The population pyramid is being turned upside down. Baby boomers are beginning to flood the market for goods and services. It is never too late to encourage people of all ages to "dare" to be active through outdoor adventure activities. This article provides readers with a general understanding of older adults' needs and interests as they relate…

Dissemination and sustainability of evidence-based physical education programs (PE) has been studied rarely. The sustainability of a health-related PE program (SPARK) was independently evaluated in 111 elementary schools in 7 states. Surveys were mailed to schools that had received SPARK curriculum books, training, and follow-up (response rate =…

The aim of this study was to determine pedometry steps per minute (SPM) cutscores that accurately quantify physical activity (PA) time in first- through fourth-grade physical education. A total of 257 participants were grouped in two data pools, first- and second-grade (n = 126), and third- and fourth-grade (n = 131). Systematic observation was…

Suicide is a leading cause of death among youth, and schools have an important role to play in preventing suicide. Schools are the center of many adolescents' lives and they can influence students' personal and social development. Therefore, it is appropriate that the first line of suicide prevention strategies should lie within the educational…

"Best practice" is currently being used to enable modernisation within the National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom. One element of this is the Beacon programme where examples of hospitals that exemplify local "best practice" are supported to develop and disseminate learning across the wider NHS. The aims of this…

Participation of the "target group" is a key concept in working on empowerment in health education. However, it raises many questions and is not without struggle. I will discuss the findings from a study into the state of the art of empowerment in health education, which includes a literature review and the analysis of eight Dutch…

What are the values of physical education (PE)? What is its meaning and possible significance to the individual and society? Should PE be part of a standard curriculum in the education of the young? If so, why? These questions are calls for a justification of PE, which is a socio-cultural construction created by people for people and on the basis…

The "Recommendations for Institutional Prematriculation Immunizations" described in this article are provided to colleges and universities to facilitate the implementation of a comprehensive institutional prematriculation immunization policy. In response to changing epidemiology and the introduction of new vaccines, the American College Health…

Based on 10 weekly telephone interviews with first-year college students (N=202; 63% women; M=18.8 years, SD=0.4), within- and between-person associations of positive and negative affect with alcohol use were examined. Multi-level models confirmed hypothesized within-person associations between weekly positive affect and alcohol use: Higher…

As knowledge of effective treatments for mental disorders has grown, so too has the field of mental health promotion and positive development. Studies completed during the last two decades have synthesized the state of mental health promotion and documented that universal mental health supports positively affect child and adolescent developmental…

Democratic or equal participation in decision making is an ideal that community and academic stakeholders engaged in participatory research strive to achieve. This ideal, however, may compete with indigenous peoples' right to self-determination. Study objectives were to assess the perceived influence of multiple community (indigenous) and academic…

Research on whether health education, specifically personal health classes affects behavior change is inconclusive. In this study, a sample of students from two large southeastern universities enrolled in a required personal health course and an elective personal health course were administered the National College Health Risk Behavior Survey…

This article addresses ways in which fitness tests can be used positively in physical education. We take the position throughout the article that fitness tests should be used as formative evaluation to further educational goals. We begin by discussing the different ways in which adults and children use fitness tests. The next section, the heart of…

The University of North Carolina Mobile Student Health Action Coalition (UNC MSHAC) at Chapel Hill, North Carolina is a voluntary service-learning program in which interdisciplinary teams of graduate level health professional students provide monthly home visits to isolated, community-dwelling elders with complex medical and social issues.…

The Mariner Model provides a step-by-step systems-building process and tool by which schools, school districts, and communities can develop capacity and create an infrastructure that supports continuous improvement in health-promoting environments for children. The Mariner Model follows a public health program planning development model that is…