Search

Health literacy (HL) has been identified as an important and modifiable determinant of health. To succeed in promoting HL, it is crucial to evaluate interventions addressing HL using validated instruments. However, HL measurement is an under-researched area among adolescents. The Health Literacy for School-Aged Children (HLSAC) scale is developed in Finland to measure the subjective HL levels of school-aged children. The HLSAC has been used and validated across Europe. No validated instrument for measuring HL among Norwegian adolescents has been identified. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of the HLSAC among Norwegian adolescents in upper secondary schools. Cross-sectional data were collected in 2017 from 1 054 adolescents with a response rate of 93.5%. The participants were students aged 16–21 (mean = 17.3) years from four upper secondary schools in an urban area in Mid-Norway. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was utilized to investigate the underlying dimensionality of the data together with composite reliability based on Raykov’s reliability coefficient and certain aspects of construct validity. The original ten-item one-dimensional version of the HLSAC revealed a poor fit. A one-dimensional version including six of the original ten items presented the best fit to our data, demonstrating good reliability and construct validity. This validation study suggests a one-dimensional solution of the HLSAC scale including six of the original ten items, i.e., the HLSAC-6 as a statistical valid and reliable measure for HL among adolescents in upper secondary schools. However, the modifications of the instrument indicate the need for further investigation of the HLSAC in this age group, i.e. by conducting cognitive interviews and focus-group discussions on the concept of HL among adolescents. Testing the wording of the HLSAC prior to additional psychometric evaluations of both the original HLSAC and the suggested HLSAC-6 is recommended. Finally, developing more age-appropriate items for the measurement of HL in this age-group is suggested.

Supplemental material, sj-doc-1-jhn-10.1177_08980101211021219 for Despite Symptom Severity, do Nursing Home Residents Experience Joy-of-Life? The Associations Between Joy-of-Life and Symptom Severity in Norwegian Nursing Home Residents by Eva Rinnan, Beate André, Geir Arild Espnes, Jorun Drageset, Helge Garåsen and Gørill Haugan in Journal of Holistic Nursing

Additional file 1.

Pairwise comparisons in significant interactions for ATH. The table presents results of pairwise comparisons for significant interactions of gender and investigated variables in all dimensions of ATH (DOCX 18 kb)

Supplemental Material, MHPK_10items_english for The Relationship Between Positive Mental Health Literacy and Mental Well-Being Among Adolescents: Implications for School Health Services by Hanne N. Bjørnsen, Geir A. Espnes, Mary-Elizabeth B. Eilertsen, Regine Ringdal, and Unni K. Moksnes in The Journal of School Nursing

MHPK-10 instrument. A copy of the 10-item MHPK instrument that measures adolescents’ knowledge of how to obtain and maintain good mental health. (PDF 105 kb)

Background: Demographic changes over the past decades call for the promotion of health and disease prevention for older patients, as well as strategies to enhance their independence, productivity, and quality of life. Objective: Our objective was to examine the effects of a computer-based educational intervention designed for general practitioners (GPs) to promote active aging. Methods: The Promoting Active Aging (PRACTA) study consisted of a baseline questionnaire, implementation of an intervention, and a follow-up questionnaire that was administered 1 month after the intervention. A total of 151 primary care facilities (response rate 151/767, 19.7%) and 503 GPs (response rate 503/996, 50.5%) agreed to participate in the baseline assessment. At the follow-up, 393 GPs filled in the questionnaires (response rate, 393/503, 78.1%), but not all of them took part in the intervention. The final study group of 225 GPs participated in 3 study conditions: e-learning (knowledge plus skills modelling, n=42), a pdf article (knowledge only, n=89), and control (no intervention, n=94). We measured the outcome as scores on the Patients Expectations Scale, Communication Scale, Attitude Toward Treatment and Health Scale, and Self-Efficacy Scale. Results: GPs participating in e-learning demonstrated a significant rise in their perception of older patients’ expectations for disease explanation (Wald χ2=19.7, P

Ungdomstiden er en tid med mange raske utviklinger, blant annet kroppslige, psykologiske og sosiale endringer. Studier har vist at selvfølelse i ungdomstiden kan ha betydning for ulike helsemål både på kort sikt og på lang sikt, og det kan derfor være relevant å vite hva som påvirker selvfølelsen i denne perioden. Fysisk aktivitet har som kjent flere positive innvirkninger på den fysiske helsen, og det er studier som indikerer at det kan være positivt for selvfølelsen også. Men sammenhengene er ofte svake, og resultatene varierer mellom studier, noe som motiverer for mer forskning på temaet. Denne masteroppgaven ser derfor på sammenhengen mellom fysisk aktivitet og selvfølelse hos ungdom. Den består av to separate, men sammenknyttede artikler: en teoretisk artikkel, som ser på den eksisterende litteraturen på feltet, og en empirisk artikkel som undersøker sammenhengen i et utvalg av norske ungdommer. For å forstå sammenhengen mellom fysisk aktivitet og selvfølelse hos ungdom er det viktig å ha kunnskap om begrepene som er involvert, samt om selve ungdomstiden. Den teoretiske artikkelen ser derfor nærmere på dette, i tillegg til å undersøke den teoretiske og empiriske litteraturen på denne sammenhengen. Metoden er litteratursøk, og det er gjennomført søk etter teoretisk og empirisk litteratur på både engelsk og norsk. Et gjentagende funn er at gutter har høyere selvfølelse enn jenter, og at selvfølelsen i ungdomstiden viser seg å være relativ stabil. Noen studier har også funnet at gutter er mer fysisk aktive enn jenter, mens andre ikke har funnet en forskjell mellom kjønnene. Et annet gjentagende funn er at aktivitetsnivået, både trening og hverdagsaktivitet, går ned i løpet av ungdomstiden. Tidligere studier har også funnet en positiv sammenheng mellom fysisk aktivitet og selvfølelse hos ungdom. Samtidig er mange av disse sammenhengene små, studier har kort varighet, i tillegg til at det også er studier som ikke har funnet slike sammenhenger. Ved å bygge på den teoretiske artikkel, så gjennomfører den empiriske artikkelen en kvantitativ undersøkelse med statistiske analyser ved hjelp av data fra tverssnittundersøkelsen «Oppvekst i bygder» som ble gjennomført blant et utvalg norske ungdommer i alderen 13-19 år, høsten 2016. Dens mål er å undersøke kjønnsforskjeller i forbindelse med selvfølelse, stress og fysisk aktivitet, samt sammenhengen mellom fysisk aktivitet, stress og utfallsmålet selvfølelse, kontrollert for sosioøkonomisk status, alder og kjønn. Det blir funnet at gutter scorer signifikant høyere på selvfølelse enn jenter, jenter opplever signifikant mer stress, mens det ikke blir funnet noen kjønnsforskjell i forbindelse med fysisk aktivitet. Stress viser seg å ha en negativ sammenheng med ungdoms selvfølelse, mens det er en signifikant positiv sammenheng mellom fysisk aktivitet og selvfølelse blant ungdom, kontrollert for alle andre faktorer. Som en helhet kan funnene i denne masteroppgaven bidra med videre innsikt i faktorer som har betydning for ungdoms selvfølelse, og kan derav være av relevans for helsefremmende og forebyggende arbeid blant ungdom. The adolescent period is a time with many rapid developments, including bodily-, psychological- and social changes. Studies have shown that self-esteem in adolescence may influence different health outcomes both in the short term and in the long term, and it can therefore be relevant to have knowledge about what influences self-esteem in this period. Physical activity is known to have many positive effects on the physical health, and there are studies indicating that it may have positive effects on self-esteem as well. However, the found associations are often weak, and results vary between studies, motivating further research on this topic. This master’s thesis therefore looks at the association between physical activity and self-esteem in adolescents. It consists of two separate, but interconnected articles: one theoretical article, which looks at the existing literature in the field, and an empirical article looking at the association in a sample of Norwegian adolescents. To understand the association between physical activity and self-esteem in adolescents, it is important to have knowledge about the concepts involved, as well as the adolescent period itself. The theoretical article therefore looks at this more closely, in addition to investigating the theoretical and empirical literature on the association. The method is a literature search, and searches have been conducted for theoretical and empirical literature in both English and Norwegian. A recurring finding is that boys have higher self-esteem than girls, and that self-esteem in adolescence seems to be relatively stable. Moreover, some studies have found that boys are more physical active than girls, while other studies have not found such a difference between genders. Another recurring finding is that physical activity, both exercising and everyday activity, decreases during adolescence. Previous studies have also found a positive association between physical activity and self-esteem in adolescents. At the same time, there are studies who have not found an association, and of those who find an association many of the found associations are weak, and many studies have short duration. Building upon the theoretical article, the empirical article carries out a quantitative investigation with statistical analyses; using data from the cross-sectional survey “Oppvekst I Bygder” which was conducted in autumn 2016 amongst adolescents aged 13-19 in Norway. Its aim is to investigate gender differences on self-esteem, stress and physical activity, and the association between physical activity, stress and the outcome self-esteem, controlled for socioeconomic status, age and gender. It is found that boys score significantly higher on self-esteem than girls, girls experience significantly more stress, while no gender difference is found in relation to physical activity. It is also shown that stress has a negative association with adolescents’ self-esteem, while there is a significant positive association between physical activity and self-esteem in adolescents, controlled for all other factors. As a whole, the findings in this master’s thesis may contribute further insight into factors that are important for adolescents’ self-esteem, and may therefore be of relevance to health promotion and preventive work among adolescents.

In highly organised societies, understanding how organisations influence employees’ health, customers’ health and population health is crucial for health promotion. As the immediate influence on employee health is particularly strong, the chapter focuses on this aspect. Based on a review of ongoing changes of the economy, of organising work and of the roles of employees, we argue that agency for organisational health lies and needs to be strengthened within the organisation. Consequently, we define Organisational Health Development (OHD) as both the ongoing reproduction and the targeted improvement of health in organisations as social systems, based on the interaction (process dimensions) of individual and organisational capacities (structural dimensions).

The term salutogenesis is associated with a variety of meanings that Aaron Antonovsky introduced in his 1979 book Health, Stress and Coping and expounded in many subsequent works. In its most thoroughly explicated meaning, salutogenesis refers to a model described in detail in Health, Stress and Coping, which posits that life experiences help shape one’s sense of coherence (a global orientation); life is understood as more or less comprehensible, meaningful and manageable. A strong sense of coherence helps one mobilise resources to cope with stressors and manage tension successfully. Through this mechanism, the sense of coherence helps determine one’s movement on the health Ease/Dis-ease continuum. In its most particular meaning, salutogenesis is almost equivalent to the sense of coherence. In its more general meaning, salutogenesis refers to a scholarly orientation focusing attention on the study of the origins of health, contra the origins of disease. Salutogenesis—model, sense of coherence and orientation—is in harmony with developments across the social sciences that seek better understanding of positive aspects of human experience. For instance, the key concepts of salutogenesis, of positive psychology and of positive organisational behaviour are consonant even if the terminologies are not uniform. It is therefore quite easy to label research and practice in these arenas as having a salutogenic orientation, and use the salutogenesis umbrella metaphor to embrace the cornucopia of scholarly ideas. Among these is the quite specific idea of the sense of coherence, and this meaning of salutogenesis is dominant, at least in the health promotion literature. This is so much so that some equate salutogenesis with the sense of coherence and refer to the sense of coherence as a model or theory (rather than as part of the salutogenic model). This book is about salutogenesis in all these meanings, which are briefly characterised in this chapter, to set the stage for the chapters that follow. We also briefly discuss salutogenesis in relation to other concepts within and beyond the health arena, with which salutogenesis has important kinship.

There are to date no Danish research environments that stand out in relation to a focus on salutogenesis. A few Danish researchers have conducted studies using a salutogenic perspective, but the research effort appears sparse and uncoordinated and the Danish language literature on salutogenesis is limited with a scarcity of quantitative studies. The majority of Danish publications use salutogenesis as a theoretical framework from which various professions can work.

Work is both detrimental and health promoting. Antonovsky accentuated the distinction between eliminating stressors and developing health-enhancing job characteristics. He elaborated on job characteristics that potentially relate to a sense of coherence, offering a dense description of a workplace where individuals experience meaningfulness, manageability, and comprehensibility. This chapter presents models, measures, and intervention approaches that relate to the double nature of work and to both its pathogenic and its salutogenic qualities. Hereby, the view of Antonovsky is enhanced, insofar that health-promoting, salutogenic job characteristics are not solely understood as buffering the pathogenic effects of stressors at work, but have a direct effect on positive health outcomes. Antonovsky’s original model is first specified and simplified for the context of work. Then, Antonovsky’s line of thinking is related to frameworks researching job resources and demands. After a review of the prevalence of salutogenic measures in worksite health promotion, the point of making salutogenesis more visible in work-related research and practice is elaborated upon. This is illustrated with a practical example of a survey-feedback process promoting salutogenic work. Finally, the implications and challenges for practice and future research on salutogenic work are discussed.