellbeing as more than the absence of illness, incorporating mental and emotional, social, and spiritual dimensions. A person can be physically well yet experience poor wellbeing in other dimensions.

Question 20Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

Which of these best describes 'reorienting health services' as an Ottawa Charter action?

  1. Closing all hospitals to save money.
  2. Moving health services so they focus more on prevention and community needs, not only treatment. Correct answer.
  3. Requiring patients to pay for every visit.
  4. Transferring all health services to private companies.

Explanation

Reorienting health services means shifting the focus of services toward prevention, community participation, and health promotion alongside treatment. It is about the direction of services, not simply funding or ownership changes.

Question 21Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

A community has high rates of type 2 diabetes. Which action best reflects a settings-based approach to health promotion?

  1. Making healthy food the default in local schools, workplaces, and marae. Correct answer.
  2. Running a single television advertisement about diet.
  3. Publishing national statistics on diabetes.
  4. Telling individuals to try harder to lose weight.

Explanation

A settings-based approach acts within the places where people live, learn, work, and gather, such as schools, workplaces, and marae. Changing food environments across these settings makes healthy choices easier for many people at once.

Question 22Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

Which factor is best described as a social determinant of health?

  1. A person's blood pressure reading
  2. The strength of a person's social connections and support networks Correct answer.
  3. The number of hours a person sleeps
  4. A person's height

Explanation

Social determinants are the social conditions that shape health, including relationships, social support, and community connectedness. Strong social connections are linked to better health outcomes.

Question 23Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

A student evaluates two anti-bullying initiatives: one gives a single assembly talk, the other trains peer mediators and changes playground supervision. Which analysis is most defensible?

  1. The peer-mediation and supervision change is likely stronger because it alters the social environment and builds ongoing skills. Correct answer.
  2. Neither can affect bullying because bullying is a personal choice.
  3. Both are equally effective because both involve students.
  4. The assembly talk is stronger because it reaches every student at once.

Explanation

Changing the social environment and building sustained skills is more likely to reduce bullying than a one-off information event. Environmental and skills-based strategies address the conditions that allow bullying to continue.

Question 24Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

Which statement best describes the relationship between attitudes and behaviours in health education?

  1. Only environment matters, and attitudes have no influence.
  2. Attitudes always translate directly into behaviour with no other influences.
  3. Behaviour is influenced by attitudes, but also by social norms, skills, and environmental factors. Correct answer.
  4. Behaviour is unrelated to attitudes in any circumstance.

Explanation

Health education recognises that attitudes shape behaviour but are not the only influence; social norms, skills, and environment also play a role. This is why effective programmes combine education with environmental change.

Question 25Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

Which of these best illustrates the 'developing personal skills' action in a mental-health context?

  1. Building a new counselling centre
  2. Passing a law limiting social media use
  3. Teaching students strategies for recognising and managing stress Correct answer.
  4. Funding a national mental-health campaign

Explanation

Developing personal skills means building people's knowledge and ability to manage their own health, such as learning stress-management strategies. It focuses on individual capability rather than infrastructure or legislation.

Question 26Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

A Year 12 student is planning a class health-promotion project on reducing sedentary time. Which action best shows the Ottawa Charter strategy of creating supportive environments?

  1. Negotiating with the school to install water fountains and shaded seating so students can move and rest during breaks Correct answer.
  2. Asking each student to sign a personal pledge to walk more
  3. Producing a poster listing the health risks of sitting
  4. Running a one-off quiz about the benefits of physical activity

Explanation

Creating supportive environments means changing the physical and social settings so healthy choices are easier and safer for everyone. Physical changes such as seating and water access alter the environment itself, not just individual knowledge or intentions. The other actions target individual awareness or personal commitment only.

Question 27Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

Which statement best describes the difference between a health inequity and a health inequality?

  1. An inequity refers to illness, while an inequality refers to injury
  2. An inequity is measured in rates, while an inequality is measured only in numbers of people
  3. An inequity only occurs between countries, while an inequality only occurs within one country
  4. An inequity is an avoidable, unfair difference in health status, while an inequality is any observed difference, which may be fair or unfair Correct answer.

Explanation

An inequality is simply a measurable difference in health between groups. It becomes an inequity when that difference is judged to be avoidable and unjust, often caused by unequal access to resources. Not every inequality is unfair, which is why the two terms are not interchangeable.

Question 28Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

A Year 12 class identifies that students avoid seeking help for mental distress because they fear being teased. Which determinant of health does this most directly illustrate?

  1. Biological determinant
  2. Economic determinant
  3. Cultural determinant
  4. Social determinant Correct answer.

Explanation

Fear of stigma and teasing is a social factor: it arises from relationships, norms and how people treat one another. Social determinants include stigma, social support and belonging. Biological factors relate to the body, economic factors to income and cost, and cultural factors to shared beliefs and practices.

Question 29Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

A public health team wants to reduce skin cancer in a region. Which action is an example of primary prevention?

  1. Providing free sunscreen in schools and promoting shade policies Correct answer.
  2. Screening adults over 50 for early signs of melanoma
  3. Running a programme to help people who have had skin cancer return to work
  4. Offering surgery to remove suspicious moles

Explanation

Primary prevention acts before disease occurs, aiming to stop it developing in the first place. Sunscreen access and shade policies reduce exposure in healthy people. Surgery treats existing disease, rehabilitation restores function after illness, and screening aims to detect disease early rather than prevent it.

Question 30Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

A student uses the Te Whare Tapa Whā model to explain why a person with a chronic illness may still report strong wellbeing. Which explanation best fits the model?

  1. The four walls can compensate for one another, so strong taha whānau and taha wairua can sustain wellbeing even when taha tinana is weakened Correct answer.
  2. Wellbeing depends only on the absence of physical illness
  3. Wellbeing is fixed at birth and cannot change over a lifetime
  4. Physical health is the foundation, so the other dimensions cannot function if taha tinana is weak

Explanation

Te Whare Tapa Whā describes wellbeing as a wharenui supported by four walls: taha tinana, taha hinengaro, taha whānau and taha wairua. The walls interact, so strength in some dimensions can support wellbeing when another is under strain. The model does not rank one dimension above the others.

Question 31Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

A community group wants to apply the Ottawa Charter action 'reorienting health services'. Which activity best matches this action?

  1. Charging patients a fee for each GP visit
  2. Training health professionals to work with community organisations on prevention and wellbeing, not only treatment Correct answer.
  3. Building a new hospital car park
  4. Increasing the number of prescriptions issued per year

Explanation

Reorienting health services means shifting services beyond cure and treatment towards prevention, health promotion and collaboration with communities. Training professionals to work preventively with community groups reflects this shift. Building car parks, prescribing more or adding fees do not change the orientation of services towards prevention.

Question 32Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

A health promoter argues that a campaign should be designed with the local iwi and Pacific communities rather than for them. Which principle does this best reflect?

  1. Individual responsibility, where each person manages their own health
  2. Competition, where providers compete for funding
  3. Cultural competence and partnership, where communities shape the intervention Correct answer.
  4. Cost-effectiveness, where the cheapest option is chosen

Explanation

Designing with communities reflects partnership and cultural competence, recognising that those affected hold knowledge about their own needs. This aligns with the Ottawa Charter emphasis on community participation and with culturally responsive practice. The other options describe different, unrelated priorities.

Question 33Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

Which action best demonstrates the Ottawa Charter strategy of 'developing personal skills'?

  1. Running workshops that build students' skills to recognise and respond to mental distress in friends Correct answer.
  2. Changing a law to ban smoking in cars carrying children
  3. Creating a council policy on healthy school lunches
  4. Installing more lighting in a local park

Explanation

Developing personal skills involves education and skill-building that help people make healthy choices and support others. Workshops that build mental-health first-aid skills fit this action. Legislation, park lighting and council policy are examples of healthy public policy or supportive environments.

Question 34Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

A student compares two approaches to reducing vaping among young people: a social marketing campaign on its own, and a combined approach with price controls, school policy and support to quit. Which conclusion is best supported by health-promotion theory?

  1. Neither approach can influence youth vaping rates
  2. The campaign alone will work best because information is the strongest influence on behaviour
  3. The combined approach is likely to be more effective because it addresses multiple determinants at once Correct answer.
  4. Price controls are irrelevant because young people do not notice cost

Explanation

Health behaviour is shaped by many determinants, including knowledge, cost, social norms and environment. An approach that changes several of these at once is more likely to be effective than information alone. The Ottawa Charter similarly emphasises combining strategies rather than relying on a single action.

Question 35Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

Which statement best explains why the Health and Physical Education learning area promotes a strengths-based approach?

  1. It teaches only about disease and risk factors
  2. It ranks students by fitness test results
  3. It focuses on what students can already do and builds on that to support wellbeing Correct answer.
  4. It identifies students who are failing and reports them to their parents

Explanation

A strengths-based approach starts from what learners and communities already do well and builds capability from there. It is linked to the concept of hauora and to promoting wellbeing rather than focusing only on deficits. Ranking, reporting or focusing solely on disease are deficit-oriented.

Question 36Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

A group of students gathers data on how peers cope with exam stress, then designs and evaluates a peer-support programme. Which combination of health-education skills are they demonstrating?

  1. Research and inquiry skills combined with action and evaluation skills Correct answer.
  2. Only first-aid skills
  3. Only physical fitness skills
  4. Only memorisation of health facts

Explanation

Gathering and interpreting data draws on research and inquiry skills. Designing, running and evaluating a programme draws on action and critical-thinking skills. Together these reflect the key competencies of the Health and Physical Education learning area.

Question 37Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

A person who has a heart attack joins a cardiac rehabilitation programme to regain fitness and reduce the risk of another event. Which level of prevention does this best illustrate?

  1. Tertiary prevention Correct answer.
  2. Primary prevention
  3. Primordial prevention
  4. Secondary prevention

Explanation

Tertiary prevention supports people who already have a disease to reduce complications, restore function and prevent recurrence. Cardiac rehabilitation fits this level. Primary prevention acts before disease occurs, and secondary prevention aims at early detection.

Question 38Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

A school wants to reduce harm from alcohol at after-ball parties. Which approach is the clearest example of harm reduction?

  1. Removing all information about alcohol from the school
  2. Expelling any student who attends an after-ball party
  3. Providing supervised transport and water, and briefing students on looking after friends, without requiring abstinence Correct answer.
  4. Requiring every student to sign an abstinence pledge

Explanation

Harm reduction accepts that risk behaviour may occur and works to reduce the harm that results, rather than insisting on abstinence first. Supervised transport, water and peer care reduce injury and other harms. Punishment, silence or pledges focus on abstinence and do not reduce harm for those who attend.

Question 39Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

Which of these best describes 'health promotion' as defined in the Ottawa Charter?

  1. The treatment of illness in hospitals
  2. The process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health Correct answer.
  3. The testing of individuals for genetic diseases
  4. The sale of health insurance products

Explanation

The Ottawa Charter defines health promotion as the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health. This emphasises empowerment and the conditions that support health. Treatment, insurance and genetic testing are narrower activities that do not capture this definition.

Question 40Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

A student critiques the claim that 'wellbeing is simply the absence of illness'. Which critique best uses the concept of hauora?

  1. Wellbeing is the same as fitness
  2. Wellbeing can only be measured by a doctor
  3. Wellbeing includes physical, mental and emotional, social and spiritual dimensions, so a person can be ill and still experience wellbeing Correct answer.
  4. Wellbeing is only about mental health

Explanation

Hauora is a holistic concept covering taha tinana, taha hinengaro, taha whānau and taha wairua. Because wellbeing depends on all four dimensions, a person with an illness may still experience strong wellbeing through social and spiritual connections. Equating wellbeing with the absence of illness ignores these dimensions.

Question 41Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

Which of the following is the best example of a social determinant of health?

  1. A person's age
  2. A person's blood type
  3. The level of social support available from family and friends Correct answer.
  4. The altitude of the town where a person lives

Explanation

Social determinants are the social conditions in which people live, including social support, relationships and community connections. Blood type and age are biological or demographic factors, and altitude is part of the physical environment.

Question 42Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

A student is analysing why rates of a preventable illness differ between two neighbourhoods with similar populations. Which factor would be classified as a physical-environment determinant rather than a socio-economic one?

  1. The average household income in each neighbourhood
  2. The quality of drinking-water supply and housing insulation in each neighbourhood Correct answer.
  3. The cost of doctor visits in each neighbourhood
  4. The level of unemployment in each neighbourhood

Explanation

Physical-environment determinants include features such as water quality, housing condition, air quality and insulation. Income, unemployment and the cost of services are socio-economic determinants. The question asks which factor belongs to the physical environment.

Question 43Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

A student evaluates two anti-bullying initiatives: one is a single assembly talk, the other trains peer mediators and reviews school policy. Which evaluation is best supported?

  1. Both are equally effective because both involve students
  2. The assembly talk is stronger because it reaches the whole school at once
  3. The peer-mediator and policy approach is likely to be more effective because it changes behaviour, relationships and rules over time Correct answer.
  4. Neither can be evaluated because bullying data are unavailable

Explanation

Effective health promotion usually combines sustained strategies that change skills, relationships and environments. Training peer mediators builds skills and social support, while policy review changes the rules and expectations that shape behaviour. A single assembly may raise awareness but is unlikely to change behaviour on its own.

Question 44Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

A student wants to challenge the view that people who are unwell are simply 'not trying hard enough'. Which concept best supports a more accurate explanation?

  1. Luck, because health is random
  2. Genetics alone, because environment has no effect
  3. Individual blame, because health is entirely a personal choice
  4. The determinants of health, because health outcomes are shaped by social, economic, cultural and environmental conditions Correct answer.

Explanation

The determinants of health explain how conditions such as income, housing, education, culture and environment shape health outcomes. Recognising these conditions shifts analysis away from blaming individuals. Genetics matter but do not operate alone.

Question 45Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

A health promoter is planning a programme for a community with limited income. Which consideration is most consistent with a health-equity approach?

  1. Focusing on the cheapest possible programme regardless of who it reaches
  2. Assuming everyone has equal access to transport and technology
  3. Removing cost barriers and targeting support to those with the greatest need Correct answer.
  4. Designing the programme for the average person only

Explanation

A health-equity approach recognises that people have different needs and barriers, and allocates support accordingly. Removing cost barriers and targeting those with the greatest need reduces unfair differences. Assuming equal access or designing for an average person can widen inequities.

Question 46Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

A student is analysing a school-based programme that teaches refusal skills alongside a policy banning energy drinks on campus. Which statement best explains why combining these strategies is consistent with the Ottawa Charter?

  1. The Charter is concerned only with hospital care
  2. The Charter promotes combining actions such as developing personal skills and building healthy public policy Correct answer.
  3. The Charter focuses only on individual behaviour change
  4. The Charter recommends using only one action at a time

Explanation

The Ottawa Charter sets out five actions and expects them to be combined in practice. Refusal skills reflect developing personal skills, while the ban reflects healthy public policy. Combining them addresses both individual capability and the environment.

Question 47Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

Which of these best illustrates the concept of 'empowerment' in health education?

  1. A community group identifying its own health priorities and leading an action plan Correct answer.
  2. A doctor making decisions for a patient without consent
  3. A school banning all student input into health programmes
  4. A health professional telling a patient what to do without discussion

Explanation

Empowerment means people gain the knowledge, confidence and power to act on their own health priorities. A community group setting its own priorities and leading action demonstrates this. Decisions made for people without their input reduce rather than build empowerment.

Question 48Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

A student is evaluating a school wellbeing programme that reports high satisfaction but has not measured whether students' coping skills or help-seeking changed. Which critique is most appropriate?

  1. The evaluation should be ignored because it used a survey
  2. The evaluation is complete because satisfaction is the only measure that matters
  3. The programme must be effective because students liked it
  4. The evaluation is limited because satisfaction alone does not show whether the programme changed skills or behaviour Correct answer.

Explanation

Evaluating a health programme requires evidence of outcomes such as skills, behaviour or wellbeing, not just how much participants enjoyed it. High satisfaction can coexist with little change in capability. A stronger evaluation would measure whether coping and help-seeking actually changed.

Question 49Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

Which statement best describes how the concept of 'health literacy' supports a person's wellbeing?

  1. It is the number of prescriptions a person receives each year
  2. It is the ability to access, understand and use health information to make decisions and act Correct answer.
  3. It is the amount of money a person spends on health care
  4. It is the ability to run a marathon

Explanation

Health literacy is the capacity to find, understand and use health information to make informed decisions and take action. It supports people to navigate services and manage their wellbeing. Physical fitness, spending and prescription counts are not definitions of health literacy.

Question 50Health (Level 2 achievement standards)

Under the socio-ecological model, which factor is classified as an interpersonal influence on a young person's decision to smoke?

  1. Peer pressure from close friends who smoke Correct answer.
  2. A school policy banning smoking on grounds
  3. Genes that affect nicotine sensitivity
  4. A national tax increase on tobacco products

Explanation

The socio-ecological model separates influences into individual, interpersonal, organisational/community and societal levels. Interpersonal influences come from relationships such as friends, whānau and peers, so pressure from friends who smoke sits at that level.