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Laddering techniques have become popular as a means of understanding consumers'' motivations for (food) product choice. However, comparisons of laddering methods are rare. Hard laddering techniques that facilitate ‘forking’ and skipping levels of abstraction are a possible alternative to time-consuming soft (interview) laddering, whilst retaining the richness and complexity of the data. Computerisation adds advantages of rapid data collection and coding. Accordingly, we have compared pencil-and-paper and computerised methods of hard laddering. Within the context of choosing a breakfast for their child, pencil-and-paper laddering respondents (n=45) gave significantly more, and more diverse, responses than computerised laddering respondents (n=46). Hierarchical value maps (HVM) displaying two different levels of “cut-off” (frequency) of responses, revealed between-group similarity in the strongest (most important) linkages, but differences emerged when weaker linkages were allowed. Comparisons with soft laddering are required to determine the strengths of each method. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

"Digestive Jurisprudence" is the view that judicial decisions depend on what judges had for breakfast. The view is usually associated with Frank's version of Legal Realism. The paper shows that, disputable as it is, that view comes from the philosophical background of Peirce's pragmatism and the legal background of Holmes' prediction theory. Peirce's pragmatism was an account of concepts in terms of their predictable consequences. Holmes' prediction theory was an account of law in terms of predictions of what judges will do. And Legal Realism focused on judicial behavior as determined by various factors including, in its most extreme and provocative version, breakfast quality and digestive processes. The paper does not ascertain whether the digestive view is true (to some extent); rather, it makes the working hypothesis that breakfast quality, or digestion quality, is not a sufficient condition of a certain outcome but, most likely, a bias-arouser. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In many Westernised countries, children do not consume a sufficient amount of vegetables for optimal health and development. Child-feeding guidelines have been produced to address this, but often only promote offering vegetables at midday/evening meals and snack times. With guidance having limited success in increasing children's vegetable intake at a population level, novel approaches to address this must be developed. Offering vegetables to children at breakfast time in nursery/kindergarten settings has the potential to increase children's overall daily vegetable consumption as children typically attend nursery/kindergarten and many routinely eat breakfast there. However, the feasibility and acceptability of this intervention (Veggie Brek) to children and nursery staff has not been investigated. Methods: A feasibility and acceptability cluster randomised controlled trial (RCT) was undertaken in eight UK nurseries. All nurseries engaged in one-week baseline and follow-up phases before and after an intervention/control period. Staff in intervention nurseries offered three raw carrot batons and three cucumber sticks alongside children's main breakfast food each day for three weeks. Control nurseries offered children their usual breakfast. Feasibility was assessed by recruitment data and nursery staff's ability to follow the trial protocol. Acceptability was assessed by children's willingness to eat the vegetables at breakfast time. All primary outcomes were assessed against traffic-light progression criteria. Staff preference for collecting data via photographs versus using paper was also assessed. Further views about the intervention were obtained through semi-structured interviews with nursery staff. Results: The recruitment of parents/caregivers willing to provide consent for eligible children was acceptable at 67.8% (within the amber stop–go criterion) with 351 children taking part across eight nurseries. Both the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention to nursery staff and the willingness of children to consume the vegetables met the green stop–go criteria, with children eating some part of the vegetables in 62.4% (745/1194) of instances where vegetables were offered. Additionally, staff preferred reporting data using paper compared to taking photographs. Conclusions: Offering vegetables to children at breakfast time in nursery/kindergarten settings is feasible and acceptable to children and nursery staff. A full intervention evaluation should be explored via a definitive RCT. Trial registration: NCT05217550. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Invented market traditions are practices and memories of the past created by corporations and sustained through consumption. Invented market traditions show how organisations have the potential to reorganise collective memories of the past, creating new mnemonic narratives rather than drawing on existing ones. Materiality provides long-term stability to these narratives. This paper focuses on the institution of Italian breakfast, based on milk, coffee, and convenience bakery products such as biscuits, invented by the brand Mulino Bianco. Biscuits exemplify how commodities imbued with nostalgic meanings can mobilise these invented memories and fold them into social practices. The recurring consumption of biscuits at breakfast, which was marketed as a rediscovery of Italian heritage, created those very nostalgic memories that consumers wanted to remember. Invented market traditions show the social repercussions of organisations' rhetorical work and expose how context plays a role in understanding their success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose This paper aims to examine how Mulino Bianco, an iconic Italian bakery brand, has reshaped the symbolic and material aspects of breakfast in Italy, transforming a declining practice into a common family occasion.Design/methodology/approach A socio-historical analysis of the iconisation process has been undertaken with a framework for investigating the symbolic, material and practice-based aspects of the brand and their changes over time. Archival marketing material, advertising campaigns and interviews with brand managers constitute the main data for analysis.Findings Three crucial moments have been identified in which the brand articulates its relationship with the practice of breakfast. During the launch of the brand, the articulation was mainly instigated via the myths of tamed nature and rural past and the material aspect of the products reinforced such an articulation. In the second moment, the articulation was established with the brand’s materiality, emphasised through the use of promotional items targeting mothers and children. In the last phase, a cementification of the articulation was achieved mainly via the symbolic aspect of the brand – communicating Mulino Bianco as emblematic of a new family life in which the “Italian breakfast” was central.Originality/value Theoretically, this paper advances the understanding of the pervasive influence of brands in family life, showing how they do not simply reshape existing family food practices, rather they can re-create new ones, investing them with symbolic meanings, anchoring them with novel materiality and equipping consumers with new understandings and competences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The consumption of vegetables is vitally important for children's health and development. However, in many Westernised countries, most children do not eat sufficient quantities of vegetables and consume many energy-dense and high-sugar foods; a health behaviour associated with the onset of non-communicable diseases. To address this important public health concern, it is necessary to think 'outside the box' and consider innovative and pragmatic ways to increase children's daily vegetable intake. In many countries, caregivers implementing best-practice child feeding methods typically offer children vegetables at lunch, dinner and for snacks. It is unusual for children to be routinely offered vegetables for breakfast, yet there is no nutritional, physiological or medical reason why vegetables should not be eaten at breakfast. Indeed, in some countries, children frequently consume vegetables for breakfast. Increasing children's exposure to vegetables at breakfast from an early age would allow for the development of a positive association between eating vegetables and breakfast, thus providing another opportunity in the day where vegetables might be regularly consumed by children. In this paper, we propose a rationale for why vegetables should be routinely offered to young children at breakfast time in countries where this may not be the norm. Future research assessing the feasibility and acceptability of such a public health intervention would provide health policy agencies with evidence about a potentially effective and easily implementable approach for increasing children's vegetable intake, thus improving their overall nutritional status, as well as their heath and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Autophagy is a cellular process that cleanses cells and is particularly important during ageing. Autophagy has been extensively studied in vitro and in animal models and is known to be sensitive to nutrition. However, human data are limited because autophagic flux (autophagic degradative activity) has been challenging to measure in humans. This protocol paper describes the Break-Fast study, in which autophagic flux will be measured using a recently developed blood test, before and after ingestion of whey protein. This aims to determine whether an acute nutritional intervention can change autophagy in humans. Methods: A minimum of forty healthy participants (both male and female) aged 20–50 years, BMI 18.5–29.9 kg/m2 will be recruited into this single arm pre-post study. Participants will visit the clinic after an overnight fast for a first blood collection after which they will consume a whey protein-rich drink. A second blood collection will be performed 60 minutes after consumption of the drink. The primary outcome is the change in autophagic flux at 60 minutes post drink. Secondary outcomes include changes in blood glucose, autophagy-related proteins and mRNA, plasma hormones (e.g. insulin, C-peptide, adiponectin, GLP-1, GIP, ghrelin), cytokines, amino acids and lipids, protein synthesis, and correlation between molecular cell damage and autophagic flux. Discussion: This study will provide information about whether autophagy responds to nutrients in humans, and if nutritional strategies could be used to treat or prevent autophagy-related diseases such as Alzheimer's disease or cancer. Trial registration: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR), anzctr.org.au ACTRN12621001029886. Registered on 5 August 2021. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to know the effect of breakfast on some physiological indicators in athletes, identify the effect of breakfast on the performance of defensive skills in volleyball for athletes, and comparing the effect of breakfast on some physiological and skill indicators between the two research groups. The researcher used the descriptive approach in the survey style, which suits the researcher's study and is appropriate to the nature of the problem. The research community was chosen by the intentional method, which is the students of the College of Physical Education and the Sports Sciences / University of Baghdad, the fourth stage, and they are (380) students. group (10 players) they were named group (A) who eat breakfast and group (B) who do not eat breakfast, where the researcher emphasized on a group of things, the most important of which is agreement on balanced and similar meals in types of food, quantity, One of the most important conclusions reached by the researcher is that eating breakfast in the morning has a positive effect on improving physiological indicators and defensive skill performance in volleyball, and one of the most important recommendations is to urge students or any group to eat breakfast to obtain the necessary energy to improve skillful and functional performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Edward Gorey's numerous scenes of breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and afternoon teas, food and drink often feature with more or less prominence and are sometimes even found in the titles of his books, such as in The Fatal Lozenge (1960) or The Unknown Vegetable (1995). Their seemingly innocent appearance is often tied to violence or death: a head is discovered in a breadbox, a woman murders her husband by lacing his tea with atropine, a boy dies of exposure after being punished for "splashing his soup", and several characters are consumed by more or less fantastic creatures. And yet, throughout all such gruesome events, Gorey's characteristically playful and absurd humour adds levity to scenes of food-related death, misery, downfall, and even murder. Whether much attention is drawn to such events (such as in The Unknown Vegetable, where the entire story revolves around the discovery of a giant turnip-like vegetable that leads to a woman being buried alive) or whether they are merely mentioned in offhanded comments, Gorey couches them in a frame of the ridiculous and the nonsensical. It is therefore the aim of this paper to explore how Gorey achieves this curious combination of the grotesque and the humorous in scenes revolving around food, and how this approach extends to a general confusion of tone in his darkly funny, seriocomic creations in which any manner of horror may be lurking in peaches, cakes, crackers, boiled turnips, a recipe for fudge, a family picnic, or under a haunted tea cosy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on ethnographic data to explore children's aspirations through education within the context of poverty and vulnerability in Siaya Kenya. Since several children reported eating onge (nothing) for breakfast, they hoped that education would enable them to eat and enjoy a good future. I demonstrate that aspirations as orientations towards desired futures have affective dimensions [Huijsmans, Ansell, and Froerer. 2021. "Introduction: Development, Young People, and the Social Production of Aspirations." The European Journal of Development Research 33: 1–15]. Consequently, in drawing from Deleuze [1988. Spinoza: Practical Philosophy. San Francisco, CA: City Lights] that affect is a capacity to affect and to be affected, I argue that children's aspirations in Siaya are an assemblage of personal, relational and non-human factors of poverty, orphanhood, HIV/AIDS and other forms of marginalisation. This assemblage fuels a desire for alternative futures, and/or modifies their aspirations in complex ways. While children's desired futures might look impossible, their aspirations are also affective becomings [Salazar. 2017. "Speculative Fabulation: Researching Worlds to Come in Antarctica." In Anthropologies and Futures: Researching Emerging and Uncertain Worlds, edited by Juan Salazar, Sarah Pink, Andrew Irving, and Johannes Sjöberg, 158. London: Bloomsbury], and schooling and education are sites for alternative futures, in Siaya's continuing present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examine the relationship between nutrition knowledge, diet quality, and eating behavior among active-duty US Army Soldiers. Cross-sectional study with data collection in February 2018 via paper surveys during the validation of the Military Eating Behavior Survey. Among 440 US Army Soldiers, nutrition knowledge was positively and significantly associated with diet quality (b = 0.29, P < 0.001). For every 1-point increase in nutrition knowledge, the Healthy Eating Index-2015 score was expected to increase by 0.29 points. Nutrition knowledge was not significantly associated with skipping breakfast (odds ratio, 1.01; 95% confidence interval, 0.98–1.04) or dining out (odds ratio, 1.01; 95% confidence interval, 0.98–1.03). The outcomes of this study warrant further investigation to determine what interventions provide the strongest outcomes for improving nutrition knowledge and diet quality, as well as create and support an environment that enhances healthy behaviors regarding nutrition that lead to improved diet quality among active-duty Soldiers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several studies have been conducted on the relationship between breakfast consumption and mental health with conflicting results. Therefore, the present systematic review and meta-analysis was undertaken to summarize evidences on the association between skipping breakfast and mental health. We searched online databases for all related papers through the comprehensive international data bases of Institute of PubMed/ MEDLINE, ISI/WOS and Scopus up to December 2019, using relevant keywords. Overall, 14 studies were included in this systematic review and meta-analysis. The total sample size of all selected studies was 399,550 individuals with age range of 6 to ≥65 years old. We found a significant positive association between skipping breakfast and Odds Ratio (OR) of depression (pooled OR: 1.39; 95% CI: 1.34–1.44), stress (pooled OR: 1.23; 95% CI: 1.04–1.43) and psychological distress (pooled OR: 1.55; 95% CI: 1.47–1.62). In contrast, there was no significant association between skipping breakfast and anxiety in all age cohort (pooled OR: 1.31; 95% CI: 0.97–1.65). However, subgroup analysis based on age stratification showed that there was a significant positive association between skipping breakfast and anxiety in adolescences (pooled OR: 1.51; 95% CI: 1.25–1.77). In conclusion, skipping breakfast was positively associated with odds of depression, stress and psychological distress in all age groups and anxiety in adolescence, underlining impact of breakfast on mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the prevalence and interaction of overweight/obesity-related lifestyles (specifically, examining whether subjects meet the recommended criteria), in a representative sample of university students. This study is part of the project EHU12/24, an observational cross-sectional study, designed to assess the prevalence of excess body fat (BF) and major risk of developing overweight/obesity, according to a standardised protocol. In a cohort of 603 students, aged between 18 and 28 years, of the University of the Basque Country, information about meal patterns, diet quality, physical activity, sitting time, sleeping time, toxic habits and anthropometric measurements were collected. Sampling took place from February 2014 to May 2017. Binary logistic regression models adjusted for the covariates were utilised to test the association between lifestyles and risk of excess adiposity. The prevalence of overweight/obesity, according to BF percentage, was 14·4 %. The variables analysed related to meal pattern were associated with diet quality, and less healthy food habits were associated with other less health-related behaviours. Among men, moderate/low physical activity, breakfast skipping, non-adequate breakfast duration, number of eating occasions and eating breakfast alone/depending on the occasion were associated with excess BF, while among women, low MedDietScore, moderate/high alcohol consumption, non-adequate sleep duration, eating breakfast and lunch alone/depending on the occasion. Results suggest that certain unhealthy lifestyle behaviours coexist, interact with one another and increase the risk of overweight/obesity in this population. Sex-specific differences in risk factors of obesity have implications for interventions for primary prevention of obesity within this environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to determine the eating habits and physical activity in students of the Rafael Núñez University. Design/methodology/approach: Descriptive cross-sectional study, based on the application of a survey on eating habits and physical activity. Furthermore, height, weight, hip circumference and abdominal circumference were also recorded. Findings: Total, 170 students were included, 29 (17.1%) males and 141 (82.9%) females, with a mean age of 20.0 ± 5.2 years. Among the students, 22 (12.9%) were underweight, 95 (55.9%) were normal weight, 40 (23.5%) were overweight and 13 (7.7%) with obesity. Regarding eating habits, the majority preferred to consume three daily meals: breakfast 140 (82.3%), lunch 170 (100%) and dinner 96 (56.5%). Regarding fruits intake, 18 (15.9%) males reported consuming them seven days a week, and 54 (31.2 %) females reported consuming them occasionally. In physical activity, most of the population (n = 103, 60.6%) exercises with a frequency of one to three days/week. Originality/value: The authors' work is original and has not been sent to another magazine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food insecurity in Australia is on the rise, yet it remains a serious and underappreciated policy issue. The demand for and expansion of food banks, community agencies, and school breakfast programmes in Australia has led to the emergency food relief system being referred to as an "industry" in itself. The COVID-19 pandemic, and the associated financial crisis, have only exacerbated the challenge of putting food onto the table. These unprecedented challenges expose the vulnerabilities of addressing the problem of food insecurity solely through a charity-based approach. Through key case studies of innovative local food governance models across the globe, this paper calls attention to the need to break down the disconnected, siloed, and fragmented policies and responses across public and private spheres in order to design more comprehensive interventions that better address the complex reality of food insecurity in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

LINKED CONTENT: This article is linked to Xie et al papers. To view these articles, visit https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.16727 and https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.16773 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Purpose The teaching of cooking is an important aspect of school-based efforts to promote healthy diets among children, and is frequently done by external agencies. Within a limited evidence base relating to cooking interventions in schools, there are important questions about how interventions are integrated within school settings. The purpose of this paper is to examine how a mobile classroom (Cooking Bus) sought to strengthen connections between schools and cooking, and drawing on the concept of the sociotechnical network, theorise the interactions between the Bus and school contexts.Design/methodology/approach Methods comprised a postal questionnaire to 76 schools which had received a Bus visit, and case studies of the Bus’ work in five schools, including a range of school sizes and urban/rural locations. Case studies comprised observation of Cooking Bus sessions, and interviews with school staff.Findings The Cooking Bus forged connections with schools through aligning intervention and schools’ goals, focussing on pupils’ cooking skills, training teachers and contributing to schools’ existing cooking-related activities. The Bus expanded its sociotechnical network through post-visit integration of cooking activities within schools, particularly teachers’ use of intervention cooking kits.Research limitations/implications The paper highlights the need for research on the long-term impacts of school cooking interventions, and better understanding of the interaction between interventions and school contexts.Originality/value This paper adds to the limited evidence base on school-based cooking interventions by theorising how cooking interventions relate to school settings, and how they may achieve integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Suboptimal health status (SHS) is a non-clinical or pre-disease state between optimal/ideal health and disease. While its etiology remains unclear, lifestyle is considered one of the most important risk factors. We aimed to examine the effects of lifestyles on SHS through a nationwide survey in China. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional survey in 148 cities across China between 20 June and 31 August 2022, on 30505 participants from rural and urban communities gathered through stratified quota sampling. We measured SHS with the Short-Form Suboptimal Health Status Questionnaire (SHSQ-SF). We gathered information on participants' lifestyles (ie, smoking, alcohol consumption, breakfast habits, weekly food delivery frequency, intermittent fasting, sleep duration and physical activities) through face-to-face interview. We determined the relationship between lifestyle and SHS logistic regression analysis by based on odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results We included 22897 participants (female: 13056, male: 9841), 12 108 (52.88%) of whom reported exposure to SHS. After adjusting for demographic characteristics, individuals who currently smoked (OR = 1.165; 95% CI = 1.058-1.283) and those who drank alcohol (OR = 1.483; 95% CI = 1.377.1.596) were at a higher risk of SHS than those who have never done either. In a dose-response way, takeaway food consumption was associated with a higher risk of SHS, while increased frequency of breakfast and mild-intensity exercise conversely reduced said risk. Individuals with shorter sleep duration had a higher risk of SHS when compared to those who slept for more than seven hours per day. Conclusions We observed a relatively high prevalence of SHS across China, highlighting the importance of lifestyle in health promotion. Specifically, adopting healthy dietary habits, engaging in regular physical activity, and ensuring high-quality sleep are key in preventing SHS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The aim of this paper is to present the development of the Feel4Diabetes Healthy Diet Score and to evaluate its clinical validity. Methods: Study population consisted of 3268 adults (63% women) from high diabetes risk families living in 6 European countries. Participants filled in questionnaires at baseline and after 1 year, reflecting the dietary goals of the Feel4Diabetes intervention. Based on these questions the Healthy Diet Score was constructed, consisting of the following components: breakfast, vegetables, fruit and berries, sugary drinks, whole-grain cereals, nuts and seeds, low-fat dairy products, oils and fats, red meat, sweet snacks, salty snacks, and family meals. Maximum score for each component was set based on its estimated relative importance regarding T2DM risk, higher score indicating better quality of diet. Clinical measurements included height, weight, waist circumference, heart rate, blood pressure, and fasting blood sampling, with analyses of glucose, total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, and triglycerides. Analysis of (co) variance was used to compare the Healthy Diet Score and its components between countries and sexes using baseline data, and to test differences in clinical characteristics between score categories, adjusted for age, sex and country. Pearson's correlations were used to study the association between changes from baseline to year 1 in the Healthy Diet Score and clinical markers. To estimate reproducibility, Pearson's correlations were studied between baseline and 1 year score, within the control group only. Results: The mean total score was 52.8 ± 12.8 among women and 46.6 ± 12.8 among men (p < 0.001). The total score and its components differed between countries. The change in the Healthy Diet Score was significantly correlated with changes in BMI, waist circumference, and total and LDL cholesterol. The Healthy Diet Score as well as its components at baseline were significantly correlated with the values at year 1, in the control group participants. Conclusion: The Feel4Diabetes Healthy Diet Score is a reproducible method to capture the dietary information collected with the Feel4Diabetes questionnaire and measure the level of and changes in the adherence to the dietary goals of the intervention. It gives a simple parameter that associates with clinical risk factors in a meaningful manner. Trial registration: Clinicaltrials.gov NCT02393872. Registered March 20, 2015. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chrononutrition, or the circadian timing of food intake, has garnered attention as a topic of study due to its associations with health (e.g. weight gain); however, a valid and reliable assessment of chrononutrition in daily life has not yet been developed. This paper details the development and initial reliability and validity testing of the Chrononutrition Profile – Questionnaire (CP-Q). The CP-Q assesses six components of chrononutrition that are likely to influence health (breakfast skipping, largest meal, evening eating, evening latency, night eating, and eating window). This questionnaire is designed to assess general chrononutrition behaviors and preferred timing of food intake. The CP-Q can be used as a sole evaluation of chrononutrition, and can also be utilized in conjunction with existing dietary measures to provide a comprehensive assessment of one's eating behaviors. This measure offers health-care professionals, researchers, and stakeholders a cost-effective and comprehensive method of evaluating chrononutrition and identifying targets for health improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/objectives: Monitoring of processed products at the brand level was implemented in Austria, France and Romania on the basis of the Oqali methodology during the Joint Action on Nutrition and Physical Activity (JANPA) to compare the nutritional quality of the food offering. The objective of this paper is to present the results obtained during this study.Subjects/methods: Collected data were those available on product packaging. In total, 2155 soft drinks and 943 breakfast cereals were classified in a standardised list of product families and analysed in a harmonised way. For each product family, mean values for sugar, fat, saturated fat, salt and dietary fibres were compared between countries. Common products across countries were also studied.Results: For all the studied nutrients, significant differences were observed between countries, with a higher sugar content for Romania in regular carbonated and non-carbonated beverages containing fruits, regular lemonades and regular tonics and bitters (together with Austria for tonics), for France in fruit beverages with more than 50% fruit, and for Austria in low-sugar beverages containing tea. For France, higher nutrient contents were also observed for sugar in chocolate-flavoured cereals, filled cereals and cornflakes, and other plain cereals (at a similar level as Romania for cornflakes), and for saturated fats in honey/caramel cereals and crunchy mueslis. These differences were explained by a different food offering in the three countries, but also by differences in nutrient contents for common products. This study also showed high variability of the nutrient content within a product family, suggesting a real potential for product reformulation.Conclusions: National tools, at the branded products level, are essential to monitor the nutritional quality of the food offering, and to follow up on processed food reformulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify and describe adolescents’ health-related behaviours from a socio-ecological perspective. Socio-ecological factors have been widely shown to be related to health behaviours (smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity and diet) in adolescence and to affect health. The review integrates evidence with socio-ecological factors (social relationships, family, peers, schooling and environment). Design/methodology/approach – The data were collected from electronic databases and by manual search consisting of articles (n=90) published during 2002-2014. The selected articles were analysed using inductive content analysis and narrative synthesis. Findings – The findings suggest that there was a complex set of relations connected to adolescent health behaviours, also encompassing socio-ecological factors. The authors tentatively conclude that socio-ecological circumstances influence adolescents’ health-related behaviour, but that this review does not provide the full picture. There seemed to be certain key factors with a relation to behavioural outcomes that might increase health inequality among adolescents. Practical implications – School health education is an important pathway for interventions to reduce unhealthy behaviours among adolescents including those related to socio-ecological factors. Originality/value – Some socio-ecological factors were strongly related to health behaviours in adolescence, which may indicate an important pathway to current and future health. This paper may help schoolteachers, nurses and other school staff to understand the relationships between socio-ecological factors and health-related behaviours, which may be useful in developing health education to reduce health disparities during adolescence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into teachers’ practice in implementing school-based health promotion. Design/methodology/approach – This qualitative research was designed as a multiple case study. The study involved five schools, 233 pupils in the age 12-16 and 23 teachers. The primary data generation method were focus groups. Findings – According to the national guidelines the health education in primary schools in Denmark should be based on the critical approach to health education developed within the European Network of Health Promoting Schools. However, the study showed that teachers’ implementation of the guidelines in practice was closer to traditional health education, which focuses only lifestyle change, than to critical health education which also explores the underlying conditions for health. Research limitations/implications – The study explored teachers’ implementation practices, and the individual and institutional factors that influence the practice. This paper restricts itself to examining teachers’ practice against the national curriculum guidelines. Practical implications – The teachers were not sufficiently familiar with the curriculum guidelines or the critical approach to health education. The inclusion of the national curriculum and the principles of critical health education in the initial and in-service professional development of teachers is an urgent priority if this gap is to be reduced. Originality/value – This paper contributes to the debate related to the potentials and barriers for implementing of health promotion interventions in a school context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report the results of a national survey that examined the extent of implementation of Health Promoting Schools (HPS) in Ireland. Design/methodology/approach – A quantitative research design was adopted. A questionnaire was administered to all post-primary schools in the country (n=704). Data were analysed with the support of the software packages, SPSS and MaxQDA. Findings – A response rate of 56 per cent (n=394) was achieved. Over half of these schools (56 per cent) self-identified as health promoting. Schools reported success in the areas of environment and curriculum and learning, however, partnerships and policy and planning required more attention. Some models of good practice emerged from the data but these were in the minority. Many schools, when asked to describe health promotion in their school, placed emphasis on physical health (diet and exercise) and curriculum predominately rather than the broader whole school conceptualisation. Only 35 per cent of HPS schools had a team supporting HPS developments. Only 36 per cent identified the existence of a school policy to support HPS. This suggests that further coherence for sustained and comprehensive implementation of HPS is necessary. Research limitations/implications – The research was conducted with school staff, in the first instance who self-reported their school’s level of HPS engagement. Originality/value – This paper offers the first national baseline data available in relation to engagement in HPS in Ireland. It provides a valuable starting point from which further research with schools in this field can be conducted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Academic achievement is crucial for the social and economic development of young people and determines the quality of education of a nation. According to different studies, food insecurity adversely affects children's health, nutrition, and subsequent decline in academic performance by impairing students' ability to learn and therefore affects the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all. To provide evidence on the association of food insecurity with academic performance is necessary. The current study assessed household food insecurity and its association with academic performance among primary school adolescents in Hargeisa City, Somaliland. Methods: A school-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 630 primary school adolescents from December 2021 to March 2022. Students were selected using a multistage sampling technique. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect data on household food security and socio-demographic variables and entered into Epi data version 3.1. The data was exported to SPSS version 26 for descriptive and multivariable logistic regression analysis. Odds ratios and their 95% confidence intervals together with p <0.05 were utilized to declare statistical significance. Results: The prevalence of food insecurity among school adolescents was 59.21%. The majority (55.40%) of the school adolescents were poor academic performers. The frequency of adolescents' poor academic performance was significantly high (71.05%) among food insecure households (P < 0.001) as compared to their counterparts whose households were food secure (32.68%). On multivariable analysis, household food insecurity (AOR = 5.24, 95%CI = 3.17–8.65), school absenteeism (AOR = 3.49, 95%CI = 2.20–5.53), spending >2h/day watching TV / screen media use (AOR = 9.08, 95%CI = 4.81–17.13), high and middle wealth households (AOR = 0.51, 95%CI = 0.30–0.88) (AOR = 0.40, 95%CI = 0.21–0.76) and habitual breakfast consumption (AOR = 0.08, 95%CI = 0.03–0.20) had shown statistically significant association with academic performance among primary school adolescents. Conclusion: The present study revealed that household food insecurity has a high association with adolescents' academic performance. The prevalence of food insecurity is moderate, based on the household food insecurity access scale. The results indicate the need for policies and programs intended to improve household income by developing income-generation programs for lower-income families and enhance feeding programs such as national school lunch and school feeding across schools in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]