If you plan to become an educator in the state of Missouri, you will need to complete and pass the Missouri Educators Gateway Assessment or MEGA. The MEGA measures an educator candidate’s pedagogical knowledge, content knowledge, and their dispositions and work styles. There are several MEGA exams that can be taken, such as Speech & Theater, Art, and Chemistry.
The MEGA Health exam is a computer-based exam that includes 100 multiple-choice questions. The test is 2 hours long with an additional 15 minutes to complete the tutorial and nondisclosure agreement.
The MEGA Health exam contents include:
• Healthy Growth and Development
• Understand the functioning and interrelationships of body systems and major stages of growth and development.
• Understand the nature of disease, factors and behaviors, that increase and decrease susceptibility to disease, and benefits of personal health and wellness practices.
• Understand core principles of nutrition and the importance of establishing healthy eating patterns.
• Understand the benefits of physical activity and principles and components of health-related physical fitness.
• Social, Emotional, and Mental Health
• Understand principles and skills related to managing stress and maintaining mental and emotional health.
• Understand factors, issues, and concepts related to sexual health and reproductive health, as well as how to foster students’ ability to abstain from, avoid, and prevent sexual risk behaviors.
• Understand types and characteristics of interpersonal communication and relationships, as well as how to foster students’ ability to use interpersonal skills to avoid health risks and maintain healthy relationships.
• Safety and Risk Reduction
• Understand principles and skills for maintaining safety; preventing accidents, injuries, and violence; and responding to emergencies.
• Understand health risks associated with the use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs, as well as how to foster students’ ability to avoid alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs.
• Understand the role of decision making and goal setting in implementing, evaluating, and sustaining healthy behaviors, as well as how to foster students’ ability to use decision-making and goal-setting skills to enhance personal and family health.
• Health Education, Literacy, and Advocacy
• Understand principles and techniques for locating, evaluating, and accessing valid health information, products, and services and the role of advocacy skills and resources in promoting personal, family, and community health.
• Understand the influence of family, peers, society, culture, media, technology, and the environment on personal, family, and community health.
• Understand instructional, assessment, and professional practices associated with a coordinated school health program (CSHP) and a comprehensive health education curriculum.
MEGA Health (041) Practice Questions
1.In the World Health Organization (WHO) World Health Surveys (WHS), which of the following types of data were obtained on the individual rather than household level?
a. Indicators of income
b. Health care expenditures
c. Health insurance coverage
d. Health care system responsiveness
2. What is the School Health Index (SHI)?
a. A tool that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) uses to rate school health policies
b. A tool that the CDC uses for (C) and (D) but not for (A)
c. A tool to help schools in their health self-assessments
d. A tool to help schools create health policies and plans
3. Of the following research methods for gathering health-related data, which one is most applicable to collect aggregate information on large population groups?
a. Questionnaires
b. Observations
c. Interviews
d. Surveys
Answers
- D: In the World Health Surveys (WHS), income indicators (A), health care expenditures (B), health insurance coverage (C), and household members were data collected on the household level. Data collected on the individual level included sociodemographic information, health state descriptions, health state valuations, health risk factors, chronic health conditions, health care use, mortality, social capital, and the responsiveness of health care systems (D).
2. B: The School Health Index (SHI) was developed jointly by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and national health and education nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), school staffs, school health experts, and parents as a self-assessment (C) and planning (D) guide. Schools use it to help conduct needs assessments to identify the strengths and weaknesses of their health and safety policies and programs, develop action plans for enhancing health to include in their School Improvement Plans (SIPs), and engage students, teachers, parents, and communities in health-promoting, health-enhancing behaviors.
3. D: While questionnaires (A) can be sent to large groups of people, they also can be used to collect data on an individual and small group basis equally well or better (i.e., not all recipients return mailed questionnaires, whereas individuals and small groups, when given these directly in clinical, public health, or other settings, are obligated to complete them). Observations (B) are most useful for gathering data about individuals or small groups as they require researchers to watch their actions and interactions directly (overtly or covertly). Interviews (C) typically require one-to-one question-and-answer interactions between researchers and respondents. The survey (D) method enables researchers to collect large-scale data on entire population groups, often through a combination of these other methods, by obtaining the same information from a much greater number of respondents.
