A scoping review of the research on school health and development programs in low resource countries was published in Issue #5, 2016 of Health Education Research. "We included 30 studies meeting specific criteria: (i) studies mainly targeted school going children or adolescents; (ii) admissible designs were randomized controlled trials, controlled before-after studies or interrupted time series; (iii) studies included at least one measure of impact and (iv) were primary studies or systematic reviews. We found that school-based interventions can be classified in two main categories: those targeting individual determinants of health such as knowledge, skills and health behaviors and those targeting environmental determinants such as the social and physical environment at the school, family and community level. Findings suggest that a comprehensive approach addressing both individual and environmental determinants can induce long-term behavior change and significantly improve health and educational outcomes. We highlight the need for further study of the long-term impact of school-based interventions on health outcomes in developing countries." ISHN has been collecting a number of similar reviews that examine different applications of the "School Health & Nutrition" programs/approach to this context. Our recent ISHN report to Members-Subscribers includes similar conclusions to those reached in this review; that there are several "multi-intervention programs" addressing issues such as water-sanitation-hygiene (WASH), school feeding and the prevention of infectious diseases that produce changes both to the conditions in schools as well as student health & behaviours. Read more >> (This item is among the 5-10 highlights posted for ISHN members each week from the ISHN Member information service. Click on the web link to join this service and to support ISHN)
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An article in Issue #6, 2016 of Health Education Journal takes us back to one of the first and most successful planning frameworks using an ecological approach in health promotion. "The Precede–Proceed model has provided moral and practical guidance for the fields of health education and health promotion since Lawrence Green first developed Precede in 1974 and Green and Kreuter added Proceed in 1991. Precede–Proceed today remains the most comprehensive and one of the most used approaches to promoting health. The model has has promoted public health and health promotion practice in five ethically and practically important ways: (1) by advancing the ecological perspective on health that, today, has come to dominate public health practice; (2) by remaining population-centred, rather than focusing on individuals; (3) by demanding democratic and participatory approaches to health promotion; (4) by setting quality of life, rather than behaviour change or even health, as the goal for health promotion; and (5) by being deeply grounded in practice." The ecological-systems-based approach now advocated by ISHN and others goes beyond the important framework to examine organizational development and systems theory in more depth. But, before we wax too poetic about these "new" ideas, we should remember this particular piece of history and the fact that it is still being used widely today. Read more >> (This item is among the 5-10 highlights posted for ISHN members each week from the ISHN Member information service. Click on the web link to join this service and to support ISHN)
The effectiveness, barriers and facilitators of initial teacher training to promote health and well-being in schools was the subject of a systematic review of the research literature. An article in Issue #6, 2016 of Health Education Journal reported the results. "A total of 20 studies met the inclusion criteria, mainly from the UK and Australia. Twelve studies assessed outcomes, commonly using uncontrolled before and after assessment designs. Sixteen studies evaluated the processes of training. Training was diverse in terms of content, format and health topics. The studies demonstrated short-term increases in trainee teachers’ factual knowledge of health issues, a general increase in teachers’ confidence to teach about health and to identify and help children with specific health issues. There was an increase in teachers’ positive beliefs about their role in promoting children’s health. None of the studies assessed changes in pupil outcomes. The training was generally considered acceptable and adequate by trainee teachers. However, some of the trainees felt that they still lacked knowledge and confidence to address sensitive health issues on entering teaching practice". The authors suggest that further evaluation, using controlled trial designs with long-term follow-up of teacher and pupil outcomes, is required. Read more >> (This item is among the 5-10 highlights posted for ISHN members each week from the ISHN Member information service. Click on the web link to join this service and to support ISHN)
ISHN had a wonderful opportunity to visit the school health program in Oman, where every school in the country is provided with a school nurse. These nurses make excellent use of a comprehensive student health record, which is kept in the local community health clinic, accessible by parents and is being gradually posted online. These records offer an excellent source for monitoring the status of school health programs as well as ensuring close attention to individual students. An article in Issue #5, 2016 of The Journal of School Nursing discusses the feasibility of collecting school and nurse data in a similar manner in the USA. "his study evaluated the feasibility of collecting school nurse data on selected child health and education outcomes. Outcome variables included school health office visits; health provider, parent, and staff communication; early dismissal; and medications administered. On an average day, the school nurses cared for 43.5 students, administered 14 medications, and averaged of 17 daily communications. Day 1 data collection times averaged 15 min or less. By Day 5, 6.6 min was needed to complete the survey. Data collection was feasible for 76% of those who elected to participate. Feasibility is enhanced by limiting the number of data points and the number of days for data collection using a data collection web interface. Read more >> (This item is among the 5-10 highlights posted for ISHN members each week from the ISHN Member information service. Click on the web link to join this service and to support ISHN)
General definitions and discussions about health literacy are well underway in the research and practitioner publications. As ISHN and other members of the global school health community embark on a project to delineate the school role in promoting HL, it is important to understand some key concepts. Media literacy is one of these aspects. An article in the October 2016 issue of the Journal of School Health describes how media literacy related to smoking is needed. "Susceptibility to future smoking, positive beliefs about smoking, and perceptions of antismoking norms are all factors that are associated with future smoking. In previous research, smoking media literacy (SML) has been associated with these variables, even when controlling for other known risk factors for smoking. However, these studies were performed with older teenagers, often in high school, not younger teens at a crucial developmental point with respect to the decision to begin smoking. This study uses survey data collected from 656 American public middle school students representing multiple zip codes, schools, and school districts. Results: Smoking media literacy levels for middle school students were similar to those of high school students in earlier studies. Higher SML levels were associated with lower susceptibility to future smoking and predicted susceptibility to smoke when controlling for other risk factors. This suggests that the same relationships found with teenagers may exist with middle school students." Read more >> (This item is among the 5-10 highlights posted for ISHN members each week from the ISHN Member information service. Click on the web link to join this service and to support ISHN)
A commentary in Volume 165, 2016 of Social Science & Medicine discusses how disease focused advoacy movements in the US could become a united force for greater, holistic investments in health and health care. This " critical review of recent literature on U.S. social movements concerned with matters of health and illness prompts reconsideration of the prevailing conception of such movements as necessarily isolated and particularistic. With a focus on disease-constituency-based mobilization—presently the most potent model of efficacious activism to be found in the domain of health and illness in the United States—I argue that such activism may tend in two directions: a specific response to an imminent disease threat, and a bridging of collective action frames and identities that can lead to connections across differences and broader mobilization. Through close analysis of patient group mobilization and its distinctive orientation toward knowledge and expertise, I argue that patient groups in practice may connect with or influence one another or a range of other forms of mobilization in relation to health, and I examine the “linkage mechanisms”—spillover, coalition, and frame amplification—by which this can occur. Rather than imagine a stark opposition between particularistic, single-issue health politics, on the one hand, and universalistic efforts to transform the meaning and practice of health and health care in the United States, on the other, I propose closer attention to the potentially Janus-faced character of many health movement organizations and the ways in which they may look either inward or outward." . In school health and development, we have seen the same potential, as long as we all face outward and recognize each other's legitimacy and concerns. Read more >>(This item is among the 5-10 highlights posted for ISHN members each week from the ISHN Member information service. Click on the web link to join this service and to support ISHN)
An article in the September 2016 issue of School Mental Health reports on the utility of two teacher rating scales for screening for social, emotional, and behavioral problems. Two different teacher ratings systems were assessed:, the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and BASC-2 Behavioral and Emotional Screening System. " The participants were 248 kindergarten students (91 % response rate) from one school district. Receiver operating characteristic analyses and area under the curve values indicate that both measures have moderate to high utility in identifying children demonstrating at-risk academic performance, problematic classroom behavior, and impairment in social and emotional functioning. Regression analyses indicate that both measures account for incremental variance in kindergarten outcomes beyond that accounted for by the school district’s academic screening tool. The BESS was a slightly stronger predictor of academic outcomes, and the SDQ was a slightly stronger predictor of peer outcomes. Implications for selecting a teacher measure for universal screening of social, emotional, and behavioral problems at kindergarten entry are discussed." Read more >>(This item is among the 5-10 highlights posted for ISHN members each week from the ISHN Member information service. Click on the web link to join this service and to support ISHN)
The articles in Issue #3, 2016 of Canadian Journal of School Psychology present a provincial/territorial snapshot of the practice of school psychology across Canada. The introduction notes that "Some provinces also report on the rise of a decentralized clinical administration where the provision of public sector health and social welfare services are increasingly linked to the education system, by recognizing that children are best served in their natural environments. Fundamentally, bridging the gap between “Education” and “Health” is an emerging theme in the present issue given that it represents the most challenging barrier to the implementation of prevention and early intervention programs. The “Global School Health Statement,” (a global dialogue promoted by ASCD, EI and ISHN) which for all intent and purposes, aims for the Integration of Health and Education and recognizes that schools have always “played an important role in promoting the health, safety, welfare, and social development of children.” Similarly, as suggested by Louise Bradley, the Mental Health Commission of Canada CEO, “in order to give today’s young people the best chance, we need to build a bridge—a bridge supported by an integrated, accessible and responsive system.” To date, there is little comprehensive mapping available in Canada of the amount of resources required for the implementation of mental health service provision in schools or of how they should be expended. Efforts to advance mental health in schools have been hampered by the existing gap between Health and Education. As such, by adhering to the “Global School Health Statement” guiding frameworks, school psychologists now seek to find innovative means to integrate health and social programs, which includes mental health, within the education system." Read more >> (This item is among the 5-10 highlights posted for ISHN members each week from the ISHN Member information service. Click on the web link to join this service and to support ISHN)
An article in the September 2016 issue of the Journal of School Health reports on an analysis of school district wellness policies relative to the recommendations of the US Department of Agriculture. "Wellness policies were collected from 10 large, 29 medium, and 31 small school districts in a rural Midwest state. District size was categorized by the average daily membership in grades 9-11. Polices were coded using the Wellness School Assessment Tool (WellSAT). Strength and comprehensiveness of the full policy and policy sections were compared among small, medium, and large districts using 1-way analyses of variance (ANOVAs). There was a difference in the total combined (p = .041), total comprehensiveness (p = .043), and total strength scores (p = .031) based on school district size, such that small districts had stronger, more comprehensive wellness policies than large districts. Section comparisons revealed the section focused on Standards for United States Department of Agriculture School Meals was primarily responsible for these differences.". Read more >>
(This item is among the 5-10 highlights posted for ISHN members each week from the ISHN Member information service. Click on the web link to join this service and to support ISHN) A data review done in Issue #8, 2016 of Psychology in Schools reports on the significant impact that divorce or father's death has on high school completion of the children. Bereavement and divorse are not among the highly covered topics in many health-personal-social development curricula. "Associations between parental loss and high school (HS) completion were examined in data drawn from 1,761 male and 1,689 female offspring born in wedlock to mothers participating in a nationally representative study. Multiple logistic regression models were conducted predicting HS completion by age 19 among offspring whose parents divorced or father died, compared to offspring of continuously married parents. Models were estimated without and with adjustment for correlated sociodemographic characteristics, including maternal education and age at first childbirth and offspring age at last assessment and race/ethnicity. In unadjusted models, parental divorce predicted a 41% decreased odds of HS completion for males, and paternal death predicted a 79% decreased odds of HS completion for females." In other words, even taking when discounting the economic impacts, the completion rate dropped by almost one-half for males due to divorce and by almost three-quarters for females for the death of their father. This study underlines the need for a full scope family studies program in schools. Read more >> (This item is among the 5-10 highlights posted for ISHN members each week from the ISHN Member information service. Click on the web link to join this service and to support ISHN)
Teaching has been recognized as a high stress job but few studies have examined the causes and potential solutions. An article in September 2016 Issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health uses " an adjusted Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model that considers the mediation of personal resources. the study examined the relationships between two characteristics of the work environment (emotional job demands and trust in colleagues) and two indicators of teachers’ well-being (teaching satisfaction and emotional exhaustion). In particular, the study focused on how emotion regulation strategies (i.e., reappraisal and suppression) mediate these relationships. The results of structural equation modeling indicated that: (1) the emotional job demands of teaching were detrimental to teacher well-being, whereas trust in colleagues was beneficial; (2) both emotion regulation strategies mediated the relationships between both emotional job demands and trust in colleagues and teacher well-being; and (3) teachers who tend to use more reappraisal may be psychologically healthier than those tend to adopt more suppression." The authors conclude that "that teachers should be seen as emotional workers, who need to be highly sensitive to the demands that their work makes on their emotions and well-being [61]. Given the high mean score of emotional job demands reported in this study, further attention should be paid to the adverse effects of the emotional demands faced by teachers." As well, they argue that "trust in colleagues is positively related to teaching satisfaction and less emotional exhaustion via the indirect effect of, respectively, reappraisal or suppression." Other studies of the work lives of teachers report that teaching is a lonely occupation and that it is difficult for teachers to work closely with colleagues due to lack of planning time in their work day. Read more >> (This item is among the 5-10 highlights posted for ISHN members each week from the ISHN Member information service. Click on the web link to join this service and to support ISHN)
An article in the special September 2016 issue of the Journal for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) discusses the characteristics of local supporting municipal/school district infrastructure to support school-baszed and school-linked health promotion and sustainable development. "The article aims to explore the following question: ‘How is education for sustainable development and health education in schools approached and contextualized at a municipal level, and what contradictions and tensions might local structures imply for sustainable health promoting school development?’ Based on interviews with key agents at the municipal level in Denmark and drawing on a knowledge exchange network, the article identifies and discusses the following three themes across education for sustainable development and health education: (i) autonomy, engagement and ownership; (ii) open frameworks and invitations to ‘run with the ball’; and (iii) ad hoc professional development. A main conclusion in the article is that local approaches are largely based on plurality and voluntarism, and are formed around enthusiasts. There is a risk that this framework becomes so flexible that it ‘falls apart’ in the balance between rigidity and flexibility. " This finding is typical of the approach often used at the school level, where initial and on-going efforts are almost always dependent on finding and keeping a local "champion" (who usually burns out, move on or gets promoted to another position without any clear plan for succession. Read more>> (This item is among the 5-10 highlights posted for ISHN members each week from the ISHN Member information service. Click on the web link to join this service and to support ISHN)
How Education for Sustainable Development Contributes to High Quality Education & Learning10/11/2016 An article in the special September 2016 issue of the Journal for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) describes how ESD learning contributes to a higher quality of education and learning for students. "This research is a synthesis of studies carried out in 18 countries to identify contributions of education for sustainable development (ESD) to quality education. he analysis revealed that major themes repeated across the 18 studies, showing that ESD contributes in many ways to quality education in primary and secondary schools. Teaching and learning transforms in all contexts when the curriculum includes sustainability content, and ESD pedagogies promote the learning of skills, perspectives and values necessary to foster sustainable societies. " The article also identified the need for better work in integrating ESD across the curriculum and in training teachers. Read more>> (This item is among the 5-10 highlights posted for ISHN members each week from the ISHN Member information service. Click on the web link to join this service and to support ISHN)
A news story out of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada has reminded us about the need to monitor wait times as part of the school health/other services component of a comprehensive approach to school health promotion. The story notes that only 41% of young people in Edmonton received mental health treatment within 30 days after referral. The details of the report are important " according to the latest numbers from Alberta Health Services. The Performance Measure Update shows that for the three-month period between April and June of this year, only 41 per cent of children in the Edmonton zone needing mental health treatment received it within 30 days of a referral.That's down sharply from the same period in 2015, when 94 per cent of children in the Edmonton area saw a therapist within 30 days." But more importantly, this trend was noted and discussed intelligently, with representatives of the local hospital and school board responding with more staff being assigned and the roll-out of a Mental Health First Aid course for teachers that will help with early identification. Because this is part of the Alberta health ministry monitoring plan, comparisons were possible over time and with similar cities in the province. In other words, this is a good example of how a monitoring system should work. Read more>>
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