scholarly journals School nurses’ engagement and care ethics in promoting adolescent health

2021 ◽  
pp. 096973302098514
Author(s):  
Yvonne Hilli ◽  
Gunnel Pedersen
Keyword(s):  
Health Promotion ◽  
Care Ethics ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Good Health ◽  
School Nurses ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Ethical Considerations ◽  
Health Habits ◽  
Health Promoting ◽  
Low Threshold

Background: The school is a key environment for establishing good health habits among pupils. School nurses play a prominent role in health promotion, since they meet with every single adolescent. Research aim: To describe care ethics in the context of school nurses’ health-promoting activities among adolescents in secondary schools. Research design: An explorative descriptive methodology in which semi-structured interviews were used to collect data and content analysis was performed. Participants and research context: Data were collected from eight school nurses in a municipality in Western Sweden. Ethical considerations: This study was conducted according to the ethical principles of the Swedish Research Council (2011), and the written informed consent of the participants was obtained. Findings/discussion: A caring relation, based on care ethics, is the basis for successful health-promoting activities among adolescents. The school nurses show strong engagement in and commitment to caring for and caring about adolescents by being attentive and listening to their expressed feelings and needs, both spoken and unspoken. Furthermore, the school nurses have a deep sense of responsibility in supporting and empowering adolescents to trust their own capabilities. To enhance health and well-being, school nurses emphasize low-threshold counselling, flexibility, openness, early intervention and continuity, as well as good collaboration with the health team at school and with parents. Conclusion: Strengthening person-centred healthcare can provide adolescents with the recognition and support they need to grow into healthy adults. For successful health promotion, all aspects of the ethics of care should be considered as part of an integrated whole based on the integrity of care.

Significance of Informal Learning and Literacy in Health Promotion in Rural Kenya: Seeking Maasai Women’s Voices

2021 ◽  
pp. 0272684X2110046
Author(s):  
Taeko Takayanagi
Keyword(s):  
Health Promotion ◽  
Informal Learning ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Good Health ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Women's Voices ◽  
Rural Kenya ◽  
Narrative Case Studies ◽  
Village Women ◽  
The Village

Aiming to understand how Maasai women use informal learning and literacy to access to health information and improve well-being of their family at the village level, this qualitative study explores the significance of village based informal learning and literacy in maintain good health among village women and girls in the male-dominated community in rural Kenya. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, informal conversations and observations. 15 Village women, 12 women’s group leaders and 10 government officials were interviewed during an intensive six-month field study in Kenya. The information obtained from the interviews was analysed thematically and as narrative case studies. Results indicate that the village women initiate manageable health promotion activities to improve the well-being of their family and community via informal learning and literacy approaches. The study also concludes that the interviewed Maasai women developed their own effective communication mechanism to improve the situation of gender inequality in their community.

Priorities for African youth for engaging in DOHaD

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. J. Macnab ◽  
R. Mukisa
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Health Promotion ◽  
Health Behaviors ◽  
Good Health ◽  
Economic Factors ◽  
Risk Population ◽  
What Works ◽  
Health Promoting School ◽  
Health Promoting ◽  
African Youth

A challenge for implementing DOHaD-defined health promotion is how to engage the at-risk population. The WHO Health Promoting School (HPS) model has proven success engaging youth and improving health behaviors. Hence, we introduced DOHaD concepts to 151 pupils aged 12–15 years in three HPS programs in rural Uganda, inquired what factors would make DOHaD-related health promotion resonate with them, and discussed how they recommended making learning about DOHaD acceptable to youth. Economic factors were judged the most compelling; with nutrition and responsive care elements next in importance. Suggested approaches included: teach how good health is beneficial, what works and why, and give tools to use to achieve it, and make information positive rather than linked to later harm. Involve youth in making DOHaD learning happen, make being a parent sound interesting, and include issues meaningful to boys. These are the first data from youth charged with addressing their engagement in the DOHaD agenda.

The Importance of Religiosity to the Well-Being of African American Older Adults Living With Dementia

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 509-518 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fayron Epps ◽  
Ishan C. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Health Promotion ◽  
Family Caregivers ◽  
Family Involvement ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Religious Practices ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Religious Activities ◽  
Structured Interviews

This study was a post hoc analysis of a larger qualitative descriptive study exploring family involvement in health promotion activities for African Americans living with dementia where participants identified religious practices as meaningful health promotion activities. The purpose of this study was to explore ways in which religiosity may influence the well-being of older adults living with dementia. Semi-structured interviews were conducted among a sample of 22 family caregivers and 15 older adults living with dementia ( N = 37). Three themes emerged: Engagement, Promotion of Faith and Spiritual Connectedness, and Maintenance of Religious Practices. It is imperative for family caregivers to understand the important contributions of religious activities and beliefs to the well-being of their family member. This information might be of use for faith communities, policy makers, and health care providers in the provision of optimal person-centered care and the promotion of quality of life for persons living with dementia.

Online Opinion Leaders in the Health Promotion Digital Era

2021 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 295-309
Author(s):  
Joyce Cheah Lynn-Sze ◽  
◽  
Azlina Kamaruddin ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Health Promotion ◽  
Health Communication ◽  
Opinion Leader ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Opinion Leaders ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
The Public

Health opinion leaders have widely embraced social media for health promotion and public health communication which can make a strong influence on the public decision making. However, despite the growing relevance of public health threats such as infectious diseases, pandemic influenza and natural disasters, research has paid little attention to the qualities of opinion leaders. Moreover, there is limited evidence that public health organisations use social media appropriately to engage in meaningful conversations with audiences. Thus, the aims of the study are to describe principles of communication practised by online opinion leaders to promote health issues, to discuss the strategies of social media used, to explain the opinion leaders’ influence attributes in health decision making and finally to develop a model of online opinion leader in the contemporary health promotion era. Content analysis was conducted on Facebook postings of five selected health opinion leaders. In addition, semi-structured interviews with 10 followers were conducted. The findings of the study revealed that there are three principles of communication practised by online opinion leaders, which are language, interaction and themes. There are three strategies opinion leaders use to influence the public: social connectivity, social support and social consultation. Furthermore, there are five opinion leaders’ attributes that influence the public’s decision making, namely personality, authenticity, trust/credibility, professional knowledge and social position. The model would be beneficial in educating and guiding the current public health opinion leaders in order to establish health and social well-being. Keywords: Online opinion leader, online health communication, public health, two-step flow theory, decision making.

Are Lebanese schools adopting a health promotion approach in their curricula?

2018 ◽  
Vol 78 (4) ◽  
pp. 476-485 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marwan Akel ◽  
Iqbal Fahs ◽  
Pascale Salameh ◽  
Emmanuelle Godeau
Keyword(s):  
Health Promotion ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Dental Health ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Shared Vision ◽  
Awareness Campaigns ◽  
Health Promoting School ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Health Promoting ◽  
Improve Health

Introduction: The concept of the health promoting school offers a coherent approach to promoting health and well-being within a whole school community. This study sought to evaluate the health programmes and policies adopted by different Lebanese schools, and their appropriateness for this role as part of health promotion. Methods: Our research took the form of a prospective observational study involving 50 schools from different areas of Lebanon. Data were collected using a questionnaire based on the Health Assessment Tool for Schools (HATS). Data were analysed to describe school characteristics and to reveal differences in the health topics addressed. Results: Most of the schools included in the study came from Mount Lebanon (56%). Around 70% of the involved schools offered health-related courses in their curricula. Health-related seminars and workshops (60%) and health awareness campaigns took place at the studied schools, with 98% incorporating physical education into the curriculum. Dental health (74%), smoking cessation (72%) and physical activity (68%) were among other most addressed topics, while mental health was the least discussed (20%). The majority (70%) of schools had a shared vision of what promoting health involved and sought to promote the active involvement of community members in the life of the school (60%). Around two-thirds of the schools (66%) provided physical support and facilities, and had developed policies for health promotion. Less than half of these schools’ health committees, however, had developed plans to improve health promotion and review data to ensure the effectiveness of their programmes. Conclusion: The study findings suggest that despite weaknesses, the majority of the sampled schools had either implemented or were in the process of implementing a health promoting school programme to improve health education and students’ well-being.

scholarly journals Measuring health promotion: translating science into policy

2020 ◽  
Vol 59 (S2) ◽  
pp. 11-23
Author(s):  
James C. Griffiths ◽  
Jan De Vries ◽  
Michael I. McBurney ◽  
Suzan Wopereis ◽  
Samet Serttas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Promotion ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Human Microbiome ◽  
Good Health ◽  
Lifestyle Changes ◽  
Phenotypic Flexibility ◽  
Positive Health ◽  
Health Promoting Behaviors ◽  
Health Promoting ◽  
Nutritional Studies

Abstract Commonly, it is the end of life when our health is deteriorating, that many will make drastic lifestyle changes to improve their quality of life. However, it is increasingly recognized that bringing good health-promoting behaviors into practice as early in life as possible has the most significant impact across the maximal healthspan. The WHO has brought clarity to health promotion over the last fifteen years, always centering on language relating to a process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their physical, mental and social health. A good healthspan is not just freedom from morbidity and mortality, it is that joie de vivre (“joy of living”) that should accompany every day of our lifespan. Therefore, health promotion includes not only the health sector, but also needs individual commitment to achieve that target of a healthspan aligned with the lifespan. This paper explores health promotion and health literacy, and how to design appropriate nutritional studies to characterize contributors to a positive health outcome, the role the human microbiome plays in promoting health and addressing and alleviating morbidity and diseases, and finally how to characterize phenotypic flexibility and a physiologic resilience that we must maintain as our structural and functional systems are bombarded with the insults and perturbations of life.

Grow Online: feasibility and proof of concept study

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-42
Author(s):  
Ryan P. Chesnut ◽  
Melina Czymoniewicz-Klippel ◽  
Jennifer M. DiNallo ◽  
Daniel F. Perkins
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Attrition Rate ◽  
Emotion Coaching ◽  
Preliminary Evaluation ◽  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Use Of Technology ◽  
Health Promoting ◽  
Care Information

Purpose Digitally delivered, parent-focused interventions (DD-PFIs) are viewed as an important method for supporting child well-being. Few DD-PFIs include health-promotion and general-parenting content, and only some are intended for a universal audience. The purpose of this paper is to focus on a preliminary evaluation of Grow Online, which was designed to address this gap. Design/methodology/approach A mixed-methods design, including pretests and posttests and semi-structured interviews, was employed to evaluate program feasibility and demonstrate proof of concept. Findings Feasibility findings were favorable, which indicates participants were satisfied with the program, liked the main program features, found the content helpful and had a positive experience using the website. Initial recruitment was strong, and engagement with the sessions was high; however, retention was poor with a 73.5 percent attrition rate. Significant pre- to post-changes were found on measures of over-reactive discipline, parenting efficacy, emotion coaching, coping socialization, child physical activity support, rewarding eating and child externalizing and internalizing behaviors. Research limitations/implications Study design and high attrition limit the ability to infer causality and generalize beyond the sample. Practical implications Providing support to parents through a universal health-promoting DD-PFI is viable, though issues involving retention need to be given full consideration. Originality/value Parents use of technology to access child care information is increasing, but most information online is not evidence-informed. Grow Online fills an important gap in the research and practice of DD-PFIs, and this study’s findings suggest a more rigorous evaluation is merited.

scholarly journals Health Promotion in Socially Vulnerable Youth: Sports as a Powerful Vehicle?

2019 ◽  
pp. 152483991987475
Author(s):  
Karen Van der Veken ◽  
Sara Willems ◽  
Emelien Lauwerier
Keyword(s):  
Health Promotion ◽  
Participatory Research ◽  
Community Based Participatory Research ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Health Behavior Change ◽  
Intervention Design ◽  
Vulnerable Youth ◽  
Community Sport ◽  
Health Promoting ◽  
Community Sports

Community sport has emerged in the past decades and uses sports as a lever to improve health and well-being among socially disadvantaged youth. Despite this premise, we do not know whether and to what extent health promotion aims are achieved within community sports practice. Measurable actions are needed, but it can be hard for researchers or practitioners to know how to approach this. This study aimed at developing a health-promoting intervention targeting youth attending community sports. To this aim, we used a planned approach for intervention design within a community-based participatory research design. The result is a group-based program promoting health-supportive behavior among community sport coaches, as we found coaches to be quintessential in fostering motivation toward health behavior change in vulnerable youth attending community sports. The design of such a complex intervention is difficult, yet tractable, when using a planned approach. Of importance, community engagement was the core of our work and we provide the reader with detailed examples on the combined use of participatory research and planned intervention design. This article provides an exemplar of how to approach the development of a health-promoting intervention in hard-to-reach populations.

scholarly journals Exercise and Life-Satisfactory-Fitness: Complementary Strategies in the Prevention and Rehabilitation of Illnesses

2004 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christiane Jennen ◽  
Gerhard Uhlenbruck
Keyword(s):  
Family Environment ◽  
Leisure Time ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Good Health ◽  
Preventive Effect ◽  
The Metabolic Syndrome ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Retrospective View ◽  
Health Promoting ◽  
Positive Outlook

Moderate training of an endurance nature, but also other exercise activities, not only has a preventive effect on various illnesses and pre-illness states such as the metabolic syndrome and cancer, but is also effective in treating patients in the rehabilitation phase after illness, e.g. cardiovascular or cancer. Our investigation demonstrates that even low level physical activity has a very good preventive effect too, which is enhanced when it is accompanied by mental activity and psychological well-being. In total, we investigated 13 000 people on the basis of socio-economic panel polls with respect to life contentment, health status and leisure-time activities. Life contentment is positively linked to contentment with labor, which seems to be an essential aspect with regard to the increasing number of unemployed people in Europe. The second important factor is health-promoting activities during leisure time. Exercise, especially, has a significant influence on life satisfaction as a feeling of physical fitness feeling is regarded as synonymous with good health. The results underline the psycho-neuroimmunological network, which stabilizes our health and shows that different activities in older adults have a significant effect on the aging process and age-related illnesses. Besides the various activities that are important in this arena, namely muscle and mental mobility (‘brawn and brain’), a third component must be taken into consideration: life contentment in the form of a successful retrospective view and a positive outlook, embedded in a psychosocial family environment (‘brood’) and integrated in a stress-free biotope, where life does make sense. Alternative and complementary strategies should be considered in light of these three aspects when we think about additional anti-inflammatory strategies in preventing diseases or treating them and their relapses.Sport has made a few healthy people ill, but sport has also made a good few of ill people healthy! (Gerhard Uhlenbruck, Aphorisms)

Health Practices of School Nurses

2003 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 273-280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah Petch-Levine ◽  
Virginia Young Cureton ◽  
Daryl Canham ◽  
Meg Murray
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
School Nurse ◽  
School Nurses ◽  
Health Practices ◽  
Design Strategies ◽  
Convenience Sample ◽  
Health Promoting Behaviors ◽  
Important Health ◽  
Health Promoting ◽  
Statistical Relationships

The health practices of school nurses affect our role as advocates and educators to promote the health of youth. This study describes the health practices of a convenience sample of 388 school nurses who attended the business meeting at an annual school nurse conference. A self-administered, 40-item questionnaire identified health practices of school nurses in the following areas: (a) health promoting behaviors, (b) exercise, (c) nutrition, (d) relaxation and well-being, (e) safety, and (f) substance use. The subjects most often avoided tobacco and wore seatbelts. The majority did not maintain their weight or exercise consistently. Statistical relationships were explored among the subscales and background items. These data document the need to design strategies to narrow the gap between actual school nurse health practices and the important health messages being delivered in our schools.

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