Purpose: The purpose of this research is to test a comprehensive nutrition program developed specifically to target low-income parents of young school-aged children and determine whether the programme-resulted in changes in parents' knowledge, attitude, self-confidence, and behaviours related to both their and their child's nutrition in relation…

Purpose: Media images of unrealistic beauty have been identified as a determinant of women's body dissatisfaction. This experimental study aims to explore whether the negative impact of such images could be reduced by a one-time educational intervention consisting of a presentation and discussion, teaching women to be critical of media images.…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to report the perceived impact of various health concerns on the academic performance of health sciences graduate students. Design/methodology/approach: The American College Health Association's National College Health Assessment (ACHA-NCHA), a 58-item anonymous survey, was distributed to all graduate health…

Purpose: This paper aims to describe the relationship between functional health literacy level and smoking cessation outcomes. Design/methodology/approach: Participants in an inpatient smoking cessation program in a mid-western city in the USA were enrolled and the Short Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults was administered while the…

Purpose: The aim of this study is to investigate perceptions of cycle commuting barriers in relation to stage of change, gender and occupational role. Stage of change is a key construct of the transtheoretical model of behaviour change that defines behavioural readiness (intentions and actions) into five distinct categories.…

Purpose: This paper aims to clarify the extent to which youth sports clubs guide their coaches to recognise health promotion as a part of the coaching practice. The guidance activity of clubs is seen parallel to internal organisational communication. Design/methodology/approach: A survey of 93 (from 120, 78 per cent) youth sports clubs in Finland…

Purpose: This paper seeks to report on the evaluation of Zippy's Friends, an international emotional wellbeing programme, for primary school children in disadvantaged schools in Ireland. The paper aims to present case studies of the profile and ethos of two specific schools participating in the programme, their links with the local community, the…

Purpose: This paper aims to review the effectiveness of a Smoke-free Homes Project in a deprived area, Salford, in the UK. The project aimed to reduce exposure to secondhand smoke within the home, chiefly amongst households with resident smokers. Design/methodology/approach: Local people from ten deprived communities were recruited as Smoke-free…

Purpose: This paper seeks to assess the implementation of Ghana's Patients' Charter by investigating the level of awareness and knowledge of the Charter's content, some socio-demographic factors that may influence awareness and knowledge of the Charter and how providers have discharged their responsibilities under the Charter.…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the association between mother-child and father-child communication and children's life satisfaction, and the moderating effect of communication with stepparents. Design/methodology/approach: Data from the 2006 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children: WHO-collaborative Study in Scotland…

Purpose: Schools are widely accepted as having the potential to make substantial contributions to promoting healthy eating habits in children and adolescents. This paper aims to present a case study from an Australian school of how a whole-school approach, planned and implemented through a health promoting school framework, can foster improved…

Purpose: The paper aims to evaluate a primary care obesity prevention intervention, targeting low-income minority parents in the USA. The first objective is to describe the barriers to behavior change experienced by families. The second objective is to understand the types of strategies that were used by the health educator to empower families to…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore educational perspectives towards the concept of health promoting schools and its potential benefits for schools in more depth. Design/methodology/approach: This paper presents the results of a qualitative study based on interviews with school staff including principals, and teachers with…

Purpose: Evidence from the USA/Australia suggests whole-school interventions designed to increase social inclusion/engagement can reduce substance use. Completeness of implementation varies but contextual determinants have not been fully explored. Informed by previous interventions, the paper aims to examine these topics in an English pilot of the…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role of a school health promotion (SHP) advisor in the implementation of the six steps of the Dutch "Schoolbeat" approach, aimed at establishing health promotion policies and activities in secondary schools. Design/methodology/approach: In total, 80 school board members, and 18 prevention…