(An item from the ISHN Member information service) We often refer to the need to have an evidence-based framework for planning and implementing health/development approaches and programs. One of these frameworks is the Concerns-based Adoption Model model that was published several years ago. An article published in Issue 33, 2013 of the Journal of Educational Administration by one of the authors of this model examines the implementation processes through this lens. "this paper introduces the three diagnostic dimensions of the CBAM) along with illustrations of how each can be used to assess extent of implementation. Highlights from the four decades of development and use of each of these constructs are presented. Each of the constructs, Stages of Concern, Levels of Use and Innovation Configurations, is described along with review of the four decade story of its measurement development. Reference is made to selected studies. Implications of each construct for research, program evaluation and facilitating change processes are highlighted."  Read more>>

(An item from the ISHN Member information service) An article in Issue #2, 2013 of the Asia-Pacific Journal on Teacher Education reports on a survey of 1397 teachers in Australia, followed by interviews with 37 teachers. the authors report that one-half to two-thirds of teachers were knowledgeable and confident about selected components of mental health promotion. The authors report that "Independent judgments by staff about students’ mental health status concurred with students’ scores on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire in about 75% of cases, indicating a good level of staff awareness about students’ mental health status. Exposure to the KidsMatter Primary mental health promotion initiative was associated with improvements in teachers’ efficacy, knowledge and pedagogy, with small to medium effect sizes. Qualitative analysis indicated that teachers’ subject-matter and pedagogical knowledge were heavily reliant on curriculum resources." Implications of these findings are discussed. Read more>>

(An item from the ISHN Member information service) An article in Issue #2, 2013 of the Canadian Journal of Counselling & Psychotherapy reviews the literature on youuth to work transitions and then extracts the implications for counsellors. The authors "first discuss today’s hypermodern world, specifically the meanings being conveyed by today’s complex social realities and their impact on individuals’ (work) lives. An overview of research, most of it framed from the perspective of current youth studies literature, follows, addressing how today’s youth think, feel, and act while negotiating work transitions. Finally, some implications for career counselling theory and practice are derived, using some of the most recent developments in the career field theory as an integrative framework."  Read More>>

(An item from the ISHN Member information service) The school health movement has focused on transforming schools through "whole school" strategies. As proponents, we would learn much from reading Issue #2, 2013 of Improving Schools, where the concept of "schoolwide pedagogies" is discussed in a special issue. There are several articles but this quote from the concluding article is quite revealing. "The term schoolwide pedagogy was once rarely heard and yet has now become a part of most discussions around school improvement. But what does it really mean and why is the presence of a schoolwide pedagogical framework important? Some would say that in their school the adoption of an authoritative approach such as Habits of Mind, Bloom’s Taxonomies or the Productive Pedagogies is a schoolwide pedagogical framework. To some extent they are, but what is often lacking is the intellectual and social capacity that is built through collective professional sharing and articulation of strongly held beliefs about contextually relevant teaching and learning practices. Without this sense of ownership, teacher adoption ends up being sporadic at best with some teachers paying only lip service to imposed quality frameworks". If this is the case for matters at the heart of the school (ie how to teach), then what can we expect for matters such as health, which are often seen as secondary? (unless we truly understand and commit to working within schools in a sustained manner) Read more>>

(An item from the ISHN Member information service) An article in Issue #2, 2013 of the European Journal of Education describes the policies and pathways used to help young people make the transition between secondary schooling and employment. The authors report that "young people's transitions from education to work are shaped by a variety of structural and institutional relations in education and the labour market. We argue that analysis of developments in approaches to education and training benefits from including these perspectives. This article explores these differences and similarities in a comparative transnational context across two continents. The article suggests that it not useful, whether from a policy or scholarly perspective, to link education and employment without examining the role and type of the welfare state, including the role and type of capitalism within that state, and the relationship of the welfare state to transition systems. With these concerns as our focus, the article has two objectives. The first is to establish some links between comparative research on transition systems and the literatures on welfare state regimes and varieties of capitalism. The second is to draw out some of these links with two concrete and contrasting examples in a comparative manner, focussing on Denmark and Australia. Free access to full text is provided. Read More>>

(An item from the ISHN Member information service) The Transition Year (TY) program in Ireland is an optional one-year program that can be taken in the year after the Junior Certificate in Ireland and is intended to make the senior cycle a three year program encompassing both Transition Year and Leaving Certificate.[The mission statement of the Transition Year is to promote the personal, social, educational and vocational development of pupils and to prepare them for their role as autonomous, participative and responsible members of society.. The TY was introduced as a pilot project in September 1974 and was introduced as a mainstream option in 1994. Students in the TY do not have exams but are assessed, The program s intended to be a broad educational experience which assists in the transition from the school environment by encouraging creativity and responsibility for oneself. Approximately 75% of second-level schools offer TY. It consists of both education and work experience. Schools generally set admissions criteria and design the program based on local needs in accordance with departmental guidelines. The year focuses on many non-academic subjects, such as life skills including: First Aid, cooking, self-defense, driving and typing. A lot of sport goes on, with many different types including: rock-climbing, hill-walking, horse-riding, kayaking and orienteering. Voluntary Work is a requirement in many schools, with students helping out in local communities and charities. It is not possible to fail Transition Year overall: all students continue to their next year of education no matter what their results. However, if a student does not do the set work or is absent for a large amount of time, there is a chance that the school will request that they leave. An article in Issue #2, 2013 of Irish Educational Studies documents the development of the program since its inception.The use of the TY to offset economic or other disadvantages is also discussed.  Read more>>

(An item from the ISHN Member information service) Knowing that there is often too much content to cover in a health/personal-social development curriculum, health advocates often suggest that other subjects be used to convey health messages. This is an attractive idea but a qualitative study from singapore, reported in Volume 31 of Teaching & Teacher Education, reports that implementing an integrated curriculum strategy may be difficult for teachers. The authors report that "In this qualitative study, we examined eleven Singapore teachers' conceptions of teaching and learning as related to their experiences implementing integrated curriculum. Interviews revealed that the teachers' conceptions of integration spanned the spectrum of ideas found in relevant literature. Further, although participants saw benefits to integration, including greater engagement of learners, they also spoke of significant obstacles to its implementation, such as teachers' own perceived lack of subject knowledge and a misalignment with the assessment system. The findings, while echoing previous studies conducted in various countries, highlight implementation difficulties in settings where high stake examinations and disciplinary-based curriculum prevail.". Read more>>

(An item from the ISHN Member information service) An article in Volume 30, 2013 of the Journal of Teaching & Teacher Education explores how the micro=politics of the school, particularly the staffroom, where teachers spend much of their non-teaching time, as a key factor in teacher development, particularly their professional identity. The article examines the effect of the staffroom on beginning health/PE teachers. The authors suggest that "Staffroom occupants shaped situations which beginning teachers encountered. Micropolitical practices reflected personal and professional interests and knowledge. The staffroom context had the capacity to [re]shape beginning teacher learning."   Read more>>

(An item from the ISHN Member information service) An article in Issue #3, 2013 of the British Journal of Guidance & Counselling explores the connection between career guidance programs and well-being or health. Since many health education curricula are now combined with career education, this focus is worthy of discussion. The authors suggest that "There are both conceptual and empirical reasons to expect that the impacts may be positive, but a lack of evidence directly testing this proposition. Career guidance has commonalities with therapeutic counselling suggesting analogous effects, and it promotes positive engagement in work and learning, which may be associated with health benefits. There are implications for services in reconciling health and employment objectives. However, the promotion of well-being need not imply quasi-clinical ways of working. A call is made for more research and debate in the career guidance community. Read more>>

(An item from the ISHN Member information service) Several articles in a Supplementary Issue of Public Health Reports provide a comprehensive reframing of sexual health promotion, moving away from disease-focused, preventive strategies towards a holistic and health promoting approach. One article in the issue presents an excellent ecological analysis and then presents the principles that could underlie ecology-based actions. These principles include contextualizing the issues, using systemic thinking, focusing on relationships, acknowledging sexuality and emphasizing wellness. Another article reports on how the state or Oregon is shifting from a teen pregnancy strategy to a sexual health promotion approach. Two articles present indicators for monitoring progress in the US and Canada. Two articles discuss the impact of socio-economic status on teen pregnancy and early initiation of sexual activity. Read more>>

(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>>

(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>>

(An item from the ISHN Member information service) An article in Issue #2, 2013 of School Psychology Quarterly presents the results of an APA Working Group studying the application of implementation science to school psychology. The authors report that "ncreasing attention to implementation will lead to the improvement of school psychological services and school learning environments. Key elements of implementation and implementation science are described. Four critical issues for implementation science in school psychology are presented: barriers to implementation, improving intervention fidelity and identifying core intervention components, implementation with diverse client populations, and implementation in diverse settings. What is known and what researchers need to investigate for each set of issues is addressed. A discussion of implementation science methods and measures is included. Finally, implications for research, training and practice are presented". Read more>>

(An item from the ISHN Member information service) A review of the research on multi-intervention approaches to school health promotion reported in the July 2013 issue of the Journal of School Health suggests that effective approaches included stronger consideration of integration within the school system. the local context, building capacity for sustained implementation and ensuring coordination. The authors report that "Findings indicated that, for adequate implementation, an intervention should be integrated in pre-existent school settings, fine-tuned to its target population or environment, involve family and the community, and be led by the school itself, with there being a “healthy school coordinator” to coordinate the program." Read more>>

(An item from the ISHN Member information service) Three articles in the June 2013 issue of the Journal fo School Health help us to understand how teacher concerns, their perceived efficacy and their normative beliefs will determine their responses to student bullying. The first article describes how teachers in conflict prone urban schools employed a number of strategies associated with resilience, such as prayer and seeking support from family and colleagues, but also engaged in some avoidance strategies, such as emotional withdrawal and avoiding difficult students. The second study of reported that perceived threat and efficacy were associated with teachers' likelihood of intervening. For less experienced teachers, perceived efficacy, but not perceived threat, was strongly associated with likelihood of intervening. For more experienced teachers, both perceived threat and perceived efficacy were significantly associated. The third article notes that teacher normative beliefs about sexual harassment reduced the likelihood of intervention. Read more>>