Based on a recently conducted survey in the UK, the Mental Health Foundation (UK) recommends that mental health literacy should be integrated into teacher training and also that schools should address mental health literacy promotion of their students embedded within the ‘whole-school approach’. All recommendations available  here.

A new short article on the national action plan for health literacy:

Link

HLCA will attend this year`s “A Child’s World Conference 2018 – New Shoes New Direction” from 11th-13th July 2018 at Aberystwyth University (Wales, UK) and have two oral presentations on:

1. Learning, education and the ethical question of what we offer to pupils (Ullrich Bauer and Uwe H. Bittlingmayer)
2. A review of health literacy of children and young people: definitions, interpretations, and implications for future research and practice initiatives (Paulo Pinheiro)

Link zur Homepage

Programm at al glance

Weiterlesen →

Promoting schoolchildren`s health literacy. Link zum Artikel.

The aim of this paper was to explore opportunities to promote schoolchildren’s health literacy based on their own experiences and ideas. Research suggests the necessity for health literacy to be included into the school curriculum, and to view health promotion as part of lifelong learning. There is also a need to involve schoolchildren in developing health literacy so they can find strategies to improve their health. Weiterlesen →

An interesting article on cultural health literacy from New Zealand has just been published in the Global Health Promotion Journal of the IUHPE:

Health literacy is a concept that is frequently applied to the patient’s ability to find and comprehend health information. However, recent literature has included the skill of the health professional and the accessibility of health resources as important factors in the level of health literacy achieved by individuals and populations. In 2014 a qualitative study Weiterlesen →

With the main objectives of the NRW state program “health and education” (Bildung und Gesundheit, BuG), which are to sustainably promote children`s and adolescent`s health, facilitate their educational opportunities, well-being, and the performance of adults working and/or engaging in schools, BuG also provides particular health and education goals that, too, address the promotion of health literacy prominently and also significantly contribute to BuG`s main objectives:

1. Promoting health literacy: i.a. health-related attitudes, health awareness, health behaviour, health experience of all involved in school (behavioural prevention)
2. Improving health-related conditions for all in schools (structural/systems-based/ecologic prevention)
3. Enhancing quality education and the quality of education in schools
4. Improving the integration of health promotion and prevention into education and science but most importantly into educational policy.

BuG homepage

We see great fit of our HLCA research activities to these goals, both with the projects of our first funding period as well as with the new projects of the second funding period 2018-2021. This is great news #healthliteracy

Three of the most recent publications of the HLCA consortium:

What are the family needs when a parent has mental health problems? Evidence from a systematic literature review

Health literacy in childhood and youth: a systematic review of definitions and models

Generic health literacy measurement instruments for children and adolescents: a systematic review of the literature

Conferences and activties

The projects have submitted workshop, presentation and pre-conference abstracts to the upcoming conferences of the IUHPE (10th IUHPE Europe conference) and EUPHA (11th European Public Health Conference).

On 1 March 2018, the HLCA research consoritum has launched its second funding period.

On Friday, the 17th of March 2017 the Health Inequalities XII Panel took place on the German Public Health Congress “Poverty and Health” at the Technical University Berlin.
Under the title: Closing the gap in health inequalities – Quo vadis? the lectures and discussions focussed on possible strategies to close the gap.
Therfor the recommendations formulated by the Commission on Social Determinants of Health (CSDH) launched by the World Health Organization in 2005 gave the discussion framework:

The Commission`s overarching recommendations are to:

1. improve the daily living conditions,
2. tackle the inequitable distribution of power, money, and resources, and
3. measure and understand the problem and assess the impact of action.

In this context, the development, implementation and evaluation of interventions and programmes are seen as a key vehicle to reduce health inequalities and raise health equity.

This year`s the panel shed light on both national (Germany) and international perspectives in order to reflect and discuss upon the status quo of current efforts to reduce health inequalities and raise health equity.

Selected webinares of the panels you can see here:

Taking action on health inequalities and improving health equity: The International perspective von Prof. Dr. Peter Goldblatt, University College London, Institute of Health Equity, England

and

Improving health Literacy to take action on health equity with Prof. Dr. Luis Saboga-Nunes, National School of Public Health, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Portugal

Organisers

Prof. Dr. Ullrich Bauer, Dr. Paulo Pinheiro, Orkan Okan (Bielefeld University, Faculty of Educational Science, Centre for Prevention and Intervention in Childhood and Adolescence (CPI)
Prof. Dr. Uwe Bittlingmayer (University of Education Freiburg, Institute of Sociology)
Prof. Dr. Diana Sahrai (University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, School of Education)
Dr. Irene Moor (Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, Institute of Medical Sociology)
Jens Hoebel, MSc (Robert Koch Institute Berlin)

We have enjoyed a beautiful day with our hosts Prof. Dr. Boris Zernikow, Dr. Julia Wager, Lorin Stahlschmidt and Ann-Kristin Ruhe at the German Paediatric Pain Centre Datteln at the Vestische Children’s and Adolescents’ Clinic, Univeristy of Witten/Herdecke.

During our visit we could gain insights into their research and practice in context of chronic pain management of children and adolescents. We better understand now the importance of early interventions for successful treatment and care of children and adolescents affected by chronic pain. Currently, there is only insufficient care available for this target group in Germany. Psychosomatic complaints and how affected children and families deal with the burdens in daily life is an important public health topic and, therefore, also increasing importance for health promotion and primary prevention in childhood and adolescence. This is especially related to the fact that chronic pain has negative impact on the quality of life of affected as well as on physical health and mental well-being.

Therefore, the Institute has developed an important contact point for children and adolescents with severely disabling pain, and has established itself over time as the German centre for the care of children with chronic pain conditions. In recognition of its long-standing and successful work, the children’s outpatient clinic received the distinction of “Select Place 2011”. This was followed by the founding of the German Paediatric Pain Centre in January 2012.

In order to improve the situation of affected children, adolescents, and families, the German Paediatric Pain Centre is involved in various research activities and projects. These mainly focus on chronic pain in children and adolescents, palliative situations and the evaluation of further education programs. Besides studies of symptoms, methods of measurement or the effectiveness of medications, studies in the areas of care research and evaluation projects are carried out. Members of the research team also supervise diploma and doctoral students in the completion of their degree and doctoral work.

To safeguard quality, research projects led by multi-professional teams follow patient care. Significant milestones towards the improvement of the situation of children with chronic pain conditions have been achieved in projects conducted to date.

From the viewpoint of child pain therapy, health literacy in children and adolescents is increasing importance, especially in context of chronic pain management. Holistically, for this type of health care, and from a whole setting perspective, besides the health literacy of children and adolescents also the health literacy of parents and health professionals involved in research and care is of significant importance, which has to be highlighted in this context.

We are glad and very thankful to have been introduced to the team of the German Paediatric Pain Centre and that we could explore their great facilities in Datteln , NRW.
For more information:
German Paediatric Pain Centre: http://www.deutsches-kinderschmerzzentrum.de
Child pain therapy and paediatric palliative care at University of Witten/Herdecke: http://www.uni-wh.de/gesundheit/lehrstuhl-kinderschmerztherapie-palliativmedizin/

Promoting sexual health literacy in children and strengthening child resilience and empowerment: Development, implementation and evaluation of a school-based sexual abuse prevention programme in the primary school setting (IGEL)

This IGEL project was a collaborative team science effort involving professionals from research and practice that followed the public health action cycle model for interventions and policy development. The scientific research progress was led by educationalists, psychologists, sociologists, and socialisation researchers from the Faculty of Educational Science at the University of Duisburg-Essen who teamed up with public health researchers from the Bielefeld University. The IGEL project was conducted between 01.09.2012 – 31.10.2015 and was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

Target population and interventional approach

The intervention is based on an asset-based and eco-systematic approach that aims at primary school children attending the 3rd grade and their social environment comprising parents, teachers and professional school staff.

IGEL Objectives

The IGEL intervention aims at promoting a culture of awareness in context of sexual health and sexual violence including assault, abuse, and rape. While the target population comprises both teachers and children, in children the application of the programme will enhance self-protection skills by teaching them practical and theoretical knowledge and action competencies in context of sexual health and violence. During the programme children will be equipped with capabilities to recognise dangerous situations and take action to better protect themselves. The components aiming at teachers will help to raise awareness for sexual violence against children and enable them to better understand and recognise cases. They will be equipped with reflexive and reactive abilities in order to better deal with sexual assault against children. Overall, the programme will support better protection against all kinds of sexual violence against children and improve empowerment in the participants to raise their voices and to actively seek for help. On the long term basis the programme aims at changing school infrastructure towards better networking strategies and prevention concepts as well as improving cooperation with professional health support and first aid systems in case of sexual violence against children.

• Raising awareness about sexual abuse and sexual health in professionals and children
• Strengthening empowerment and responsibility among participants
• Improving theoretical and practical knowledge on sexual health and health promotion
• Improving action competencies
• Improving self-protection skills
• Improving knowledge about support and first aid services, and preventive measures
• Practicing of defence strategies
• Enhancing better sexual health related behaviour (behavior-based preventive component)
• Participative approach to actively involve and engage children’s social environment (environmental preventive component)
• Changing school infrastructure and implementation of cooperation with professionals health service for victims of sexual violence

Implementation of the IGEL programme

• Five hours training programme for teachers
• A series of six classes (each 45 minutes) plus one reviving class (45 minutes)
• Classes can be run in a row or distributed over weeks/months

IGEL comprises seven sequenced classes each focusing a specific topic. The programme is easy to use during school hours while one class perfectly fits into a 45 minutes session and is also easily adaptable in case more or less time is needed during the implementation.

The IGEL classes

1. Introduction to the programme
2. Working on a definition
3. My body
4. Physical contacts
5. Secrets
6. Identifying and understanding of “Okay!” and “Hey, stop!” (no-go)-situations
7. Becoming an IGEL professional

Programme didactics and implementation methods

• Music and art based methods: IGEL Rap (dancing and singing)
• Case vignettes
• Individual, partner, and group work
• Practice work: Identification and naming, working with materials, drawings
• Contemplation and theme cards
• Parent letters
• IGEL-professional certificate

Unique  features

• Providing basic information for teachers for self-reliant learning, working, and reviving
• Checklist in case of emergency for suspicion for or crises related to sexual violence
• Support for developing blueprints and templates for parental work and engagement
• Additional information on further types of child abuse and neglect

The research progress within the IGEL project was divided into two researcher stages that built up on each other

1. concept development and preparation of the evaluation
2. implementation, evaluation and concept adaptation

The intervention which is designed as a primary prevention programme consists of two modules:

1. preventative measures for teachers and parents
2. preventative measures for pupils

The implementation took place in eight primary schools while in each two 3rd grade classes were involved at a time (n=16 classes). For assessing effectiveness of the IGEL intervention four control groups were recruited.

Evaluation

The evaluation study conducted by Bielefeld University has proven the high effectiveness of the IGEL programme. Further, the study shows that the programme is user friendly and easy to use. See: Link here.
Developers

• Ina Kreuz, School Teacher for primary and secondary classes, she was involved within the development of the life skills intervention “Lions Quest: Erwachsen handeln”, a programme that is based on the principles of proportionate universalism.
• Ullrich Bauer, Professor of Socialisation Research, Head of the Centre for Prevention and Intervention in Childhood and Adolescence (CPI) at Bielefeld University, he is training teachers for ten years
• Wilhelm Körner holds a doctors degree in psychology and specialised in psychological psychotherapy for children and adolescents, he has vast experience in educational counselling and school psychology