Children living in poverty face numerous challenges that negatively affect their wellbeing and thus their ability to learn. The consequences of poverty that interfere with students' learning include inattentiveness, demotivation, and feelings of powerlessness, shame, and anger. To reach these children, with the goal of helping them become healthy,…

Since the late 1990s, Aleksandar Štulhofer has been involved in debates over school-based sexuality education in his country. Introduced to this sensitive and often divisive topic by several research studies on sexual risk taking in youth, he recently participated in two education-policy processes dealing with school-based health and sexuality…

College life is an exciting time for thousands of emerging adults on campuses across the nation. It is also an opportunity for students to engage in behaviors that can impede personal health. Numerous studies link personal health and wellness to academic achievement.1-3 The core mission of most institutions of higher education (IHEs) is academic…

As the number of children engaging in problem behaviors grows, teachers increasingly report feeling unprepared to effectively meet students' mental health needs. Social-emotional learning (SEL) should be a prominent goal of school programs because social competence prevents school failure. This commentary reviews the challenges associated with…

The articles in this Special Topic issue present a range of assessment models and challenges for improving the identification and early intervention of students in need of additional supports. Although each article targets a unique aspect of student learning (learning behaviors, math skills, reading comprehension, behavioral functioning, and…

The authors present a case study examining the potential for policies to be "evidence-based." To what extent is it possible to say that a decision to implement a complex social intervention is warranted on the basis of available empirical data? The case chosen is whether there is sufficient evidence to justify banning smoking in cars carrying…

This article urges a reexamination of the concept of dissemination of health-related prevention programs. The article discusses factors that serve as sustaining conditions for dissemination of prevention programs including: (1) the nature of preventive intervention and parameters of effective community-based prevention praxis; (2) aspects of the…

Refugee assistance policies and programs should be reoriented to ensure both short- and long-term physical, social, and mental well-being. This approach must fully encompass primary health care and embrace a wide range of activities and programs that are not traditionally viewed as health-related. The refugee assistance community is sometimes…

Evidence-based substance use prevention programs have proliferated in schools and are being adopted by districts in rural settings and internationally. Little attention, however, has been paid to the adaptation process that occurs when these programs are moved to different contexts. In this commentary, the authors draw upon their experience with…

This booklet examines how the concept of the community health worker (a person chosen from the community and trained to function in the community in close relationship with the health care system) is being practiced in various developing countries. It also identifies the major problems and indicates how the contribution of the community health…

This report discusses a working group convened in Varna, Bulgaria, by the World Health Organization to examine trends, issues, and problems regarding assessment of health professional competence and to prepare guidance to improve existing arrangements. Following a summary of the proceedings, the main portion of the paper reports main findings and…

This article is a response to a number of articles that use a culturally relevant prevention (CRP) approach for ethnic and racial minorities. The reaction is from a research practitioner's viewpoint. The authors argue in favor of determining an operational definition of cultural relevance by implementing prevention services with fidelity in the…

Zins and his colleagues pointed out that understanding implementation of school-based prevention programs is a critical issue as we get more sophisticated about strategies to promote children's social and emotional skill development. This commentary discusses school-based program implementation, challenges, lessons learned, and future directions…

Describes the supervision of internships in an applied medical sociology program. Participation covers three areas: (1) establishing a wellness program; (2) maintaining the program; and (3) responding to intern needs. Finds that monitoring interns requires a structure different from academic advising and instruction, and recommends treating…

During the past three decades, there has been an increase in knowledge about early childhood development. Early experiences can function as either risk factors or protective factors for a child's future health and development. This has led to concern about how current health systems contribute to the quality of the earliest experiences of life.…