Explores policy deficiencies that perpetuate the status quo in school mental health service provision, discussing: a framework for moving forward; school-community collaboration and school-linked and school-based services; how to move to a three-component model for connecting with school reform; the need to address barriers to learning; and the…

We present the results of an evaluation of the implementation and short-term effects of "Zippy's Friends," a school-based 24-week mental health promotion program to teach children coping skills. The evaluation was conducted in Denmark (322 children in 17 first grade classes) and Lithuania (314 children in 16 kindergartens classes) with…

This article presents the text of an address delivered by Robert F. Valois at the Annual National Meeting of the American Association for Health Education, American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation & Dance in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on April 4, 2003. Valois discusses the changes in the "American village" as they relate to…

Background: School health education can effectively help reduce the prevalence of health-risk behaviors among students and have a positive influence on students' academic performance. This article describes the characteristics of school health education policies and programs in the United States at the state, district, school, and classroom…

Education is key to helping people make informed, healthy choices. Children must be healthy in order to learn. Each year approximately 2.5 million children and adolescents are victims of physical, sexual, or emotional abuse or neglect. A similar number of teens become infected with sexually transmitted diseases. To combat these and other…

The Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics developed a statewide project, the Early Childhood Education Linkage System (ECELS), to provide health professional consultation, training, and technical assistance to improve the quality of early childhood education programs in Pennsylvania. The early childhood programs targeted by…

This pamphlet offers a collection of items relating to child health in the day care setting. Included is an overview of a collaborative project to develop a comprehensive set of national standards for health, nutrition, safety, and sanitation in child care programs. Contents of the project's resource kit, "Keeping Kids Healthy and Parents at…

This manual, designed to assist professionals in health and health-related agencies, offers guidance for planning a health communication program about cancer based on social marketing and other principles as well as the experiences of National Cancer Institute staff and other practitioners. The six chapters are arranged by sequentially ordered…

This document details the strategic plan of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to address disparities in health and developmental outcomes among Americans, particularly between and among racial and ethnic groups. Following a description of the plan's development, scientific areas of interest, and important themes, the…

As part of a project aimed at developing an adolescent health education program, 100 subjects aged 12 through 13 and 16 through 17 were studied to determine the possible relationship between self-esteem, value of health, and positive health behavior. Both factors were found to be significantly correlated with certain dimensions of health behavior…

Surveys of 2,401 university employees indicated that 81% felt that a wellness program should be offered, and 57% planned to participate. For the upper-income group, disparity between desire for the program and desire to participate was greater, perhaps because they felt less personal need for such services. (SLD)

The use of case-control methodology as an applied policy/planning research tool in assessing the potential effectiveness of behavioral interventions is studied in connection with diarrhea control in Zaire. Results with 107 matched pairs of children demonstrate the importance of hygiene-related knowledge and the utility of the research approach.…

Childhood obesity is on the rise and there is no indication that the trend is reversing. To reverse this trend, it is critical that children develop and foster healthy eating behaviors and physical activity patterns to help reduce the risk of developing long-term chronic diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and others. One…

In 1994, an Institute of Medicine committee was convened to study comprehensive school health programs (CSHPs) in grades K-12 and to make recommendations for national, state, and local actions. The background of the study, issues considered by the committee, and an overview of CSHPs are discussed in the first two chapters of this report. The…

The goals of the Corporate Summit for Children were to: (1) increase understanding about the tremendous impact of maternal and child health-related costs on the private sector; (2) clarify the role that business, health professionals, educators, and policymakers can play together in the workplace, in the community, and in the public policy arena…