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Objectives: To determine the association between parental socioeconomic status in childhood and adolescence and unhealthy health behaviour patterns among adolescents in Northern Finland. Methods: The sample, drawn from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 Study, consisted of 15‐ to 16‐year‐old adolescents (n = 4305). Data on socioeconomic status and health behaviours were based on questionnaires collected from cohort members and their parents during the former's childhood and adolescence. Logistic regression served to assess the association. Results: Controlling for all other factors in the model, several socioeconomic factors were found to be significant predictors of unhealthy health behaviour patterns. In childhood, father's low and medium education for boys, and mother's low or medium education as well as fathers' unemployment for girls predicted greater likelihood of engaging in unhealthy behaviour patterns. For both genders, having a stay‐at‐home mother in childhood (and for boys also in adolescence) protected from unhealthy health behaviour patterns. For boys, mother's and for girls, fathers' low occupational education in adolescence increased the risk of developing unhealthy patterns. Conclusions: In the development of effective health prevention strategies, it is important to identify children and adolescents who are at risk of developing lifestyle diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: To identify clusters of health behaviours among Finnish adolescents and examine whether these clusters are associated with body mass index (BMI). Methods: The data, drawn from the prospective population‐based Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986, comprised a total of 7182 adolescents who replied to a follow‐up postal questionnaire at the age 15 to 16. The adolescents were asked about multiple health behaviours, such as physical activity, screen time, cigarette smoking, alcohol use and diet. Adolescents who answered the questions concerning all of these variables were included in the study, yielding a final sample of 4305 subjects. K‐means cluster analysis was performed to identify group of adolescents with similar health behaviours. Chi‐squared tests were performed to analyse the association between the clusters and BMI. Results: Two clusters – Healthy Lifestyle and Unhealthy Lifestyle – were identified for both genders. The values of all the studied variables differed significantly between the clusters identified for both boys and girls. No significant relationship between the identified clusters and BMI was found for either boys or girls. Conclusions: It is important to consider multiple lifestyle‐related behaviours and trying to identify groups that present probability for developing lifestyle diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Mentors need diverse competencies, sources of motivation and characteristics to successfully mentor nursing students and support students' learning processes. Effective mentoring education can benefit future nursing professionals, students' satisfaction and learning, as well as the general perception of the nursing profession. Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate how an educational intervention affects nurse mentors' competence in mentoring nursing students during clinical practice. Design: A quasi‐experimental study design with pre‐ and post‐tests was used. Settings: Educational interventions were conducted in one university hospital and two central hospitals in Finland between 2013 and 2017. The intervention was conducted twice per year with a duration of 3 months for each group. The inclusion criteria for the participants were as follows: volunteer participation to mentor education employment at the university hospital or central hospitals in Northern Finland. Methods: The intervention aimed to increase Registered Nurses' competence in mentoring nursing students. The education lasted 3 months and included online learning as well as three face‐to‐face teaching sessions. A total of 120 nurse mentors completed the Mentor Competence Instrument (MCI), which includes 10 subscales that describe various competence areas, before and after the education. Results: Nurse mentors' mentoring competence increased across all mentoring competence areas after the educational intervention. More specifically, the participating nurses showed a statistically significant increase in their competence regarding knowledge of mentoring practices in the workplace, student‐centred evaluation, identifying student needs, mentoring practices between mentor and student, supporting students' learning processes, goal orientation in mentoring and constructive feedback. Conclusions: On an international level, nurse mentors are not typically required to have completed mentoring education prior to the mentoring of nurse students. Since mentoring education increased nurses' competence at mentoring nursing students, we recommend that all nurse degree programs include mentoring education to prepare future nurses for the important future role in mentoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was conducted to investigate the psychometric properties of the Finnish version of the Internet Gaming Disorder Test (IGDT‐10), identify the proportion displaying problematic gaming behavior (PGB) among Finnish vocational school students, and characterize the relationships between sociodemographic factors and gaming characteristics predicting PGB in this population. This cross‐sectional study involving 773 students (mean age 17.5 years). Socio‐demographic and gaming behavior characteristics were established using a web‐based survey. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) showed that the IGDT‐10 test has appropriate psychometric properties. The proportion of students exhibiting PGB based on the DSM‐5 cut‐off threshold was 1.3%. Regression analysis showed that male gender, preference for gaming on a personal computer, gaming time, poor self‐perceived health status, and a preference for the solo and multiplayer online battle arenas (MOBA) game genres related positively to PGB scores. These findings demonstrate the appropriateness of the IGDT‐10 test for the assessment of problematic gaming among adults, and support further research on PGB in Finland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Adolescents need effective lifestyle counselling precisely because health problems are so common. Good-quality lifestyle counselling can prevent the problems from becoming worse and decrease the costs of health care. Nurse practitioners in schools are well positioned to promote adolescent health. Aim This study describes adolescents' evaluations of the quality of lifestyle counselling and factors related to it in school-based health care. Methods The data were collected from seventh- to ninth-grade adolescents (n = 846) using the Counselling Quality Instrument, from two junior high schools in northern Finland. The study employed a web-based survey. Response rate was 67% (n = 563). The data were analysed via descriptive statistics. Results Most adolescents (84%) reported that the counselling resources related to school-based health care are quite good. Most of them reported that nutrition (70%) and physical activity (63%) related to lifestyle counselling are sufficient. Approximately half of adolescents (51%) considered the counselling related to substance abuse as being sufficient. Most (80%) felt that the level of interaction during counselling is good. Overall, the majority of adolescents reported that goal-oriented lifestyle counselling (67%) and adolescent-centred counselling (69%) are good. Finally, most adolescents (72%) reported that they have benefitted from lifestyle counselling. Gender and health status were significantly related to resources, interaction and benefits of lifestyle counselling. Girls evaluated that counselling were more adolescent-centred than boys. Adolescents with very good health status evaluated content of lifestyle counselling better than adolescents with poorer health status. Conclusion The adolescents evaluated the quality of lifestyle counselling in school-based health care as mainly being good. School nurses should pay particular attention when providing counselling to boys and those who are in poorer health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. The aim was to evaluate the effects of a 12-week, Facebook-delivered lifestyle counselling intervention, with or without physical activity self-monitoring, on physical activity and body mass index (BMI) in overweight and obese 13–16-year-old adolescents. Methods. Three-arm randomized controlled trial. Participants (n=46) were randomly assigned to intervention and control groups: one group received Facebook-delivered lifestyle counselling and monitoring of their physical activity (Fb + Act, n=15), whereas a second experimental group received the same Facebook-delivered lifestyle counselling without self-monitoring (Fb, n=16) and a third group served as the control group (n=15). Objective and self-reported physical activity assessment were used. Nonparametric statistical tests were used. Results. There were no significant intervention effects in terms of changes in physical activity levels or BMI from baseline to the 12-week postintervention measurements between the intervention and control groups. The Fb + Act group had lower sedentary time on weekdays compared to the control group during postintervention measurements (p=0.021), but there was no interaction between time and group. Conclusions. Interventions were not effective at increasing physical activity in overweight and obese adolescents. Before implementing such interventions, more evaluations on their effectiveness are needed. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT02295761 (2014-11-17). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]