School mental health (SMH) programs and services have grown progressively in the United States in the past two decades, related to increased acknowledgement of their advantages and prominent federal initiatives (e.g., No Child Left Behind Act President's New Freedom Initiative; 20(13). Nonetheless, SMH is an emerging and tenuously supported field…

The Life Enhancement Afloat-Ashore Program (LEAAP) was a comprehensive worksite health program implemented on five U.S. Navy commands. It addressed substance abuse, fitness, life enhancement skills and behaviors, and recreation awareness and opportunity. The program included videotape education sessions at the worksite; command-sponsored health,…

This booklet describes Creating New Choices, a violence prevention project begun in Victoria, Australia, in 1994. It is designed to integrate violence prevention tools into the educational arena. The program is based on a critical examination of the whole school culture, with the goal of creating a socially just environment for all members of the…

Perspectives are provided to help evaluators of health promotion programs. Eight papers present critical issues in such evaluations, including: (1) conceptual themes of program theory and context; (2) topics related to measurement, data analysis, and research design; and (3) reports of evaluation studies. (SLD)

Describes the culturally sophisticated community mobilization and educational strategies used to develop, implement, and evaluate a cholesterol education, screening, and referral intervention that effectively elicited the participation of underserved African Americans traditionally unresponsive to such efforts. The paper presents recommendations…

Three conventional quasi-experimental evaluations of school-based smoking prevention programs produced no statistically significant effects on children's knowledge and behavior. Complementary evaluations of the implementation process provided empirically grounded hypotheses to justify continued intervention. Results indicate complementary…

Difficulties experienced in implementing a randomized design in a school-based adolescent health promotion program are explained, and a solution using a randomized control group design nested within two treatment options is proposed. The Health for Life project involved 21 middle schools in Wisconsin. (SLD)

Assessed the impact of school organizational characteristics on outcomes of a teacher health behavior change program. Organizational, dietary, and psychologic data from intervention and control schools indicated that teachers at intervention schools with high organizational climate, organizational health, and job satisfaction reported better…

Investigated whether college level peer educators were adequately prepared to teach peers about sexual health, sexual assault, and substance abuse. They completed 20 hours of training on the issues and on public speaking, leadership, and presentation skills. Pretesting and posttesting indicated that the program increased students' factual…

Examines lessons learned from a 5-year project designed to develop, implement, and evaluate a multifaceted community health advisor-based intervention to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease among older, rural, African American women. Data from observations surveys, and discussion groups highlight six lessons (e.g., establish personal working…

Presents School Health Policies and Programs Study 2000 findings about state- and district-level policies and practices regarding various school food service issues, e.g., organization and staffing, food service and child nutrition requirements and recommendations, menu planning and food preparation, and collaboration. Also addressed are food…

The purpose of this study was first to assess and then to improve the diet of Greek primary school children teaching them healthy dietary habits and instructing them to face critically advertisements and media projected dietary models using a program which included intervention on cognitive, emotional, and social level. The results show that our…

Community-based participatory research directly involves community members and community-based service providers as partners in the research process. It is especially important in Native American communities, where egregious research practices have led some communities and individuals to be wary of researchers. Messengers for Health uses a lay…

This prevention training program was created in response to the emergency situation in Community School District 3 in New York City. The program goal was to provide intensive training to 500 school personnel, from all segments of the educational community, in the skills and information necessary to provide substance abuse prevention education to…

COPE (Client-Oriented, Provider-Efficient) methodology, a self-assessment tool that has been used in 35 countries around the world, was used to improve the quality of care in family planning clinics in Kenya. COPE involves a process that legitimately invests power with providers and clinic-level staff. It gives providers more control over their…