Search

In 1953 when the Nordic School of Public Health was founded, the aim of public health programmes was disease prevention more than health promotion. This was not unusual, since at this time health usually was seen as the opposite of disease and illness. However, with the Ottawa Charter of 1986, the World Health Organization made a crucial change to view health not as a goal in itself but as the means to a full life. In this way, health promotion became a first priority and fundamental action for the modern society. This insight eventually reached NHV and in 2002 – 50 years after the foundation – an associate professorship was established with a focus on health promotion. Nevertheless, the concept of health promotion had been integrated with or mentioned in courses run prior to the new post. Subsequently, a wide spectrum of courses in health promotion was introduced, such as ‘Empowerment for Child and Adolescent Health Promotion’, ‘Salutogenesis – from theory to practice’ and ‘Health, Stress and Coping’. More than half of all doctoral theses undertaken at NHV during these years had health promotion as their theme. As a derivative, the Nordic Health Promotion Research Network (NHPRN) was established in 2007 with bi-annual meetings at NHV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to focus on how family and community in Greenland perceive support- giving during the perinatal period. It explores Greenlanders use of storytelling as a health-promoting tool in the perinatal period. It is research set in Greenland, but analysed in a larger context. Using an ethnographic approach to subject matter, the paper is based on a series of qualitative interviews and focus groups conducted between 2003 and 2011 with mothers and fathers. Ethnographic content analysis, interviews and dialogues with Culture Bearers were used to analyse and set the stories into a cultural perspective. The child was described as the centre of the family and the family as the bedrock of life. The mothers, fathers and Culture Bearers presented three main concepts in their stories: 1) my family @@@ a safe harbour, 2) the child as the centre of the family, and 3) the equal sharing of burden and joy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scand J Caring Sci; 2012; 26; 363-371 Parents' discursive resources: Analysis of discourses in Swedish, Danish and Norwegian health care guidelines for children with diabetes type 1 The incidence of diabetes type 1 in children, the most common metabolic disorder in childhood, increases worldwide, with highest incidence in Scandinavia. Having diabetes means demands in everyday life, and the outcome of the child's treatment highly depends on parents' engagement and involvement. The aim of this study was to explore and describe discourses in health care guidelines for children with diabetes type 1, in Sweden, Norway and Denmark during 2007-2010, with a focus on how parents were positioned. As method a Foucauldian approach to discourse analysis was applied, and a six-stage model was used to perform the analysis. The findings shows a Medical, a Pedagogic and a Public Health discourse embedded in the hegemonic Expert discourse. The Expert discourse positioned parents as dependent on expert knowledge, as recipients of education, as valuable and responsible for their child's health through practicing medical skills. This positioning may place parents on a continuum from being deprived of their own initiatives to being invited to take an active part and could result in feelings of guilt and uncertainty, but also of security and significance. From this study we conclude that guidelines rooted in the Expert discourse may reduce opportunities for parents' voices to be heard and may overlook their knowledge. By broadening the selection of authors of the guidelines to include patients and all professionals in the team, new discourses could emerge and the parents' voice might be more prominent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scand J Caring Sci; 2011; 25; 798-805 Holism in nursing and health promotion: distinct or related perspectives? - A literature review Background: The concept of holism is central in health promotion as well as in nursing. Holism or a holistic view on health was identified as one of the key principles of the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion and is linked to social ecology and the determinants of health. Aims: To explore how the term holism was defined and/or described in Nordic articles with a health-promotion approach, and how holism aspects were related to nursing and health promotion, and to the other key principles of the Ottawa Charter. Methods: Abstracts were first identified by the search word 'health promotion' as a keyword. The search was limited to 1986-2008 and abstracts written in English by authors with a Nordic affiliation. Abstracts/articles for this study were subsequently selected from these abstracts using the search words 'holism' and 'holistic' and analysed by quantitative and manifest qualitative content analysis. Findings: The sample included 23 articles: one theoretical, two reviews and 20 empirical studies. Sixteen articles included a hospital setting or nursing perspective. A holistic perspective could be extracted from most articles. No larger but several minor differences were identified in the way holism aspects were related to nursing and health promotion respectively. Conclusion: There is a risk that the individual patient perspective of holism in nursing may result in less chance of reaching larger groups of patients with chronic diseases and mental health problems, not least the most vulnerable ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: This paper focuses on equity in health, one of the key principles of the Ottawa Charter. It aims at analysing and discussing how the concept was defined, applied, and integrated in health-promotion articles by authors with a Nordic affiliation. Methods: Abstracts were first identified by the search word "health promotion" as a key word. The search was limited to 1986—2008 and abstracts written in English by authors with a Nordic affiliation. Abstracts/articles for the present study were subsequently selected from these abstracts using the search word "equity" and analysed by quantitative and qualitative content analysis. Findings: A majority of the 18 articles in the study did not include any proper definition of the term "equity in health". Most articles dealt with health in general or "Health for All" aspects and did not focus on specific strategies for vulnerable individuals or groups. The theoretical papers had a clear focus on equity aspects even though the concept of equity was sometimes included in an implicit way. In contrast, most papers reporting empirical studies did not specifically target equity aspects. Instead, the analysis gave the impression that many authors used the term "equity" synonymously with "equality in health". Conclusions: The findings may indicate that the concept of "equity in health" has been attenuated or even forgotten by Nordic health-promotion researchers and needs to be re-established as a strong concern within health promotion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Borup IK, Holstein BE. International Journal of Nursing Practice 2010; 16: 359–365 Overweight children's response to an annual health dialogue with the school nurse The objective of this study was to compare overweight and normal weight pupils' perceived outcome of the health dialogue with the school nurse. A random sample of schools in Denmark, where pupils age 11.6, 13.6 and 15.6 years old, answered a questionnaire (response rate 88%, n = 5205). The independent variable weight group was measured by self-reported height and weight and calculated as body mass index. Perceived outcome of the dialogue was measured as: (i) reflected on the dialogue; (ii) discussed the content with parents; (iii) followed the advice of the nurse; and (iv) visited the nurse again. Overweight boys reflected (odds ratio (OR) = 1.73), discussed the dialogue with at least one parent (OR = 1.38), followed the nurse's advice (OR = 1.42) and visited the nurse again (OR = 2.68). There was a significant statistical link between age group and perceived outcome among the boys, but not girls. The 11-year-old overweight boys perceived more positive effects from the dialogue with the school nurse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scand J Caring Sci; 2004; 18; 343–350Social class variations in schoolchildren's self-reported outcome of the health dialogue with the school health nurseSchool health services is an important element in many countries’ health promotion activities but little is known about the pupils’ acceptance and perception of these services and their effects. The objective of this paper was to examine the pupils’ self-reported outcome of the health dialogue and to examine the effect of social class on this response controlled for the effect of other relevant social factors.The study is a survey. The population were all pupils in the fifth, seventh and ninth grade (11, 13 and 15 years old) in a random sample of schools in Denmark, response rate 87%, n = 5205. Data were collected by questionnaires.The majority of the pupils had reflected about the content of the last health dialogue with the school health nurse (54%), had discussed the content with their mother (62%) and with friends (54%); 62% had followed the nurse's advice, 77% had made their own autonomous decisions based on the health dialogue, and 11% had returned to the nurse for further advice. Pupils from the lower social classes had more often followed the nurse's advice (OR = 1.16, 95% CI: 0.99–1.37) and returned to the nurse (OR = 1.46, 95% CI: 1.12–1.90). Pupils from the middle and lower social classes had more often made their own autonomous decisions (middle social classes: OR =1.23, 95% CI: 1.08–1.39, lower social classes: OR = 1.13, 95% CI: 0.95–1.34).Most pupils reported an outcome of the health dialogue with the school health nurse. Pupils from lower social classes seemed to benefit more than pupils from higher social classes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to achieve a deeper understanding of the learning processes that occur within a regular health dialogue between pupils and school health nurse from the school health nurse’s perspective. The study used a grounded theory approach for the data collection and analysis. Eight experienced school health nurses were interviewed using a semistructured ‘interview guide’. The interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. A detailed analysis presented the processes involved and the core category emerged as creating a communicative room to learn about health. The core category contained factors related to competencies, authenticity, reflective openness and environmental support, which was the basis for learning processes and a successful health dialogue. This paper adds to our understanding of the processes in school health nursing and the learning about health which takes place within a health dialogue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a study that identified how environmental factors are perceived by pupils with health dialogue. Importance of school satisfaction in pupils; Aim of the health dialogue; Material and methods used in the study; Results of the study.

This study describes and analyses the health dialogue on the basis of the pupils' experience and the association with background factors such as age, sex, geographical areas, family and social class. The theoretical framework is based on empowerment and health promotion, and on Kolb's theory of experiential learning. The study, conducted in 1991, is the Danish contribution to the WHO collaborative study 'Health Behaviour in School Children'. A nationwide random sample of pupils aged 11, 13 and 15 (n = 1860) answered a standardized questionnaire about perceived health, health behaviour, social situation and the health dialogue with the school health nurse. Among the pupils, 68% had participated in the annual health dialogue at the time of the survey (three quarters of the way through the school year). The youngest pupils, and the girls, often participated in groups and reported the greatest number of topics discussed. The health dialogue most frequently comprised 11–20 topics. Most topics discussed were related to health promotion, 31%–60% were related to prevention of illness and symptoms and the rest were related to psychosocial issues. Girls more often reported discussing personal relationships and boys more often discussed action-related topics. Pupils from lower social classes more frequently reported topics related to prevention of illness and symptoms and psychosocial issues. The discussions are the first step in a learning process as a Concrete Experience (CE). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: This study aims to investigate older people’s perceptions of and coping with falls, and what motivates them to join such programmes. Method: We used semi-structured interviews to collect data on 14 individuals (65 years +) who contacted an emergency department because they had fallen. Data were analyzed using a phenomenographic approach that traces older people’s perception of the phenomenon of ‘‘falling’’. Results: Five categories and 15 subcategories emerged from the interviews. The five main categories were: emotional perceptions of falling; falling has consequences; coping with the situation; support from the social network; motivation and demotivation. To fall was shameful and embarrassing and could be explained by old age. To some, ‘‘fear of falling’’ was the dominant feeling. These people did not see falls as a risk factor they ought to care about. Instead, to prevent future falls, they restricted their activities or stopped certain activities altogether. If demands exceeded their resources, they asked their relatives or their general practitioner for help. Elderly people were motivated by autonomy, competence, and relatedness and preferred activities that spread happiness and joy, preferably in a social atmosphere, but they encountered elements in their surroundings that curbed their motivation. Conclusions: Future fall-prevention programmes must target older people’s needs and acknowledge that there are many ways of perceiving falling. Moreover, elderly individuals’ coping strategies are not necessarily productive. Social networks and general practitioners can actively encourage older people to participate in fall-prevention programmes. Such programmes must support older people’s need for autonomy, competence and social relations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The World Health Organization (WHO) has stated that referral practices along with midwifery care are a means of heightening the quality of perinatal care and lessening perinatal mortality and morbidity. In 2002, in response to high perinatal mortality and morbidity, a referral system was instituted nationally in Greenland, transferring all at-risk pregnancies to its national referral hospital. Little or no current research has focused on evaluation of the perinatal referral system or on the thoughts, beliefs, opinions and challenges faced by women and Greenlandic families themselves. The aim of this paper is to document how women referred to Nuuk because of at-risk pregnancies narratively constructed self-understanding and defined meaning during their period of separation from family and community; and how they dealt with the challenges they were presented with. Interviews were conducted with women upon their arrival at the national referral hospital and during fieldwork over a one-year period. Narrative framework was used for analysis. Coping theory and narrative theories were the theoretical base for structuring the narratives. Through their narratives, women presented their identities as mothers, community members and caretakers. Acceptance of referral was described as a means of protecting their unborn child and was where women found an inner source of strength to deal with their own anger, joy, anxiety and loneliness. The ability to accept referral was directly connected to their family and community and the support they found therein. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Parents and children joint activities are considered to be an important factor on healthy lifestyle development throughout adolescence. This study is a part of the Cross-National Survey on Health Behaviour in School-aged Children - World Health Organization Collaborative Study (HBSC). It aims to describe family time in joint activities and to clarify the role of social and structural family profile in a cross-national perspective. Methods: The research was carried out according to the methodology of the HBSC study using the anonymous standardized questionnaire. In total, 17,761 students (8,649 boys and 9,112 girls) aged 13 and 15 years from 6 European countries (Czech Republic, Finland, Greenland, Lithuania, Spain, and Ukraine) were surveyed in the 2001-2002 school-year. The evaluation of joint family activity is based on 8 items: (1) watching TV or a video, (2) playing indoor games, (3) eating meals, (4) going for a walk, (5) going places, (6) visiting friends or relatives, (7) playing sports, (8) sitting and talking about things (chatting). Results: Students from Spain and Ukraine reported spending the most time together with their families in almost all kinds of joint activities, whereas students from Greenland and Finland reported spending the least of this time. Boys were more likely than girls to be spending time together with family. Joint family activity goes into decline in age from 13 to 15 years. Variability of family time in a cross-national perspective was relatively small and related to children age category. Considering national, gender and age differences of studied population groups, we found that the distribution of joint family activities tends to be dispersed significantly by family structure (intact/restructured family) and family wealth. Conclusion: Our study compares children and parent joint activities in European countries and reveals differences and similarities in these patterns between countries. The findings underline the role of family structure (intact/restructured family) and family wealth in the distribution of time spent in joint family activities, which should be considered by health promoters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study describes how fathers of children diagnosed with type 1 diabetes understand their involvement in their child’s daily life from a health promotion perspective. Sixteen Swedish fathers of children living with type 1 diabetes were interviewed. Manifest and latent content analysis was used to identify two themes: the inner core of the father’s general parental involvement and the additional involvement based on the child’s diabetes. The former was underpinned by the fathers’ prioritization of family life and the fathers being consciously involved in raising the child, and the latter by the fathers promoting and controlling the child’s health and promoting and enabling the child’s autonomy. The results highlight that the quality of the fathers’ involvement is essential in the management of a child’s chronic illness. It is important for pediatric diabetes health care professionals to assess the quality of fathers’ involvement to promote the child’s health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to analyze how Swedish pediatric diabetes teams perceived and discussed fathers' involvement in the care of their child with type 1 diabetes. It also aimed to discuss how the teams' attitudes towards the fathers' involvement developed during the data collection process. The Constructivist Grounded Theory design was used and data were collected during three repeated focus group discussions with three Swedish pediatric diabetes teams. The core category of the teams' perception of fathers' involvement emerged as: If dad attends, we are happy - if mom doesn't, we become concerned. Initially the teams balanced their perception of fathers' involvement on the mother's role as the primary caregiver. In connection with the teams' directed attention on fathers, in the focus group discussions, the teams' awareness of the importance of fathers increased. As a consequence, the team members began to encourage fathers' engagement in their child's care. We conclude that by increasing the teams' awareness of fathers as a health resource, an active health promotion perspective could be implemented in pediatric diabetes care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this grounded theory study was to explore and discuss how fathers involved in caring for a child with type 1 diabetes experienced support from Swedish paediatric diabetes teams (PDTs) in everyday life with their child. Eleven fathers of children with type 1 diabetes, living in Sweden and scoring high on involvement on the Parental Responsibility Questionnaire, participated. Data were collected from January 2011 to August 2011, initially through online focus group discussions in which 6 of 19 invited fathers participated. Due to high attrition, the data collection continued in eight individual interviews. A semi-structured interview guide was used, and the fathers were asked to share experiences of their PDT's support in everyday life with their child. A simultaneous and constant comparison approach to data collection and analysis allowed the core category to emerge: the tension between general recommendations and personal experience. This core category illuminates how the fathers experienced tension between managing their unique everyday life with their child and balancing this to meet their PDT's expectations with regard to blood glucose levels. The core category was supported by two categories: the tension between the fathers' and their PDT' s knowledge, whereby fathers reported discrepancies between their PDT's medical knowledge and their own unique knowledge of their child; and the tension between the fathers' and their PDT' s goals, whereby the fathers identified differences between the familys' and their PDT's goals. As a dimension of the core category, fathers felt trust or distrust in their PDT. We conclude that to achieve high-quality support for children with diabetes and to enhance their health and well-being, involved fathers' knowledge of their unique family situation needs to be integrated into the diabetes treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines differences in life satisfaction among children in different family structures in 36 western, industrialised countries ( n = 184 496). Children living with both biological parents reported higher levels of life satisfaction than children living with a single parent or parent-step-parent. Children in joint physical custody reported significantly higher levels of life satisfaction than their counterparts in other types of non-intact families. Controlling perceived family affluence, the difference between joint physical custody families and single mother or mother-stepfather families became non-significant. Difficulties in communicating with parents were strongly associated with less life satisfaction but did not mediate the relation between family structure and life satisfaction. Children in the Nordic countries characterised by strong welfare systems reported significantly higher levels of life satisfaction in all living arrangements except in single father households. Differences in economic inequality between countries moderated the association between certain family structures, perceived family affluence and life satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]