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Article
Publication date: 21 August 2023

Chonticha Chantakeeree, Marjorita Sormunen, Pornchai Jullamate and Hannele Turunen

This study aims to explore the perceptions of quality of life among older Thai adults with hypertension.

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to explore the perceptions of quality of life among older Thai adults with hypertension.

Design/methodology/approach

A descriptive qualitative design was used. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 40 older adults. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data.

Findings

The analyses were divided into six major themes: happiness in life; health and functionality; activity in social relationships; religion anchor; autonomy to manage their own life; and security in finances and environment.

Practical implications

The findings can guide health care professionals and policymakers when planning and implementing interventions and policies for improving the quality of life of older adults, particularly that of rural older adults with low incomes.

Originality/value

The findings showed minor differences between urban and rural older adults in financial security, where the rural participants expressed greater financial insecurity than the urban counterparts. However, no other major differences emerged.

Details

Working with Older People, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1366-3666

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 18 March 2020

Kevin Dadaczynski, Bjarne Bruun Jensen, Nina Grieg Viig, Marjorita Sormunen, Jesper von Seelen, Vladislav Kuchma and Teresa Vilaça

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the official statement of the Fifth European Conference on Health-Promoting Schools.

4953

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the official statement of the Fifth European Conference on Health-Promoting Schools.

Design/methodology/approach

The Fifth European Conference on Health-Promoting Schools was held on 20–22 November 2019 in Moscow, Russian Federation, with over 450 participants from 40 countries. A writing group was established to prepare a draft version of the statement before the conference. On the basis of an online and offline feedback process, the opinions of the participants were collected during the conference and included in the finalisation of the statement.

Findings

The final conference statement comprises six thematic categories (values and principles; environment, climate and health; schools as part of the wider community; non-communicable diseases (NCDs); evidence base; and digital media), with a total of 23 recommendations and calls for action.

Originality/value

The recommendations and calls for action reflect current challenges for Health Promoting Schools in Europe. They are addressed to all actors in governmental, non-governmental and other organisations at international, national and regional levels involved in health promotion in schools and are to be applied for the further development of the concept.

Details

Health Education, vol. 120 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0965-4283

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 April 2012

Marjorita Sormunen, Terhi Saaranen, Kerttu Tossavainen and Hannele Turunen

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…

Abstract

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 pupils, parents, and selected school personnel) participated in a study. Process evaluation data were collected from intervention schools after 10 months of participation, by interviewing two classroom teachers and three families. In addition, program documents and relevant statistics were collected from schools during the intervention.

Findings

Teachers' opinions on the development process varied from more concrete expectations (School A teacher) to overall satisfaction to implementation (School B teacher). Parents believed that their children would benefit from the project later in life. The context and differences of the school environments were likely to affect the development process at the school level.

Research limitations/implications

This paper demonstrates a process evaluation in two schools and, therefore, limits the generalizability of the findings.

Practical implications

The process evaluation was an essential part of this intervention study and may provide a useful structure and an example for process evaluation for future school‐based health intervention studies.

Originality/value

This study highlights the importance of planning the process evaluation structure before the start of the intervention, brings out the relevance of systematically assessing the process while it is ongoing, and illustrates process evaluation in an action research project.

Details

Health Education, vol. 112 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0965-4283

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 April 2012

Terhi Saaranen, Marjorita Sormunen, Tiia Pertel, Karin Streimann, Siivi Hansen, Liana Varava, Kädi Lepp, Hannele Turunen and Kerttu Tossavainen

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…

Abstract

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 development needs in the school communities.

Design/methodology/approach

The overall project design is action research, conducted during 2009‐2013 in the SHE (Schools for Health in Europe) network in Finland and Estonia. The baseline survey data were collected in 2009‐2010 with a web‐based Well‐being at your work index questionnaire and analysed statistically using descriptive statistics, sum variables of factors and Mann‐Whitney tests.

Findings

The general opinions of the Finnish school staffs were more affirmative than those of Estonian school staffs regarding their own personal occupational well‐being in comparison with the best in the profession (p=0.000). However, the Finns were more critical than the Estonians when estimating the general well‐being of the staff in their working community, maintenance of their ability to work, the aspects of the school community and professional competence and development needs in the school communities.

Research limitations/implications

The results cannot be widely generalised due to the geographically defined samples, but they can be suggestive in comparable situations in Finland and Estonia.

Originality/value

There is a need to develop the occupational well‐being of school staff and maintenance of their ability to work in the school communities: specific interventions will be developed on the basis of the results obtained from the project schools.

Details

Health Education, vol. 112 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0965-4283

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 2016

Annamari Aura, Marjorita Sormunen and Kerttu Tossavainen

The purpose of this paper is to identify and describe adolescents’ health-related behaviours from a socio-ecological perspective. Socio-ecological factors have been widely shown…

1902

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify and describe adolescents’ health-related behaviours from a socio-ecological perspective. Socio-ecological factors have been widely shown to be related to health behaviours (smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity and diet) in adolescence and to affect health. The review integrates evidence with socio-ecological factors (social relationships, family, peers, schooling and environment).

Design/methodology/approach

The data were collected from electronic databases and by manual search consisting of articles (n=90) published during 2002-2014. The selected articles were analysed using inductive content analysis and narrative synthesis.

Findings

The findings suggest that there was a complex set of relations connected to adolescent health behaviours, also encompassing socio-ecological factors. The authors tentatively conclude that socio-ecological circumstances influence adolescents’ health-related behaviour, but that this review does not provide the full picture. There seemed to be certain key factors with a relation to behavioural outcomes that might increase health inequality among adolescents.

Practical implications

School health education is an important pathway for interventions to reduce unhealthy behaviours among adolescents including those related to socio-ecological factors.

Originality/value

Some socio-ecological factors were strongly related to health behaviours in adolescence, which may indicate an important pathway to current and future health. This paper may help schoolteachers, nurses and other school staff to understand the relationships between socio-ecological factors and health-related behaviours, which may be useful in developing health education to reduce health disparities during adolescence.

Details

Health Education, vol. 116 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0965-4283

Keywords

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