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Aims: The aim of this paper is to advocate for the importance of meaningful leisure time for young people from a health-promotion perspective using experiences from two youth centres in multicultural neighbourhoods in Sweden., Methods: In this practice-based study, data were collected between 2012 and 2014 at two youth centres in multicultural, socially deprived suburbs in Sweden using surveys with 12- to 16-year-old adolescents ( n = 207), seven individual interviews with staff and three cooperation partners in the neighbourhoods, and six group interviews with adolescents (50% girls). Quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods were used for analysis., Results: As part of the youth centres' strategies, they are open and inclusive, foster supportive relationships, emphasise youth empowerment, and integrate family, school and community in their work. The youth centres are health-promoting settings with regard to four of the action areas in the Ottawa Charter: build healthy public policy, create supportive environments, strengthen community actions and develop personal skills., Conclusions: There is a need for a variety and a combination of various structured and unstructured leisure-time activities because young people's background and life situation plays a role for their participation in leisure-time activities. We conclude that youth centres are well placed to be or to become health-promoting settings if the activities takes place in a structured environment.

Background: The aim of the study was to address the lack of evaluations of school-based substance use prevention programs and to conduct a quasi-experimental evaluation of the alcohol use part of the Triad intervention., Methods: Eleven Swedish intervention schools (285 pupils) and three control schools (159 pupils) participated in the evaluation. Baseline measurements were conducted in 2011 before the alcohol part in the prevention program was implemented in the intervention schools (school year 6, ages 12-13). We estimated an Intention-To-Treat (ITT) Difference-in-Difference (DD) model to analyze the effectiveness of the intervention on subsequent alcohol use measured in grades 7, 8 and 9., Results: The main results show no effect on the likelihood of drinking alcohol or drinking to intoxication., Conclusions: The lack of positive effects highlights the need for policy-makers and public health officials need to carefully consider and evaluate prevention programs in order to ensure that they are worthwhile from school, health, and societal perspectives.

Background: The development of knowledge for health promotion requires an effective mechanism for collaboration between academics, practitioners, and policymakers. The challenge is better to understand the dynamic and ever-changing context of the researcher-practitioner-policymaker-community relationship., Aims: The aims were to explore the factors that foster Academic Practice Policy (APP) partnerships, and to systematically and transparently to review three cases., Methods: Three partnerships were included: Power and Commitment-Alcohol and Drug Prevention by Non-Governmental Organizations in Sweden; Healthy City-Social Inclusion, Urban Governance, and Sustainable Welfare Development; and Empowering Families with Teenagers-Ideals and Reality in Karlskoga and Degerfors. The analysis includes searching for evidence for three hypotheses concerning contextual factors in multi-stakeholder collaboration, and the cumulative effects of partnership synergy., Results: APP partnerships emerge during different phases of research and development. Contextual factors are important; researchers need to be trusted by practitioners and politicians. During planning, it is important to involve the relevant partners. During the implementation phase, time is important. During data collection and capacity building, it is important to have shared objectives for and dialogues about research. Finally, dissemination needs to be integrated into any partnership. The links between process and outcomes in participatory research (PR) can be described by the theory of partnership synergy, which includes consideration of how PR can ensure culturally and logistically appropriate research, enhance recruitment capacity, and generate professional capacity and competence in stakeholder groups. Moreover, there are PR synergies over time., Conclusions: The fundamentals of a genuine partnership are communication, collaboration, shared visions, and willingness of all stakeholders to learn from one another., (© 2014 the Nordic Societies of Public Health.)

Aims: The aims of this review is to compile and identify key issues in international research about youth sports clubs as health-promoting settings, and then discuss the results of the review in terms of a framework for the youth sports club as a health-promoting setting., Methods: The framework guiding this review of research is the health-promoting settings approach introduced by the World Health Organization (WHO). The method used is the integrated review. Inclusion criteria were, first, that the studies concerned sports clubs for young people, not professional clubs; second, that it be a question of voluntary participation in some sort of ongoing organized athletics outside of the regular school curricula; third, that the studies consider issues about youth sports clubs in terms of health-promoting settings as described by WHO. The final sample for the review consists of 44 publications., Results: The review shows that youth sports clubs have plentiful opportunities to be or become health-promoting settings; however this is not something that happens automatically. To do so, the club needs to include an emphasis on certain important elements in its strategies and daily practices. The youth sports club needs to be a supportive and healthy environment with activities designed for and adapted to the specific age-group or stage of development of the youth., Conclusions: To become a health-promoting setting, a youth sports club needs to take a comprehensive approach to its activities, aims, and purposes.

Purpose: Alcohol stands in an ambiguous relationship to sports, and there is a common belief that participation in sports prevents alcohol consumption. Although this is not always the case, sports clubs can be important settings for health promoting alcohol policy interventions .The purpose of this paper is to explore the process of implementing alcohol policies in eight football clubs in Sweden and, in particular, how the implementation process is conveyed in the clubs' alcohol policy projects, the similarities and differences between this case study and Durlak and DuPre's implementation model and the recommendations for successful alcohol policy implementation in relation to the result. Design/methodology/approach: In total, 15 semi-structured interviews on the subject of sports' club alcohol policies were conducted with project leaders and board members from eight sports clubs. The interviews were analysed using Durlak and DuPre's model of factors affecting implementation processes. Findings: The results show that almost all the factors in Durlak and DuPre's model were comprehensively manifested in the football clubs' alcohol policy projects, although with slightly different significance and emphases. Practical implications: The results are discussed in relation to recommendations for successful alcohol policy implementation in sports clubs. Recommendations are presented in six areas: an explicit message; fit; internal policy dissemination; alcohol policy as a part of overall policy; support; and actors. Originality/value: Many sports clubs do an excellent job of implementing alcohol policies successfully and it is imperative to incorporate their "good" practices into research and provide assistance to those whose policies and practice are less developed. (Contains 6 tables.)

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyse the implementation by a non-governmental organization (NGO) of an intervention with two different strategies--one employing confrontational approaches, the other cooperative ones--aiming to reduce the rate of successful purchase attempts (PAs) of medium-strength beer in Sweden. Design/methodology/approach: The Swedish Youth Temperance Movement (UNF) has been responsible for the development and implementation of the intervention, and a research team at Orebro University for the evaluation. The outcome analysis is based on 1,475 PA from 25 Swedish cities during 2003-2006. Annual reports, discussions and telephone interviews have been used to understand the intervention process. Findings: In 40 per cent of all registered PAs, beer is sold to minors. In the eight cities using a structured strategy, there is a significant decrease from 2003 to 2006 (44-27 per cent; p less than 0.001). The confrontation method, compared to no model, is more than four times (OR = 3.8; CI 2.0-7.0) more likely to yield a positive result. Compared to the cooperation method, it is even more likely to yield a positive result (OR?= 4.7; CI 2.1-10.7). Practical implications: Working with a structured strategy gives significantly better results than working without one. The confrontation method is more successful than the cooperation method. Developing a preventive strategy takes time, cooperation perhaps requiring even more time to succeed than confrontation. The result reveals the importance of building local networks in the municipalities. Originality/value: The advocacy for Swedish alcohol policy by the young members of UNF and participatory research is a unique combination. (Contains 6 tables and 4 figures.)

Citizen participation in neighbourhood development is one way to promote public health and contribute to the well-being of individuals. However, some people participate while others do not. This study examines the individual characteristics of people who during the past 2 years have participated in a neighbourhood development process compared with potential and non-participants. Socio-demographic factors, perceptions and behaviour were analysed in a cross-sectional study. A questionnaire was answered by 1160 randomly chosen citizens over the age of 18 who lived in three Swedish cities. The most important single factor related to participation in neighbourhood development was prior experience of participation, such as attempting to influence city policies by contacting politicians, submitting a citizen proposal, etc. Furthermore, having frequent political discussions with neighbours was another behavioural factor that was found associated to people's participation in neighbourhood development. Among socio-demographic factors, only ethnicity was found significant after controlling for other factors; i.e. people born outside the Nordic countries were less likely to participate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public health needs to be evidence-based if it is to be done correctly, which means that learning and knowledge-production for public health must be comprehensive and include knowledge from four different domains: distribution of health, determinants or causal web, consequences, and intervention methods. Specification of development trends in cardiovascular prevention points at four generations of preventive programs; these include a clinical, a bioepidemiological, a socioepidemiological, and an environmental and policy-oriented generation. Generations differ in focus and strategy, in knowledge base- the art of making an impact- and evaluation. Comprehensive public health programs often comprise components from different generations, leading to the need for an expanded model for research and evaluation. There is an urgent need for learning and knowledge-production using both quantitative and qualitative approaches for developing the evidence base for public health action. In addition, epidemiological knowledge is necessary for making appropriate priorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to understand and elicit the psychosocial factors influencing compliance with sexual partner referral, 10 focus group discussions (FGDs) and 40 individual interviews based on the attitude-social influence-self efficacy (ASE) model were held in Mbarara District of Uganda. The focus groups were derived from both rural and urban areas. Informal interviews were held with 20 men and 20 women presenting with symptoms of a sexually transmitted disease (STD) at the outpatient department of Mbarara Hospital. The emerging outcome of attitudinal beliefs regarding health consequences of partner referral were mainly positive. However, outcome beliefs relating to the relationship with the partners were mainly negative. Social influence for sexual partner referral was from health-care providers, partner(s), friends and relatives. The self-efficacy beliefs were mainly negative especially among women. Barriers hampering sexual partner referral were related to poor quality of health care, gender relations and type of sexual partners. There is a need to target these beliefs and self-efficacy expectations in health education and STD counselling and for more research to evaluate the psychosocial determinants of sexual partner referral quantitatively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]