A needs assessment of public health professionals: supporting the implementation of Ontario 2010 revised elementary health and physical education curriculum

Based on the Comprehensive School Health framework, Ontario's Foundations for a Healthy School (2009) outlines an integrated approach to school health promotion. In this approach the school, community and partners (including public health) are fully engaged With a common goal of youth health. With the recent introductions of the Ontario Public Health Standards (2009) and the revised elementary health and physical education curriculum (2010), the timing for a greater integration of public health with schools is ideal. A needs assessment was conducted to identify the perceived support required by public health professionals to implement the mandates of both policy documents in Ontario. Data was collected for the needs assessment through facilitated discussions at a provincial roundtable event, regional focus groups and individual interviews with public health professionals representing Ontario's 36 public health units. Findings suggest that public health professionals perceive that they require increased resources, greater communication, a clear vision of public health and a suitable understanding of the professional cultures in which they are surrounded in order to effectively support schools. This study expands upon these four categories and the corresponding seventeen themes that were uncovered during the research process.

Stress, social support, and health risk behaviours as mediators of the forgiveness-health relation /

The mediating roles of stress, social support, and health risk behaviours in the relationships between dispositional forgiveness and mental and physical health were examined. Participants were 748 undergraduate students (554 women, 194 men) entering their first year of studies at Brock University. Participants, ranging in age from 17 to 25 years, completed the Brock University First Year Health Study and were provided monetary compensation. Dispositional forgiveness, stress, social support, health risk behaviours, mental health, and physical health were measured using self-report methods. The data were analyzed separately for women and men because there were significant mean differences on many of the study'S variables. Analyses revealed that the mediated relationships between dispositional forgiveness and health were generally stronger for women than men. Stress was the most robust mediator of the forgiveness-health relation for both women and men. The only health risk behaviour that mediated the forgivenesshealth relation was physical fitness and this result was found for women only. Social support mediated several of the relationships between forgiveness and health but not others. Results were discussed with reference to the literature on forgiveness and health. Several directions for future research were offered, such as conducting longitudinal research designs to assess the direction of causality better, investigating moderator variables of the forgiveness-health relation, and building models, which incorporate multiple mediators using structural equation modelling techniques.

Comprehensive school health, the social determinants of health, and the health status of children

As children are becoming increasingly inactive and obese, there is an urgent need for effective early prevention and intervention programs. One solution is a comprehensive school health (CSH) program, a health promotion initiative aimed at educating students about healthy behaviours and lifestyles, which also provides a link between the school, students, families, and the surrounding community. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between different components of CSH programs, as well as three determinants of health (gender, social support, socio-economic status), and physical activity, on the aerobic fitness and body mass index (BMI) of children. A newly developed and pilot-tested survey derived from Health Canada's fourpart CSH model (instruction, social support, support services, and a healthy physical environment) was sent to elementary school principals. Data on the gender, physical activity, parental education, and social support levels of students from these schools were gathered from a previous study. Multiple regression procedures were conducted to estimate the relationships between CSH components, the social determinants of health, physical activity, and BMI and aerobic fitness. Results showed that three CSH components were significantly associated with both BMI and aerobic fitness values in children, but accounted for less than 5% of the variance in both variables. Physical activity partially mediated the relationship between the significant CSH components, BMI, and particularly aerobic fitness. Furthermore, the social determinant and physical activity variables played independent roles in aerobic fitness values. No moderating effects of the social determinants were discovered.

The development of self directedness in public health nurses

This qualitative study examined the perceived thoughts, feelings and experiences of seven public health nurses employed in a southern ontario health department, regarding the initial phase of the introduction of a self-directed orientation program in their place of employment. A desire to understand what factors facilitate public health nurses in the process of becoming self-directed learners was the purpose of this study. Data were gathered by three methods: 1) a standard open-ended interview was conducted by the researcher with each nurse for approximately one hour; 2) personal notes were kept by the researcher throughout the study; and 3) a review of all pertinent health department documents such as typed minutes of meetings and memos which referred to the introduction of the self-directed learning model was conducted. The meaning of the experience for the nurses provided some insights into what does and does not facilitate public health nurses in the process of becoming self-directed learners. Implications and recommendations for program planners, nurse administrators, facilitators of learning and researchers evolved from the findings of this study.

The journey towards comprehensive school health within an aboriginal community

The purpose of this research is to describe the journey towards Comprehensive School Health at two Aboriginal elementary schools. An advocate and a healthy schools committee were identified at both schools and were responsible for developing initiatives to create a healthy school community. A case study was used to gather an in-depth understanding of Comprehensive School Health for the two schools involved. As a researcher, I functioned within the role of a participantobserver, as I was actively involved in the programs and initiatives completed in both schools. The research process included: the pilot study, ethics clearance and distribution of letters of invitation and consent forms. Data collection included 16 semi-structured, guided interviews with principals, teachers, and stupents. Participant observations included sites of the gymnasium, classroom, playgrounds, school environments, bulletin boards as well as artifact analysis of decuments such as school newsletters, physical education schedules and school handbooks. The interviews were transcribed and coded using an inductive approach which involves finding patterns, themes and categories from the data (patton, 2002). Research questions guided the findings as physical activity, physical education, nutrition and transportation were discussed. Themes developed t~rough coding were teacherstudent interactions, cultural traditions, time constraints and professional development and were discussed using a Comprehensive School Health framework.

A Quantitative Study of Social Capital Components, Self-Reported Health Status and Social Determinants of Health

This quantitative descriptive co-relational study used telephone survey interviews and stratified random sampling to collect data related to Social Capital (SC) and its components (trust and safety, reciprocity, civic engagement and collective action) and selected determinants of health variables in Niagara Region, Canada. Among the four components of social capital, trust and safety levels were highest among all participants (m=5.42, SD=1.0), with community engagement yielding the lowest mean score for the sample (m=1.93, SD=.8). Reciprocity had the strongest association with all other components of SC (r=0.51). Those most likely to report low levels of SC and health were unattached and low-income females. Males were more likely to report higher trust and safety levels and higher levels of self-rated health. In this study, a linear relationship between self-reported health status and SC was not found. Marital and employment status were associated with differences in mean scores of SC and self-reported health.