Community health initiatives typically involve time-limited funding from foundation or government grants to support their initial activities. But if there are to be lasting improvements in health outcomes, initiative activities must be sustained over a relatively long period of time. Despite the importance of sustaining work begun under health…

Daily stretching has many benefits for one's body. It can relieve stress and tension, it increases flexibility and it can help prevent injuries. There are many stretching exercises that a teacher can do with his or her students to help promote daily stretching routines. In this article, the author presents several stretching exercises and some…

In this article, the author relates how she became concerned about the eating habits of her students. She found out that some of her students would come with a medium-sized bag of cheese curls and a 16-ounce soda. To help her students understand the benefits of healthy lifestyle, she incorporated several exercises in her classroom techniques.

Dr. Greene answers the following question in this brief article focusing on fitness: Everyone knows that children need plenty of exercise to stay healthy--But what does "fitness" really involve for young children? Following this discussion, the topics presented include: snack of the month; nutrition fact; and activities, "Move to the Music" and…

This brief paper reports the results of two observational studies examining the impact of fines for youth tobacco possession on public smoking among youth. Preliminary findings are presented that suggest that when police issued warnings and tickets to reduce underage youth possession of tobacco, in both towns the number of youth smoking in public…

With the advent of devolution, policies and programmes are being developed and delivered to meet the particular needs of the people of Wales. It is recognized that such policies and programmes need to be informed by the best available evidence to identify key issues, assess what has worked elsewhere to address them, and to have monitoring and…

Background: People with intellectual disability (ID) are thought to be at an increased risk of fractures. The extent of this increase in risk has been incompletely documented in the literature, and the underlying reasons remain to be elucidated. Methods: The aims of our study were to document the vitamin D status and fracture incidence in an…

Responds to comments made by Holden and Blau (see record EJ751342) on the current authors' original article (see record EJ733585). The current authors suggest combining the complementary strengths of the community-based approaches identified by Holden and Blau (2006) and the evidence-based approaches discussed in their original article, rather…

Adults with developmental disabilities are at significant risk for health problems. Effective health promotion can improve outcomes--and that's why adult day and residential agencies, schools, and other organizations need this invaluable program development guide. An urgent call to action and a start-to-finish framework for health promotion, this…

Although widely available, little is known about the effectiveness of youth cessation treatments delivered in real-world settings. The authors recruited a nonprobability sample of 41 community-based group-format programs that treated at least 15 youth per year and included evidence-based treatment components. Data collection included longitudinal…

Background: Despite the growing number of school-based interventions designed to reduce childhood obesity or otherwise promote health, no models or materials were found for Jewish schools. The current study describes an effort within a Jewish school system in Chicago to create, implement, and evaluate a school-based intervention tailored to the…

In Uganda, curbing the spread of HIV/AIDS has largely depended on public and private media messages about the disease. Media campaigns based on Uganda's cultural norms of communication are metaphorical, analogical and simile-like. The topic of HIV/AIDS has been introduced into the Senior Three (Grade 11) biology curriculum in Uganda. To what…

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) present unique needs regarding sexuality education. While the topic of sexuality has received increased attention in the fields of intellectual and developmental disabilities generally, less consideration has focused on the unique needs of individuals with ASD specifically. This paper presents one…

No-nit policies that exist in many schools throughout the United States were established years ago based on fear and misinformation, rather than scientific evidence. Children who are found to have live lice are no more infectious on the day of diagnosis than they had been prior to the discovery. Transmission of head lice requires close personal…

This article profiles selected Safe Schools/Healthy Students (SS/HS) interventions in three Oregon communities that have completed Safe Schools/Healthy Students projects, representing a substantial investment in building school and community collaborations, expanding positive behavior supports in schools, and establishing school-based mental…