Purpose: The wide ranging physical and mental health benefits of physical activity during adolescence are well established and walking has been identified as one of only two forms of physical activity not to show a significant decrease in participation levels across the primary/secondary years. The aim of this paper is to explore the broader…

Purpose: Over the past decades numerous policies, programmes and interventions have been undertaken to increase students' participation in physical activity in school. Research shows that intervention effects are mostly related to the way in which the program or policy is implemented, nevertheless, few studies have focused on the implementation…

Purpose: The main aim of the paper is to explore whether health theatre as a school-based health promotion initiative communicates relevant health knowledge to children and the interrelated processes of identity development, knowledge acquisition and participation. Development of the definition of "health identity" was a subsidiary objective of…

Purpose: Research to date has identified young people's perspectives on a number of health-related topics such as smoking, alcohol, sexual health, physical activity and healthy eating. Whilst this body of research draws important attention towards young people's views on topical health concerns, it arguably remains located within a pre-defined…

Purpose: The aim of this study is to examine the rarely heard opinions of participants in alcohol educations--in this case, employees at three workplaces. What opinions were found in relation to the initiative, its content and effects, and what are the underlying notions from which these opinions derive? Design/methodology/approach: The study…

Purpose: Alcohol stands in an ambiguous relationship to sports, and there is a common belief that participation in sports prevents alcohol consumption. Although this is not always the case, sports clubs can be important settings for health promoting alcohol policy interventions .The purpose of this paper is to explore the process of implementing…

Purpose: Health promotion programmes are widely held to be more effective when the subjects of them actively participate in the process of change. The purpose of this paper is to report on an evaluation of the Food for Life Partnership programme, a multi-level initiative in England promoting healthier nutrition and food sustainability awareness…

Purpose: School health promotion is said to be most effective when implemented through a comprehensive, settings-based, whole-school approach. The purpose of this paper is to address the current lack of knowledge about the current state of teacher education for health promotion and its potential to further the development of settings-based…

Purpose: This paper aims to present the baseline results of a research and development project targeted to improve the occupational well-being of school staff and maintain their ability to work, in Finland and Estonia. It reveals the most problematic factors in the various aspects of the school community and professional competence and outlines…

Purpose: Participation is a core value for health promoting schools. Student participation at schools is often implemented in various forms of councils. The aims of this article are to summarise the effects of student participation in student councils, to show who benefits most and to discuss characteristics that make student councils effective.…

Purpose: This paper seeks to discuss the rationale of the newly reformed health education curriculum in Cyprus, which aspires to enable not only teachers, but also all the school personnel, to work from the perspective of health promotion. It is a curriculum which moves from the traditional approach of health education focusing on individual…

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to examine the impact of the health promoting school (HPS) on adolescent well-being. Design/methodology/approach: Data from the 2006 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children: WHO-collaborative Study in Scotland were analysed using multilevel linear regression analyses for outcome measures: happiness, confidence,…

Purpose: There is increasing recognition of children's abilities to speak for themselves. School democracy, as demonstrated by genuine participation, has the potential to benefit both teachers and students; leading to better relationships and improved learning experiences. The aim of this study is to investigate whether participation in schools in…

Purpose: With the aim of contributing to the evidence base on school-based health promotion, the authors discuss the outcomes and processes of a European intervention project aiming to prevent obesity among children (4-16 years) and promote their health and well-being, titled "Shape Up: a school-community approach to influencing determinants of…

Purpose: This paper aims to present the process evaluation for a two-year (2008-2010) participatory action research project focusing on home-school partnership in health learning, undertaken within the Schools for Health in Europe (SHE) in Eastern Finland. Design/methodology/approach: Two intervention schools and two control schools (grade 5…