(An item from the ISHN Member information service) An article in the May 2013 issue of MBC Public Health may suggest that school health promotion efforts be more focused on students in vocational courses and alternative schools. This study aimed at investigating hazardous drinking, tobacco smoking and physical inactivity as well as their associations and demographic predictors in vocational school students.Out of 57 contacted vocational schools in Switzerland, a total of 24 schools participated in a survey assessing gender, age, immigrant background, educational attainment and vocational field as well as the their smoking, drinking and other behaviours. The authors report that "Of the surveyed students, 79.4% showed at least one risk factor, 43.6% showed two or more and 9.6% showed all three health risk factors. Hazardous drinking was more prevalent in male, physical inactivity was more prevalent in female vocational school students. The proportion of students with low physical activity and tobacco smoking increased with increasing age. While the combination of hazardous drinking and tobacco smoking was higher in males, the other risk factor combinations were observed particularly among females. Read more>>
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(An item from the ISHN Member information service) An article in the April 2013 Issue of BMC Public Health explores the process, reception and reactions to school closings during an outbrerak of influenza or other diseases. School closings, if done quickly and effectively, may disrupt the disease transmission vectors in such outbreaks. The authors note that "Drawing on Thompson et al’s ethical framework for pandemic planning, we show that considerable variation existed between and within schools in their attention to ethical processes and values. In all schools, health officials and school leaders were strongly committed to providing high quality care for members of the school community. There was variation in the extent to which information was shared openly and transparently, the degree to which school community members considered themselves participants in decision-making, and the responsiveness of decision-makers to the changing situation. Reservations were expressed about the need for closures and quarantine and there was a lack of understanding of the rationale for the closures. In our study, trust was the foundation upon which effective responses to the school closure were built. Trust relations within the school were the basis on which different values and beliefs were used to develop and justify the practices and strategies in response to the pandemic. Read more>>
(An item from the ISHN Member information service) An article in Issue #6, 2013 of Preventive Medicine reports on the success of a three year capacity-building approach to school physical activity promotion. According to the authors " The objective was to determine changes in capacity over a 3 year intervention (2005–2008) in schools and whether greater increases in capacity were associated with greater decreases in overweight/obesity. “It's your Move!” (IYM) was an obesity prevention project, in 12 Australian secondary schools (5 intervention; 7 comparison), that aimed to increase community capacity to promote healthy eating and physical activity. Capacity was assessed pre/post intervention using the ‘Community Readiness to Change (RTC)’ tool. Comparisons from baseline to follow-up were tested using Wilcoxon Signed-Ranks and results plotted against changes (Newcombe's paired differences) in prevalence of overweight/obesity (WHO standards). RTC increased in intervention schools (p = 0.04) over time but not for comparison schools (p = 0.50). The intervention group improved on 5 of 6 dimensions and the three intervention schools that increased three levels on the RTC scale each had significant reductions in overweight/obesity prevalence. Read more>>
(An item from the ISHN Member information service) An article in Issue #2, 2013 of Preventive Medicine reports on a research review seeking to determine if it was possible to increase the amount of time actually being active in PE classes. The authors report that "From an initial pool of 12,124 non-duplicate records, 14 studies met the inclusion criteria. Students in intervention conditions spent 24% more lesson time in MVPA compared with students in usual practice conditions (standardized mean difference = 0.62). " The authirs conclude that "Given the small number of studies, moderate-to-high risk of bias, and the heterogeneity of results, caution is warranted regarding the strength of available evidence. However, this review indicates that interventions can increase the proportion of time students spend in MVPA during PE lessons. As most children and adolescents participate in PE, these interventions could lead to substantial public health benefits." Read More>>
(An item from the ISHN Member information service) An article in Issue #6, 2013 of the American Journal of Public Health reports on the growing use of the RE-AIM Framework, a planning/assessment tool that measures changes in the system implementing innovations.Almost all of the 45 studies reviewed used all five elements of the assessment tool, namely Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance. It is the latter two elements that offer greater insights into capacity and sustainability issues. Read more>>
(An item from the ISHN Member information service) An article in Issue #3, 2013 of Health Education Research suggests five ways to improve school-based physical activity promotion. Based on a narrative review of the available research evidence, the authors " identified several promising strategies and grouped into five broad intervention guidelines. These guidelines are as follows: (i) design multi-component interventions that foster the empowerment of members of the school community; (ii) develop improvements to Physical Education curricula as a strategy to promote physical activity to adolescents; (iii) design and implement non-curricular programmes and activities to promote physical activity; (iv) include computer-tailored interventions during the implementation and monitoring of physical activity promotion programmes and (v) design and implement specific strategies that respond to the interests and needs of girls." Read more>>
(An item from the ISHN Member information service) An article in the July 2013 Issue pf Preventing Chronic Disease reports on the trends in Health-Related Quality of Life Among Adolescents in the United States, 2001–2010. the authors found that: "Overall, adolescents’ self-rated health was fairly stable from 2001 through 2004 but worsened afterward. The adjusted percentage of adolescents reporting excellent or very good health in 2009–2010 (51.8%) was significantly lower than in 2001–2002 (63.4%) and 2003–2004 (64.0%). The adjusted percentage of adolescents reporting fair or poor health was significantly higher in 2007–2008 (10.0%) than in 2003–2004 (5.7%). This same pattern occurred among adolescents with low family income. The percentage of adolescents from high-income families who reported excellent or very good health also decreased, but the percentage who reported fair or poor health did not increase. The adjusted percentage of adolescents reporting zero, 1 to 13, or 14 or more physically unhealthy days did not change over the study period (Table 1) or by family income level (Table 2). Adolescents’ mental health worsened over time, especially recently. The adjusted percentage reporting zero mentally unhealthy days was fairly stable from 2001 through 2006 but declined significantly from 60.9% in 2005–2006 to 49.4% in 2009–2010 (Table 1). Yet, only in adolescents from low-income families did the percentage of zero mentally unhealthy days significantly decrease (from 63% in 2003–2004 to 46% in 2009–2010). The percentage reporting 14 to 30 mentally unhealthy days increased significantly, almost doubling, from 2001–2004 through 2009–2010. Read more>>
(An item from the ISHN Member information service) Teaching is a high stress occupation and there is often discussion (but less action) to support teacher wellness. An article in Issue #2, 2013 of School Mental Health reports on the use of the Triple P Parenting Workplace program on a group of teachers who are also parents. The authors report that" Analyses indicated the intervention had a positive effect on a range of occupational variables including work-to-family conflict, family-to-work conflict, occupational stress and teaching efficacy. Intervention effects were also found for family- and personal adjustment-related variables including dysfunctional parenting styles, child behaviour, parenting efficacy, and depression and anxiety. Small to large effect sizes were obtained (Cohen’s d = .34–.85), and all intervention effects were maintained at 4-month follow-up. The results indicate that a parenting intervention can reduce work–family conflict and occupational stress and improve family functioning in teachers balancing work and family". Read more>>
(An item from the ISHN Member information service) Several articles in Issue #5, 2013 of British Journal of School Nursing provide a quick, yet through look at the many roles played by school nurses. The hands-on articles cover these topics: motivational interviews with obese children, counseling students on sexual health issues, managing a measles, managing students with Type 2 diabetes, responding to asthma attacks, help students with serious skin problems, responding to forced marriages of older students, helping teachers with their lessons and more. Read more>>
(An item from the ISHN Member information service) Two articles in Issue #3, 2013 of School Psychology International describe the long=lasting impact of conflicy and violence on students. The first article describes the ecology of family life, neighbourhoods and schools in Belfast. Controlling for religious community, age, and gender, youths’ lower academic achievement was associated with family environments characterized by high conflict and low cohesion. School behaviour problems were related to greater exposure to community violence, or sectarian and nonsectarian antisocial behaviour. Youths’ expectations about educational attainment were undermined by conflict in the family environment and antisocial behaviour in the community, as well as parenting low in warmth and behavioural control. The second article describes interactions between teachers & Arab students in Bedouin schools in Israel. "Student responses indicated that abusive teacher behaviors occur often and are increasing since 1997. Female students tended to register higher levels of punitive teacher behaviors than male students and secondary school students tended to register higher levels of punitive teacher behaviors than elementary school students". Read more>>
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