scholarly journals Health Promoting Schools in Germany. Mapping the Implementation of Holistic Strategies to Tackle NCDs and Promote Health

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 2623
Author(s):  
Kevin Dadaczynski ◽  
Thomas Hering
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Teacher Training ◽  
Capacity Building ◽  
Noncommunicable Diseases ◽  
Federal State ◽  
Intersectoral Collaboration ◽  
Local Health ◽  
Federal States ◽  
Health Promoting ◽  
Regular Teacher

Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and their underlying risk factors are seen as major public health problems that threaten health and welfare systems worldwide. The holistic and resource oriented Health Promoting School (HPS) approach can serve as an appropriate framework for the prevention and control of NCDs. The paper aimed to map the implementation of HPS activities in German schools and to examine associations with potential influencing factors. A series of cross-sectional online studies including five federal states and 5006 school principals (40.2% males, 50.8% females) from primary and secondary public schools was conducted from 2013 to 2018. Principal component analysis (PCA) resulted in two factors of HPS implementation (F1: concrete HPS action, F2: capacity building for HPS). Comparing both factors, a lower implementation level could be identified for HPS capacity building with lowest mean values found for regular teacher training and intersectoral collaboration. Multiple binary regression analyses revealed significant associations between low HPS implementation and male gender (OR: 1.36 to 1.42), younger age (OR: 1.47 to 1.90), secondary school (OR: 1.78 to 3.13) and federal state (Lower Saxony = OR: 1.27 to 1.45; Schleswig-Holstein = OR: 1.95 to 2.46). Moreover, low access to resources, decision-latitude and perceived educational benefits were independently associated with both factors of HPS implementation. Based on the results of this study, there is a need to support schools in their capacity building for health (e.g., regular teacher training, cooperation with local health services). Moreover, considering the core mission of schools, more evidence of the educational impact of health promotion and its translation into the language of education is needed for secondary schools in particular.

scholarly journals Development of the reproduction number from coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 case data in Germany and implications for political measures

BMC Medicine ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sahamoddin Khailaie ◽  
Tanmay Mitra ◽  
Arnab Bandyopadhyay ◽  
Marta Schips ◽  
Pietro Mascheroni ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Structural Changes ◽  
Reproduction Number ◽  
National Level ◽  
Transmission Dynamics ◽  
Federal State ◽  
Parameter Estimates ◽  
Time Varying ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Robert Koch Institute ◽  
Federal States

Abstract Background SARS-CoV-2 has induced a worldwide pandemic and subsequent non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) to control the spread of the virus. As in many countries, the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Germany has led to a consecutive roll-out of different NPIs. As these NPIs have (largely unknown) adverse effects, targeting them precisely and monitoring their effectiveness are essential. We developed a compartmental infection dynamics model with specific features of SARS-CoV-2 that allows daily estimation of a time-varying reproduction number and published this information openly since the beginning of April 2020. Here, we present the transmission dynamics in Germany over time to understand the effect of NPIs and allow adaptive forecasts of the epidemic progression. Methods We used a data-driven estimation of the evolution of the reproduction number for viral spreading in Germany as well as in all its federal states using our model. Using parameter estimates from literature and, alternatively, with parameters derived from a fit to the initial phase of COVID-19 spread in different regions of Italy, the model was optimized to fit data from the Robert Koch Institute. Results The time-varying reproduction number (Rt) in Germany decreased to <1 in early April 2020, 2–3 weeks after the implementation of NPIs. Partial release of NPIs both nationally and on federal state level correlated with moderate increases in Rt until August 2020. Implications of state-specific Rt on other states and on national level are characterized. Retrospective evaluation of the model shows excellent agreement with the data and usage of inpatient facilities well within the healthcare limit. While short-term predictions may work for a few weeks, long-term projections are complicated by unpredictable structural changes. Conclusions The estimated fraction of immunized population by August 2020 warns of a renewed outbreak upon release of measures. A low detection rate prolongs the delay reaching a low case incidence number upon release, showing the importance of an effective testing-quarantine strategy. We show that real-time monitoring of transmission dynamics is important to evaluate the extent of the outbreak, short-term projections for the burden on the healthcare system, and their response to policy changes.

Whose money matters in public education: A “public” good that parents purchase

2021 ◽  
pp. 147821032110343
Author(s):  
Eunju Kang
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Public Education ◽  
School Districts ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
New York State ◽  
Federal State ◽  
Education Funding ◽  
Funding Policy ◽  
State And Local

Instead of asking whether money matters, this paper questions whose money matters in public education. Previous literature on education funding uses an aggregate expenditure per pupil to measure the relationship between education funding and academic performance. Federalism creates mainly three levels of funding sources: federal, state, and local governments. Examining New York State school districts, most equitably funded across school districts among the 50 states, this paper shows that neither federal nor state funds are positively correlated with graduation rates. Only local revenues for school districts indicate a strong positive impact. Parents’ money matters. This finding contributes to a contentious discourse on education funding policy in the governments, courts, and academia with respect to education funding and inequality in American public schools.

scholarly journals How to build capacity to best use good/best practice

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
D van Dale ◽  
K Leenaars
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Capacity Building ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Product Information ◽  
Monitoring And Evaluation ◽  
Intersectoral Collaboration ◽  
Implementation Study ◽  
Combine Process ◽  
Work Shop ◽  
Incentive Strategies

Abstract In the Netherlands the best practice portals contains approximately 325 best and good practices with different levels of recognition (well described, theoretically sound and effective). Evaluations of the portal (2013 and 2018) show that the portal is well appreciated by professionals of municipal health services and stakeholders but the uptake of best practices can be improved. An implementation study (2014) to the uptake of interventions revealed that the RIVM had to work on dissemination strategies for policymakers, capacity building implementing best practices by professionals and incentive strategies for both groups. In this presentation the focus is on the capacity building of professionals. In order to support professionals and policymakers with evidence-based decision making the RIVM developed the online Manual Healthy Municipality, Healthy School and Healthy Kindergarten. In the manuals overviews of best practices are presented per theme (e.g. smoking), target group (e.g. elderly) or setting (e.g. neighbourhood) in combination with tools and instruments for intersectoral collaboration, citizens involvement and monitoring and evaluation. These manuals are well known and combine process information (how) with product information (what: effective programs and what works overviews). The implementation study showed also that professionals would like to have more support in the form of workshops and masterclasses. In order to get this the RIVM organizes workshops how to describe an intervention for recognition and how to adapt an intervention. The assumption that a recognized can't adapted to the local contexts was one of the inhibiting factors of the implementation of best practices. To ensure that the adjustments are made properly we have developed a checklist for the adaptation of interventions which is the base of the workshop. Professionals can also ask for a tailored work shop for example how to create support for the use of best practices.

scholarly journals Exploring the link between drought indicators and impacts

2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (12) ◽  
pp. 7583-7620 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Bachmair ◽  
I. Kohn ◽  
K. Stahl
Keyword(s):  
State Level ◽  
Early Warning Systems ◽  
Drought Indices ◽  
Federal State ◽  
Drought Impact ◽  
Federal States ◽  
Drought Conditions ◽  
Drought Indicators ◽  
Ground Truthing ◽  
Impact Data

Abstract. Current drought monitoring and early warning systems use different indicators for monitoring drought conditions and apply different indicator thresholds and rules for assigning drought intensity classes or issue warnings or alerts. Nevertheless, there is little knowledge on the meaning of different hydro-meteorologic indicators for impact occurrence on the ground. To date, there have been very few attempts to systematically characterize the indicator–impact-relationship owing to the sparse and patchy data for ground truthing hydro-meteorologic variables. The newly established European Drought Impact report Inventory (EDII) offers the possibility to investigate this linkage. The aim of this study was to explore the link between hydro-meteorologic indicators and drought impacts for the case study area Germany and thus to test the potential of qualitative impact data for evaluating the performance of drought indicators. As drought indicators two climatological drought indices as well as streamflow and groundwater level percentiles were selected. Linkage was assessed though data visualization and correlation analysis between monthly timeseries of indicator–impact data at the federal state level, and between spatial patterns for selected drought events. The analysis clearly revealed a significant moderate to strong correlation for some states and drought events allowing for an intercomparison of the performance of different drought indicators. While several commonalities could be identified regarding "best" indicator, indicator metric, and time-scale of climatic anomaly, the analysis also exposed differences among federal states and drought events, suggesting that the linkage is time-variant and region specific to some degree. Concerning thresholds associated with drought impact onset, we found that no single "best" threshold value can be identified but impacts occur within a range of indicator values. While the findings strongly depend on data and may change with a growing number of EDII entries in the future, this study clearly demonstrates the feasibility of ground truthing hydro-meteorologic variables with text-based impact reports and highlights the value of impact reporting as a tool for monitoring drought conditions.

scholarly journals Teacher Training Models in Applied Bachelor and Pedagogical Master Programs

2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 45-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.A. Margolis
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Teacher Training ◽  
Educational Programs ◽  
Professional Standards ◽  
Fourth Generation ◽  
Federal State ◽  
Educational Standards ◽  
Training Models ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
State Educational

The article discusses the main teacher training &gt; models in the Russian Federation and abroad, as well as modernization principles of teacher training models in accordance with professional standards. It presents a system of requirements for the educational results, structure and conditions of applied bachelor and pedagogical master programs in aggregated groups of specialties and areas “Education and Pedagogy“, which could be the basis for the development of fourth-generation of Federal State Educational Standards of Higher Education and preliminary basic professional educational programs.

The Threat of Downward Assimilation Among Young African Immigrants in U.S. Schools

2019 ◽  
pp. 330-354 ◽  
Author(s):  
Immaculee Harushimana ◽  
Janet Awokoya
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Critical Race Theory ◽  
Immigrant Youth ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
African Immigrants ◽  
Federal State ◽  
Segmented Assimilation ◽  
School Communities ◽  
School Settings ◽  
Intervention Measures

This chapter presents research implications geared toward preventing the downward assimilation trend prevailing among young African immigrants in US public schools. Secondary data from three qualitative studies of integration and adaptation processes of African-born immigrant youth in urban school settings helped identify signs of downward assimilation, especially among males. Salient signs of this trend include low academic achievement, gang inclination, and defiance towards authority. Four major theories—segmented assimilation, socio-ecological theory, intersectionality, and critical race theory—served as framework for the analysis of the risk factors that may lead young African immigrants to follow the downward assimilation path. The analysis reveals the need for intervention measures at the federal, state, and school levels to reduce the vulnerability of non-predominant minority youth in US school settings and the moral responsibility of school authorities to ensure their welfare. Recommended preventive measures include (1) educating immigrant families and school communities; (2) encouraging collaboration and dialogue between African community organizations, school administration, and policymakers purported at creating a favorable school climate for the marginalized African immigrant youth; (3) increasing intervention measures, such as school-community mediation and political representation.

Investitionszuschüsse nur bei Schaffung von Arbeitsplätzen? Schlussfolgerungen aus der Förderung eines Investitionsprojektes über die Gemeinschaftsaufgabe im Land Brandenburg

2009 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirko Titze
Keyword(s):  
Institutional Framework ◽  
Federal State ◽  
Market Failures ◽  
Federal States ◽  
Structural Problems ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Joint Task ◽  
The Government ◽  
Short Time ◽  
Production Effects

AbstractThe Joint Task “For the Improvement of the Regional Economic Structure” is one of the most important instruments of the German regional policy. This instrument is applied in regions with strong structural problems and aims to reduce unemployment. The instruments institutional framework demands the creation of additional permanent posts. This paper explores that these requirements can provoke inefficient combinations of production factors. The reasons for that problem can be seen in market failures as well as political disappointments. The government of each federal state has an incentive to demand permanent posts as much as possible because public revenue can equal the government expenditures after a relative short time period due to employment and production effects. The institutional framework of the German financial equalization scheme between the federal states contributes to that problem too - the expenditures for subsidization can be balanced by perequations paid by the other federal states.

scholarly journals Estimating vaccine effectiveness against laboratory-confirmed influenza among children and adolescents in Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, 2012–2016

2017 ◽  
Vol 146 (1) ◽  
pp. 78-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. MÖHL ◽  
L. GRÄFE ◽  
C. HELMEKE ◽  
D. ZIEHM ◽  
M. MONAZAHIAN ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Influenza A ◽  
Respiratory Illness ◽  
Vaccine Effectiveness ◽  
Federal State ◽  
Influenza B ◽  
Surveillance Systems ◽  
Lower Saxony ◽  
Federal States ◽  
German Federal States ◽  
Influenza A H1n1

SUMMARYInfluenza vaccine effectiveness (VE) has to be estimated anew for every season to explore vaccines’ protective effect in the population. We report VE estimates against laboratory-confirmed influenza A(H1N1)pdm09, A(H3N2) and influenza B among children aged 2–17 years, using test-negative design. Pooled data from two German federal states’ surveillance systems for acute respiratory illness from week 40/2012 to 20/2016 was used, yielding a total of 10 627 specimens. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) for the association between laboratory-confirmed influenza and vaccination status were calculated by multivariate logistic regression adjusting for age, sex, illness onset and federal state. VE was estimated as 1-Odds Ratio. Overall adjusted VE was 33% (95% CI: 24·3–40·7). A strong variation of VE between the seasons and subtypes was observed: highest season- and subtype-specific VE of 86·2% (95% CI: 41·3–96·7) was found against A(H1N1)pdm09 in 7–17-year-olds in 2015/16. Low estimates of VE were observed against A(H3N2) in any season, e.g. 1·5% (95% CI: −39·3–30·3) in 2014/15. Estimates showed a tendency to higher VE among 7–17-year-old children, but differences were not statistically significant. Although our findings are common in studies estimating influenza VE, we discussed several explanations for observed low VE.

Infrastructure and Organisational Development: A Regional Approach to Health Promotion

2000 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monica Bensberg
Keyword(s):  
Health Promotion ◽  
Capacity Building ◽  
State Government ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Change Theory ◽  
Organisational Change ◽  
Local Health ◽  
Organisational Development ◽  
Strategic Action ◽  
Sustainable Health

This paper describes existing health promotion systems in Victoria and explains how infrastructure can be strengthened to influence the delivery of local health promotion action. The Victorian State Government has invested in regional support to facilitate the development and coordination of health promotion at a local level. To achieve this the Regional Infrastructure for Improving Health Promotion (RIIHP) model was developed, providing a framework for strategic action. The model draws upon organisational change theory and capacity building methods to highlight the necessary infrastructure for sustainable health promotion efforts. Forty five local health promotion practitioners, managers, academics, and Department program advisers were interviewed and asked what they thought supported or influenced health promotion. The responses from interviews were combined to develop the RIIHP model. The RIIHP model provides a framework for planning infrastructure improvements. This model is relevant to agencies, regions and state departments who want to succeed in establishing coordinated and effective health promotion systems.

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