(An item from the ISHN Member information service) The existence of a micro-political system in each school has been discussed often in educational research. An article in Issue #3, 2013 of the NASSP Bulletin discusses how this can affect new principals. The researchers report that "This year-long qualitative study detailed the lived experiences of two suburban novice middle school principals as they found themselves leading within a macropolitical environment containing slashed public school budgets, contracted student programs, teacher cutbacks, and policy mandates to improve student achievement. The study captured the ideologies and values of subsystems between teachers and administrators, negotiations of boundaries and turf between administrators and teachers, and how principals asserted bureaucratic leadership approaches for political ends. Read more>>
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(An item from the ISHN Member information service) A systematic review of school and community-based mental health programs in low and middle countries was reported in the September 2013 o=issue of BMC Public Health. The reviewers report that of the 22 studies selected for the review "With regard to the school-based interventions, the quality of evidence from the 14 studies is moderate to strong. Findings indicate that there is reasonably robust evidence that programmes implemented across diverse LMICs can have significant positive effects on students’ emotional and behavioural wellbeing, including reduced depression and anxiety and improved coping skills. Promising interventions include the Resourceful Adolescent Program (RAP-A), delivered by teachers in Mauritius. This study is an example of an evidence-based intervention adapted from a HIC. Another promising intervention is the teacher led peer-group support intervention for AIDs orphaned children. This study suggests the potential of peer support mental health promotion interventions in optimizing adjustment and decreasing the psychological distress associated with AIDS orphanhood. Such interventions may have great potential in addressing the increased risk of depression, peer relationship problems, post-traumatic stress and conduct problems. There is also some encouraging evidence that interventions which combine lifeskills with reproductive and sexual health education and physical health and fitness can have a significant positive effect on pupils’ risk-taking and prosocial behaviour. These findings are consistent with the substantive evidence from multiple reviews of school-based interventions in HICs which report the greater effectiveness of multi-component interventions (i.e. interventions that adopt a social competence approach and develop supportive environments), when compared with interventions that focus on specific problem behaviours". Read more>>
(An item from the ISHN Member information service) Family dinners have recently been highlighted as a way of promoting health of children and adolescents as well as preventing different health problems. However, an article in Issue #3, 2013 of the Journal of Health & Social Behavior reports that an analysis of the 1997 US National Longitudinal Study of Youth (n = 5,419) suggests that dinners have little effect on substance use and may actually cause an increase. The authors report that "The results indicate that family dinners are not generally associated with alcohol or cigarette use or with drug use initiation. However, a continuous measure of family dinners is modestly associated with marijuana frequency, thus suggesting a potential causal impact. These results show that family dinners may help prevent one form of substance use in the short term but do not generally affect substance use initiation or alcohol and cigarette use." Read more>>
(An item from the ISHN Member information service) Two articles in Volume 93, 2013 of Social Science & Medicine indicate that complexity theory is emerging as a planning and analysis tool in public health and health promotion. the two examples are a public health response TB outbreak in London, UK and a disaster management planning & response in five Canadian communities. Some of the complexity concepts that emerged in the two articles include self-direction, inter-connectedness, culture as a backdrop, dynamic contexts, situational awareness and connectedness, and others. Read more>>
(An item from the ISHN Member information service) A review article reported in Issue #9, 2013 of the American Journal of Public Health makes the cost-effectiveness argument for the use of school-based Dental Therapists. The authors report that "The United States faces a significant problem with access to oral health care, particularly for children. More than 50 countries have developed an alternative dental provider, a dental therapist, practicing in public, school-based programs, to address children’s access to care. This delivery model has been demonstrated to improve access to care and oral health outcomes while providing quality care economically. We summarize elements of a recent major review of the global literature on the use of dental therapists, “A Review of the Global Literature on Dental Therapists: In the Context of the Movement to Add Dental Therapists to the Oral Health Workforce in the United States.” We contrast the success of a school-based model of caring for children by dental therapists with that of the US model of dentists providing care for children in private practice. Read more>>
(An item from the ISHN Member information service) An article in the September 2013 issue of School Psychology Quarterly describes the ambivalent feelings and perceptions of parent involvement held by by teachers. The study was designed as follows: "Parent involvement indicators and correlates were selected from a review of existing research. Participants included 34 teachers and 577 children in kindergarten through third grade. The vast majority of the sample was African American (78%), followed by Caucasian (19%) and other ethnic backgrounds (2%). Two subscales from the Parent Involvement-Teacher scale, contact and comfort, were entered as indicators in a latent profile analysis to determine the number and types of parent involvement classes. Contact included the frequency of interactions between parents and teachers; comfort included the quality of their relationship with the parent and how well their goals were aligned". The authors report that "Three classes provided the optimal solution. This included two classes of parents with low contact with teachers but different comfort levels; one with low contact and low comfort (11%), and one with low contact but high comfort (71%). The remaining class, representing 18% of parents, was rated high on both contact and comfort. Low income status, family problems, and social, emotional, academic, and self-regulation problems distinguished the low comfort class from the other two classes. It is imperative to help teachers feel more comfortable working with families who may be experiencing substantial stressors and who also have children who need support across school and home settings." Read more>>
(An item from the ISHN Member information service) An article from the August 2013 issue of the Canadian Journal of Educational Administration & Policy reports on a research review examining the impact of a school's culture on physical activity levels. The authors state that " Edgar Schein’s organizational culture model offered the framework for analysis in which pertinent articles were categorized into one of three levels of school culture: (1) artifacts, (2) espoused values, and (3) underlying member assumptions.
School artifacts associated with physical activity were used more frequently by students and staff when these spaces and equipment were maintained, relevant to the school context and when daily practices allowed access to these artifacts during leisure times. A secondary theme revealed the importance of school-based, adult and student role models; when both were plentiful in schools, students and staff were more active at school on a daily basis. Another key finding indicated that students in Physical Education (PE) classes that reinforced traditional, team games (i.e., basketball, volleyball) were less active than students in PE classes that incorporated culturally relevant, lifestyle, and small-sided games. Read more>> (An item from the ISHN Member information service) A research review published in Issue #3, 2013 of Advances in School Mental Health suggests that "no clear consensus statement has emerged regarding school mental health promotion other than that child mental health is an important area that should be addressed in schools. This integrative review seeks to address this gap." The authors conclude that " Findings suggest a whole school approach focusing on mental health promotion rather than on mental illness prevention is effective in promoting child and youth mental health. However, study populations are limited and many studies either lack clarity regarding who implemented interventions, lack theoretical foundations, process evaluations or youth viewpoints." Read more>>
Note: The International School health Network has posted a draft consensus statement on school mental health programs on this web page. As well, an overview of the research and experience on SMH programs can be found on this web page in a Wikipedia style summary. (An item from the ISHN Member information service) We have been tracking the absence of effect on physical activity programs on obesity/overweight in this web site. (PA has many other benefits but apparently not reductions in weight). However, it appears that a focus on mental health and friendships may hold greater promise. An article in the September issue of the Journal of School Health reports on the aboriginal adaptation of the Healthy Buddies program. The authors note that: "There was a significant decrease in zBMI (1.10 to 1.04, p = .028) and WC (77.1 to 75.0 cm, p < .0001) in the HB group (N = 118) compared with an increase in zBMI (1.14 to 1.23, p = .046) and a minimal WC change in the control group (N = 61). Prevalence of elevated BP did not change in the HB group, but increased from 16.7% to 31.7% in the control group (p = .026). General linear model analysis revealed a significant interaction between time, group, and zBMI (p = .001), weight status (p = .014), nutritious beverage knowledge (p = .018), and healthy living and self-esteem score (p = .005). The HB program is a promising school-based strategy for addressing obesity and self-esteem in Aboriginal children." Read More>>
(An item from the ISHN Member information service) An article in Issue #4, 2013 of Journal of Health Organization & Management discusses how the unique professional identities and norms of physicians can hinder organizational improvements and developments. Since school health promotion programs usually and ultimately report to a physician who is the senior manager, this article should be of importance when seeking to modify health system approaches to schools. The authors found that "If managers want physicians to engage in improvements, they must learn to understand and appreciate physician identity. This might challenge managers' identity. The paper shows how managers – primarily in a Swedish context – could act to facilitate physician engagement. This in turn might challenge physician identity. Read more>>
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