Health Promotion Students Research Articles

Promoting mental health in students: is there a role for sleep?

Independently both the role of being a student and reporting insufficient or unsatisfactory sleep have been shown to have deleterious consequences on mental health. However, few studies have examined the combined relationship between students' sleep patterns specifically with mental health in mind, and how individual psychological characteristics and situational factors can influence this relationship. The purpose of this research was to examine the relationship between sleep functioning and students' levels of perceived stress over the course of an exam period. Additionally, the influence of perfectionism (as an individual characteristic) and daytime sleep-related intrusive thoughts (sleep catastrophising) on sleep functioning and stress were also examined. Two assumptions were tested. Firstly, that stress would increase between baseline and the morning of the exam and secondly, that this relationship would be moderated by poor sleep functioning, sleep catastrophising and levels of perfectionism. Levels of stress, sleep functioning and sleep catastrophising were examined over a seven-day period in 48 Access to Higher Education students about to take an exam and 44 non-exam taking controls. For the exam group, levels of stress and sleep catastrophising increased between time-points. At baseline higher reported perfectionism predicted stress scores. Conversely, low perfectionism predicted high stress on the morning of the exam. Additionally, going to bed later and high levels of sleep catastrophising were also related to stress levels the morning of the exam. The results suggest an association between perfectionism and pre-exam stress, and are discussed in terms of mental health promotion for higher education students.

Mental health promotion education in multicultural settings

This paper addresses the education of graduate nursing students in mental health promotion in multicultural settings. First an overview of the historical development of health promotion theory in Canada is presented. Emerging concepts in mental health promotion are then considered. Referring to a graduate course on youth and mental health promotion, course design, which draws from across disciplines and recognizes the complexities in mental health promotion practice in multicultural settings, is illustrated. Under a mental health promotion perspective healthy development is recognized to arise from the interaction between people and systems in society, providing a systems-based understanding of the interplay between culture and health. The course’s underlying threads, consisting of youth development and mental health, culture, and integration of learning through an intersectional perspective, and its related substantive content and process are discussed. It is concluded that by fostering students’ critical awareness of intersections (for example, gender, life stage, migrant and racialized status), the growth and development of youth from diverse cultural backgrounds can be contextualized within existing support, or access barriers to, systems in multicultural societies.

The Effect of Bully Prevention Education on Mental Health of Sixth Primary School Students

Bullying has emerged as a major social problem recently. The purpose of this study was to find out the effect of bully prevention education on mental health of sixth primary school students. The subject of this study were sampled among sixth grader students (60 experimental group, 60 control group) in primary school. K city. The study was carried out three weeks from 20th November to 7th December in 2000.First, pretest of two groups on mental health.Bully prevention education was practiced 40 minutes at a time, at intervals of 2-3 day's six times during 2 weeks. Last of all, post-test of two groups were done three days later. The instruments used for this study was a questionnaire asked for mental health. The bully prevention education program consisted of make a friend, understanding bully, role play, warm friendship. OHP film and VTR and paper were used for the education, The experimental group met six 1-hour session(40min./hr.). PC-SAS package programs was used to analyze the data along with z2 -test, t-test and feedback from students after bully prevention education program were additionally analyzed. The result of this study were as follow ；1) The first hypothesis The first hypothesis was accepted. The experimental group showed more changed in the self scale score than that of control group (t=-6.4346, p=0.0001).2) The second hypothesis The second hypothesis was not accepted. A significant difference between two groups were not shown in social support(t=-1.6063, p =0.1109) 3) The third hypothesis The third hypothesis was accepted. The experimental group showed more changed in the mental pathology than that of control group (t=3.0861, p=0.0026) 4) The feedback from students after bully prevention education were analyzed.Student who were asked “what if they were bullied?” said that “I will commit suicide" with 68.3%, “I may be sad and lonely” with 18.9%. This result shows when the participants were bullied, they got a shock. They responded as follows, if they are bullied after the prevention education. “I will ask and correct my defect actively.“I will help the students who are bullied/' I felt self-confidence by praising friends and by being praised. Bully prevention education have a positive effect on mental health of primary school students.The study showed that bully prevention education was effective in mental health promotion of primary school students. Based on the result of this study, we can recommend that school-based bully prevention education should be done regularly by school-nurses for induced change of bully knowledge.

Health promotion in the medical curriculum: enhancing its potential

The medical profession has a central role in contributing to public health. An expanding role for doctors in terms of health is clearly indicated by their anticipated contributions to health improvement programmes, primary care groups, healthy living centres and health-action zones. These initiatives all require doctors to contribute to planning health promotion activities for local populations. It is timely with the recent publication of the Government's public health strategy Saving Lives-Our Healthier Nation to consider how best to integrate health promotion into medical education. This paper outlines key issues that underpin sound health promotion practice. These areas are equity, effectiveness and collaborative working. Evidence from the literature, research, policy and practice is used to demonstrate how these areas could be integrated appropriately into the medical curriculum. A series of vignettes is presented for teachers to use to enhance the effective delivery of health promotion for medical students.

Making sense of morality: a qualitative study of practitioners' writing about ethical problems of health promotion

From 1995 to 1997, written data were gathered and analysed from two cohorts of Masters-level health promotion students (who were also active practitioners in this field). The data were 17 assignments produced in response to an assess ment requirement interpreted by students as an opportunity to reflect on the moral philosophical basis of, and dilemmas connected to, some part of their practice. This analysis. identified a number of key themes underpinning moral dilemmas as they presented themselves to the practitioners. The themes were connected to a general theoretical framework for understanding ethical prob lems in health care and health promotion. This connection suggests strongly the worth in further exploration of how theory and practice can be used to inform each other in the important area of health promotion ethics.

Uncertain knowledge: a national survey of High School students' knowledge and beliefs about hepatitis C

ObjectiveHepatitis C (HCV) has recently emerged as an important public health issue. This study documents young people's hepatitis C (HCV) knowledge, risk perceptions and sources of information. MethodAustralia, 1997; nationally representative survey; sample of students in Years 10 and 12 in government secondary schools (n=3,550). ResultsStudents' knowledge about HCV was found to be extremely poor. Of the seven questions on hepatitis, only one was answered correctly by more than half the students. Few could differentiate between hepatitis A, hepatitis B and hepatitis C. Only a small number (12%) perceived themselves to be at risk of hepatitis and fewer than half (41%) had sought advice about hepatitis. ConclusionThere is a need for more HCV education and health promotion for secondary school students. ImplicationsSome lessons from HIV education can be readily transferred to this new epidemic but others cannot. There is a danger that HIV and HCV will be conflated in education programs.

Health Behaviors of Students Attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities: Results From the National College Health Risk Behavior Survey

The National College Health Risk Behavior Survey was administered to a convenience sample of students at 8 historically Black colleges and universities in 7 states. Analyses showed major differences in the men's and women's responses. The men were significantly more likely than the women to be current smokers. Also, they more frequently reported heavy drinking, drinking and driving in the past days 30 days, and carrying a weapon. The women were significantly more likely to view themselves as overweight, and more than one third reported they were trying to lose weight. More than one third of the students had not exercised or participated in sports activities for more than 20 minutes in the past 7 days. Because historically Black colleges and universities educate the majority of undergraduate Black college students, multidimensional programs to promote disease prevention and health promotion for Black college students must be expanded and evaluated.

Health promotion ideology and nursing education

Nursing has been concerned primarily with the visible aspects of health promotion and has shown little regard for what is invisible. Yet the hidden ideology powerfully shapes current approaches to health promotion. This paper examines and makes visible the ideology of individual responsibility which is embedded in individualistic health promotion, the primary orientation to health promotion. Ways in which this ideology is perpetuated within nursing curricula are described. Concrete strategies are proposed that may be considered by nurse educators as they seek to prepare students in health promotion, with particular emphasis on strategies that highlight its ideological underpinnings.

Health promotion and disease prevention: integration into a medical school curriculum.

Many authorities have identified deficiencies in the education of medical students in health promotion and disease prevention. This report describes an attempt to address this problem through the longitudinal integration of health promotion and disease prevention into several major courses in the student curriculum at Harvard Medical School. We used adult learning theory to develop the curricular approach, and designed educational experiences to match the professional development of the student at different phases of medical education. Primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention were particularly germane for students in the first, second, and third years, respectively. During clerkships in the third and fourth years, especially those with a focus on ambulatory patients, students built upon earlier experiences to integrate health promotion and disease prevention into clinical practice. By unifying the teaching of disease prevention with several major required courses, we aimed to create an environment in which students could experience their learning about disease prevention in the same manner that we aspired to have them practise it: integrated throughout clinical medicine.

A community-based school health system: parameters for developing a comprehensive student health promotion program.

A community-based school health system: parameters for developing a comprehensive student health promotion program.

The use of Xylitol chewing gum in oral health promotion for Finnish students

The use of Xylitol chewing gum in oral health promotion for Finnish students

Apparent vs. Hidden Community Health Problems: Prioritization for Program Planning

Abstract This teaching strategy has been used successfully with under graduate students in community nursing and health promotion to apply cognitive material on needs assessment to real life program planning. Class members are instructed to interview a panel of seven students that have been equipped with visual props and a script, each representing superficial and hidden aspects of specific factors affecting a community's health status. Students are asked to imagine themselves as decision makers who must allocate limited resources and must fund programs on the basis of information discovered. They also are prompted to question and probe relationships between often overlapping community health problems in order to plan programs to alleviate or prevent them. Thus, realities of community health planning are demonstrated.

Health Promotion Beliefs and Practices of Fourth-Year Medical Students

Little is known about medical student beliefs about health promotion issues or about their prevention practices with patients. We administered a questionnaire about health promotion beliefs and practices to fourth-year medical students in a required course, "Preventive Medicine in Clinical Practice," at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. During a three-year period we surveyed 343 students. A majority of students believed that most of 23 health behaviors were of some importance to health promotion, and their responses were similar to those of practicing physicians in prior studies. Most students reported that they assessed preventive practices in their patients but did not feel well prepared to counsel patients about health issues. Students reported they were currently unsuccessful in modifying patient health behaviors and expressed limited optimism about future success in helping patients change health promotion behaviors with further training and support. There were no differences between students entering primary care specialties and other students. Information about medical student health promotion and disease prevention beliefs and practices can be applied in curriculum development.

A Health Promotion Program for Medical Students: Louisiana State University Medical Center

A health promotion program for medical students at Louisiana State University Medical Center (LSUMC) in New Orleans encourages students to take responsibility for their own physical and psychological health and well-being, enabling them to better cope with the stressors of medical education and those of later clinical practice. Administrative support for developing the program was considerable, and a broad-based Health Promotion Committee, comprising faculty, administrators, and students, was established to oversee the program. The program's cost was minimal, inasmuch as most components were offered voluntarily by full-time faculty. The most consistent funding came from the LSUMC Student Health fee, although grants and pharmaceutical companies also provided support. A full day of orientation was devoted to the program. The students completed a thorough lifestyle and nutrition assessment and used the results to help decide which component to sign up for: aerobics, relaxation/meditation, support groups, time management, and nutrition. Participation was voluntary, and aerobics and relaxation/meditation were the best attended. Overall, the students responded favorably to the orientation day and found the components valuable and useful. Students reported improvements on eight of 11 wellness dimensions and a composite score from a lifestyle assessment questionnaire over the one-year longitudinal study. These gains may in part be attributable to the program. The nutrition findings suggest entering medical students do not have better dietary practices than comparable young adults living in the United States. Students most often requested information on these topics: relaxation/stress reduction, exercise programs, time-management skills, nutrition, and learning skills. Offering individualized and diverse programs to students is important. A major challenge has been to motivate students to participate, and means are recommended for improving participation. Program evaluation is essential; therefore, problems in this area are discussed. Also, including physical and biochemical measures is desirable. We believe incorporating the principles of health promotion and disease prevention throughout the medical education curriculum is essential. Medical students taking responsibility for their own health are more likely to promote this self-responsibility with their patients in clinical practice.

Demographic and organizational variables that affect southeastern college and university student health promotion.

Abstract This study examined the relationship between demographic and organizational variables and college student health promotion efforts. Two hundred and forty-one college administrators from 14 southern states were surveyed to determine factors that may affect college student health promotion programming. Enrollment, tuition, affiliation, and highest degree offered were the demographic variables that were examined. The organizational variables were goals, control, motivation, interaction, and decision making. The methods of gathering information regarding student health problems, the kinds of health promotion programs offered, the methods of publicizing the programs, and the extent of student participation in health promotion programs were the dependent variables. The statistical tests for the effects of the demographic and organizational variables on student health promotion efforts indicate that a relationship does exist. Combined multiple regression analysis equations that include all of the organi...

The Postgraduate Education of Physicians in Preventive Medicine

The Graduate Medical Education National Advisory Committee report projected a serious shortage of preventive medicine specialists in 1990, and the recommendations of a recent report from the Association of American Medical Colleges called for increased training of medical students in health promotion and disease prevention and in adapting to changes in health and health care. To help meet the need for physician manpower in preventive medicine a new residency was established at the State University of New York at Stony Brook in July 1983. The program features a structured approach to the practicum year, incorporating an organized core curriculum and opportunities for a varied field experience. In addition to the School of Medicine and University Hospital, major training sites include two large county health departments on Long Island, three community hospital departments of community medicine, a health maintenance organization as well as several neighborhood health centers, and community-based programs operated by these hospitals and health departments. The curriculum includes both longitudinal experiences at the medical school involving teaching, research, and didactic conferences, and block field rotations within the above affiliated agencies, providing practice experience in preventive medicine and public health. The diversity in the organization and type of preventive medicine institutions used for training enriches the residency experience and is complemented by core educational activities.