College students' positive mental health is integral to academic success, the college experience, overall health, and success after graduation. The emerging adulthood developmental period is marked by identity exploration and transitional stress, creating a peak time for the onset of mental health disorders. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated…

Strong health literacy skills empower people to make informed health decisions, especially those with chronic health conditions striving for positive health outcomes. Half of all people living in Maryland report having at least one chronic disease. Research examining the health literacy of Marylanders is limited. This paper reports how…

Background: According to the personalization effect in multimedia learning, the use of personal and possessive pronouns in instructional materials (e.g., 'you' and 'your') is beneficial. However, current research suggests that the personalization effect is inverted for emotionally aversive content (e.g., illnesses). Objective: This study…

Background: Youth mental health rates of depression and anxiety continue to climb. Schools have a role to play to support youth mental health but often struggle to navigate community expectations. Methods: Focus groups (n = 17) were conducted with over 100 participants to understand community perceptions on the role of schools. Results: Three…

In line with international trends, the new Norwegian curricula for education have a stronger focus on life mastery, democracy and sustainability compared with previous requirements. Students are to develop competence that promotes health and responsible decision-making. The current study presents a programme implemented in lower secondary school…

This study presents a critical policy analysis of California's Assembly Bill 329 (AB 329) regarding inclusive sex education, coupled with a series of coding phases of relevant data. AB 329, enacted in 2015, mandates comprehensive sexual health education in California schools, aiming to address the needs of diverse student populations, including…

Social determinants of health (SDOH) greatly impact an individual's health, yet health care professionals are undereducated on addressing SDOH when identified. While many factors influence and drive educational practices, there is a lack of guidance in understanding best practices in teaching SDOH in online undergraduate health programs. Through…

School environment interventions are strongly supported by the World Health Organisation framework for health promoting schools (Barnekow et al., 2006). Indeed school-based education interventions for improving knowledge of back health and postural behaviour have been used in numerous countries worldwide to improve children's and adolescents'…

Obesity and diabetes are two of the biggest public health problems in the modern world. One possible way to combat the rising prevalence of these diseases is through the spread of awareness about its consequences and how to prevent them. Therefore, educational interventions focused on teaching the physiological basis of these conditions might be…

Objective: In recent years college health professionals have used a variety of innovative strategies to increase availability and accessibility of condoms and safer sex products. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and efficiency of a mail-order delivery program titled the Condom Fairy. Participants: Seven hundred thirty-three…

Despite widespread use of the Internet and social media platforms by the public, there has been little organized exchange of information among the academic, government, and technology sectors about how digital communication technologies can be maximized to improve public health. The second Digital Health Promotion Executive Leadership Summit…

Background: In response to the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, the US Department Agriculture updated the nutrition standards for school meals to improve nutrition-related health outcomes for children. This study assesses the association between implementation of the updated nutrition standards and child weight. Methods: A quasi-experimental…

War and other forms of conflict are frequently the culprit for disrupted immunization practices, as government attention and funding are diverted elsewhere and people are displaced due to fighting. In other instances, the causes are related to deficiencies in resources and infrastructure, such as limited quantities of vaccinations and/or…

Objective: To test the effectiveness of a text-message intervention to promote sleep hygiene to improve sleep in young adult college students. Participants: A convenience sample of undergraduate students from one Southwestern university (n = 96), 18-26 years old, recruited in August 2015. Methods: A 2-group pretest-posttest experimental design…

Background: Through the Texas Childhood Obesity Research Demonstration study, we implemented and evaluated a system-oriented model of primary and secondary prevention approaches to mitigate obesity among low-income Texas children aged 2 to 12 years. Primary prevention included implementing the Coordinated Approach To Child Health Early Childhood…