Childhood obesity is emerging as a considerable public health problem with no clear antidote. The school food environment is a potential intervention point for policy makers, with competitive food and beverage regulation as a possible policy lever. This research examines the link between competitive food and beverage availability in school and…

Physical inactivity is a key determinant of health across the lifespan. A lack of activity increases the risk of heart disease, colon and breast cancer, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, osteoporosis, anxiety and depression and others diseases. Emerging literature has suggested that in terms of mortality, the global population health burden of…

Cancer can be one of the most serious diseases that can result in a costly reduction in the quality of life. Among a number of cancer risk factors, tobacco use has been identified as the leading preventable cause of deaths. Prior research has suggested that cancer information seeking may be a pre-step to adopt health protective behaviors that can…

This study was conducted to examine the effect of a healthy nails program on nail-biting in Turkish schoolchildren. This quasi-experimental study was of pretest-posttest control group design. A total of 50 students of a primary school formed the intervention group, while 53 students from the same school formed the control group. Data were…

The Hawai'i Demonstration to Maintain Independence and Employment was a randomized controlled trial examining the effect of a participant-driven, multicomponent intervention on 190 employed adults with diabetes, 36% of whom were Asian and 35% of whom were Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. A no treatment concurrent control group was used, and…

Our objective was to assess how exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke occurs in Hungarian homes, particularly among non-smokers, and to examine the effectiveness of home smoking bans in eliminating exposure to secondhand smoke at home. In 2009, 2286 non-smokers and smokers aged 16-70 years, who were selected randomly from a nationally…

Gardening programs have been increasing in popularity since 1995 when California enacted legislation with the goal of putting a garden in every school. Research has shown positive benefits of gardening programs include increasing a child's academic skills, environmental awareness, and social skills, but little is known about their impact on…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to underpin a scoping study commissioned by community leaders to assess the potential for creating a "health café" in the centre of Boston, in eastern England, UK, to facilitate healthier lifestyles. Design/methodology/approach: A mixed methods and framework analytic approach was adopted, using…

With Bronfenbrenner's (1977) ecological theory and other multifactor models (e.g. Pianta, 1999; Prinstein, Boergers, & Spirito, 2001) underlying this study design, the purpose was to examine, simultaneously, key variables in multiple life contexts (microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem levels) for their individual and combined roles in predicting…

Childhood obesity and the early development of type 2 diabetes (T2 DM) place students at risk for chronic health problems. The school nurse is uniquely situated to promote school health initiatives that influence health behavior. The purpose of this review was to determine effective nonpharmacological interventions for prevention of T2 DM in…

Sexually active young adults are at an increased risk of acquiring sexually transmitted infections (STIs) or experiencing an unplanned pregnancy. Sexual behaviours such as inconsistent condom use, multiple partners and casual sex are known risk factors for negative sexual health outcomes. Sexually active higher education students are classified as…

While much research has documented unsatisfactory sexual and reproductive health (SRH) awareness among young people in South Africa, understanding of gender differences in access to and evaluation of SRH information is limited. This paper concerned itself with men and women's informal sources and content of SRH, and gendered divergences around…

The rising prevalence of obesity in society has resulted in an increased need for physical education teachers to create learning opportunities that promote physical activity among children. However, the presence of anti-fat attitudes and a limited understanding of the challenges associated with being overweight in a physical activity environment…

To reduce the high incidence of cervical cancer among Latinas in the United States it is important to understand factors that predict screening behavior. The aim of this study was to test the utility of theory of planned behavior in predicting cervical cancer screening among a group of Latinas. A sample of Latinas (N = 614) completed a baseline…

The worldwide rise in obesity makes this the first non-infectious epidemic in human history. The rapid increase is, in fact, influenced more by environment than biology. In an effort to halt the trend, Quebec has launched a major awareness-raising campaign that focuses on healthy environments and targets stakeholders in schools, municipalities,…