As a practitioner involved in the planning and development of educational activities in the field of public health, I have worked within many pedagogical traditions and program parameters. Through this work, I have experienced both subtle and radical shifts in the range of skills, knowledge and relationships required to collaboratively plan and evaluate educational work. In this professional and community-based landscape, competing and often overlapping models of education and evaluation have led to much conceptual confusion and ambiguity around narrowly defined notions of best practice, evidence and knowledge legitimacy. Drawing from Dorothy Smith’s (1999) standpoint theory from which my inquiry was developed as a result of my participation with colleagues in the field, I explore how three professional practice networks of learning and development practitioners speak of the skills, knowledge, relationships and worker identities in a changing field. This research seeks to explicate the kinds of informal and largely unarticulated knowledge that is produced through the changing contexts of work. This research maps the changing conditions of educational work through my own case stories of educational practice and uses these as a springboard for discussion among three diverse professional practice networks. The Story/Dialogue Method (S/D-M) developed by Labonte and Feather (1996), is a constructivist methodological approach that, in this application, structures group dialogue into reflective insights and theories about how educational work occurs in varied settings among different professional and community-based groups. A strong reliance on interpersonal skills was articulated by all three networks to build trust, assess individual and organisational learning needs, to build partnerships and to motivate learners. Skills were often described vaguely and summarised as a series of situational specific attributes. A valuing of reflexive, working knowledge as opposed to professional or discipline-based expertise was raised as an important aspect of partnership building and in negotiating program parameters. The need to build individual and organisational relationships through formal and informal encounters was cited as a series of legitimate yet often ‘behind the scenes’ professional practices. Aligning with the notion of worker identity described by Chappell, Rhodes, Solomon, Tennant and Yates (2003) as process, practitioners spoke of their identities as constructed and temporary, negotiated through newly emerging roles and changing relationships with peers and learners. This study suggests that evidence-based practice is a contested term drawing its meanings from multiple theoretical and pedagogical traditions including that of intuition. Perhaps unsurprisingly then, evidence guiding educational approaches is viewed as a pragmatic and eclectic mix of tools stored to be adapted for use in new ways. Additionally, this study concludes that all participants (including myself) regard educational practice as a collaborative and continually negotiated endeavour.

This thesis explores the ways in which health promotion campaigns presuppose the pregnant subject and how main stream health promoters construct theories and practices of empowerment, health literacy and rationality. Two Western Australian main stream health promotion campaigns directed at pregnant women in the period 1996 to 1997 (the time of interviewing) and still current at time of writing, will be analysed and comparisons made with the development of health promotion theory and practice generally. The normalisation of medicallscientific approaches toward pregnancy care and behaviour will be illustrated by providing examples from health promotion literature, medical and health journals, popular pregnancy books, magazines and newspaper stories. The assumption that health literacy is the major attribute necessary to enable empowerment is intenogated and the limitations of this perspective illustrated. The second part of the thesis deals more directly with the interview material and illustrates how the women interviewed related to, and engaged with, main stream health information. The diversity with the group of middle class women interviewed is highlighted, and the diferent pfulosophical positions they occupy in relation to main stream health information explored. The complexity and contextual situatedness of women's decision making in relation to notions about health literacy, rationality and empowerment is outlined. The concluding chapters of the thesis discuss the most recent developments in main stream health promtion theory, examining the limitations of social capital theory, social marketing and other health promotion strategies. The conclusion imagines the possible benefits for women as health subjects and main stream health promoters as experts, in rethinking rationality and re-supposing women as positive health subjects that are promising rather than permanently risky and in need of improvement.

Anger is an emotion sorely in need of an improved public profile. Its association with overt violent aggression has masked its original purpose, namely, to be a useful and motivating force to engineer our survival. An emotion designed to serve us well in the face of injustice and threat has become the means by which injustice is perpetuated by the strong and powerful, against the weak and vulnerable. The expression of anger is often misguided, dysfunctional and misplaced with terrible consequences for society, including road rage. Yet there is increasing evidence that the suppression of anger is associated with negative health-related conditions including heart disease, cancer, mental illness, substance abuse and eating disorders. Evidence suggests that anger has a three-stage structure of socialised reactivity, biological anger generation and environmentally acquired action and expression. As a result of this six-year research study, ten key principles of anger expression have emerged, suggesting that anger can be learned in both informal and formal institutional education by both children and adults. These principles were incorporated into a pilot program aimed to educate rather than eliminate anger expression, in a health promotion program involving 25 self-selected Canberra women. This program formed part of a wider study of acquired anger management experiences through questionnaires and in-depth interviews. Results from the study are presented as a core of learned and learnable knowledge about anger, as modules of information. These modules can be adapted and modified for any learning forum, including schools, adult education, career-related education and inservice training. Suggestions for the packaging of these component parts are provided, together with guidelines for reaching target groups. This thesis contends that each individual has the right to know and utilise this information and can use anger to achieve beneficial outcomes for themselves. If anger expression is inappropriate and dysfunctional, so will be its effects. If anger expression is appropriate and functional, then it can have a positive and beneficial outcome.

<p>Hösten -05 genomfördes en personalundersökning inom förvaltningen</p><p>Lärande & Arbete, Söderhamns Kommun som visade på en hög</p><p>sjukfrånvaro. Ledningsgruppen inom förvaltningen beslutade därför</p><p>att börja arbeta hälsofrämjande för att minska sjukfrånvaron och bli en</p><p>attraktivare förvaltning.</p><p>Syftet med denna C-uppsats var att kartlägga förekomsten av</p><p>psykosociala friskfaktorer i relation till sjukfrånvaron inom de olika</p><p>enheterna i förvaltningen Lärande & Arbete i Söderhamns Kommun.</p><p>Metoden var kvantitativ. Ett urval gjordes utifrån de friskfaktorer som</p><p>tidigare forskning visat relatera till sjukfrånvaro. En</p><p>enkätundersökning genomfördes bland samtliga AB-avtalsanställda</p><p>inom förvaltningen. 143 stycken svarade.</p><p>I Resultatet framkom intressanta signaler. Framförallt att vissa enheter med</p><p>hög sjukfrånvaro också var de som uppgav lägst grad av delaktighet, lägst</p><p>grad av att kunna påverka hur arbetet ska utföras, att det ställs för höga krav</p><p>på dem i arbetet samt att de skattade lägst angående om de har möjlighet till</p><p>kompetensutveckling vid behov. I en av dessa enheter var det även en hög</p><p>grad som anser att de har så mycket att göra att de blir tvungen att dra in på</p><p>luncher, arbeta över eller ta med jobb hem. De skattade även lägst när det</p><p>gäller frågan att de har möjlighet att få stöd och uppmuntran från chefen, när</p><p>arbetet är besvärligt. Intressant i studien var att det inte framkom något</p><p>anmärkningsvärt gällande skattningen av friskfaktorerna inom den enhet</p><p>som hade den högsta sjukfrånvaron inom förvaltningen. Detta signalerar på</p><p>att sjukfrånvaron inom den enheten kan bero på andra faktorer. Det krävs</p><p>ytterligare analyser av materialet för att säkerställa graden av samband med</p><p>sjukfrånvaron. Däremot kan dessa friskfaktorer fungera som ett riktmärke i</p><p>det hälsofrämjande arbetet inom förvaltningen.</p>

<p>The purpose of this study was to determine if wellness benefits led to any changes in exercise habits among employed postmen. The study was a cross-sectional study carried out by a quantitative method. The collection of data took the form of a questionnaire. The sample consisted of 30 postmen employed at a post office in northern Sweden. The results show that of the postman who use health care benefits, there has been a relatively small change in exercise habits. The results also show that consistently for all respondents was health the main motivation factor for exercise. Time aspect was a factor for not using the wellness benefits. The study showed a state of health is the primary motivational factor to exercise both for those using health care benefits and for those who do not use them.</p>

<p>Mental illness is seen as a public health problem around the world, especially among adolescents. Cambodia is one of Asia's poorest countries, and has one of the lowest health statuses. Only one in four children are able to go to school in Cambodia for economic reasons however in Sweden all children have the right to education but mental health is still a major problem. The aim of the present study is to make a comparison between the mental health of children in English schools in Sweden and in Cambodia, using a target group of fifteen-year-olds, and also to see if there are differences in the school staff's work in promoting children's mental health. This study used both a qualitative and a quantitative method involving sixty-six fifteen-year-old students. A questionnaire adapted from Antonovsky‟s Sense of Coherence (SOC) theory was used. Five qualitative interviews with teachers working with health were also carried out.The results showed that the Swedish students were satisfied with their life situation, and also had a higher SOC than the Cambodian participants. The students in Cambodia enjoyed school more than the Swedish students, but still, anxiety and worries were more common among students in Cambodia. The teachers in Cambodia and in Sweden had different ways of defining what health is.</p>

Mental illness is seen as a public health problem around the world, especially among adolescents. Cambodia is one of Asia's poorest countries, and has one of the lowest health statuses. Only one in four children are able to go to school in Cambodia for economic reasons however in Sweden all children have the right to education but mental health is still a major problem. The aim of the present study is to make a comparison between the mental health of children in English schools in Sweden and in Cambodia, using a target group of fifteen-year-olds, and also to see if there are differences in the school staff's work in promoting children's mental health. This study used both a qualitative and a quantitative method involving sixty-six fifteen-year-old students. A questionnaire adapted from Antonovsky‟s Sense of Coherence (SOC) theory was used. Five qualitative interviews with teachers working with health were also carried out.The results showed that the Swedish students were satisfied with their life situation, and also had a higher SOC than the Cambodian participants. The students in Cambodia enjoyed school more than the Swedish students, but still, anxiety and worries were more common among students in Cambodia. The teachers in Cambodia and in Sweden had different ways of defining what health is.

Hösten -05 genomfördes en personalundersökning inom förvaltningen Lärande &amp; Arbete, Söderhamns Kommun som visade på en hög sjukfrånvaro. Ledningsgruppen inom förvaltningen beslutade därför att börja arbeta hälsofrämjande för att minska sjukfrånvaron och bli en attraktivare förvaltning. Syftet med denna C-uppsats var att kartlägga förekomsten av psykosociala friskfaktorer i relation till sjukfrånvaron inom de olika enheterna i förvaltningen Lärande &amp; Arbete i Söderhamns Kommun. Metoden var kvantitativ. Ett urval gjordes utifrån de friskfaktorer som tidigare forskning visat relatera till sjukfrånvaro. En enkätundersökning genomfördes bland samtliga AB-avtalsanställda inom förvaltningen. 143 stycken svarade. I Resultatet framkom intressanta signaler. Framförallt att vissa enheter med hög sjukfrånvaro också var de som uppgav lägst grad av delaktighet, lägst grad av att kunna påverka hur arbetet ska utföras, att det ställs för höga krav på dem i arbetet samt att de skattade lägst angående om de har möjlighet till kompetensutveckling vid behov. I en av dessa enheter var det även en hög grad som anser att de har så mycket att göra att de blir tvungen att dra in på luncher, arbeta över eller ta med jobb hem. De skattade även lägst när det gäller frågan att de har möjlighet att få stöd och uppmuntran från chefen, när arbetet är besvärligt. Intressant i studien var att det inte framkom något anmärkningsvärt gällande skattningen av friskfaktorerna inom den enhet som hade den högsta sjukfrånvaron inom förvaltningen. Detta signalerar på att sjukfrånvaron inom den enheten kan bero på andra faktorer. Det krävs ytterligare analyser av materialet för att säkerställa graden av samband med sjukfrånvaron. Däremot kan dessa friskfaktorer fungera som ett riktmärke i det hälsofrämjande arbetet inom förvaltningen.

Syftet med det här arbetet är att genom en teoretisk undersökning skildra vad hälsofrämjande ledarskap består av idag. Samt genom en empirisk studie beskriva på vilka sätt Tekniska förvaltningen i Sala kommun arbetar med hälsofrämjande ledarskap. Studien är av deskriptiv karaktär och är baserad på en kvalitativ undersökningsmetod och semistrukturerade intervjuer har genomförts med den valda organisationen. Teoretiska referensramen består av vetenskapliga artiklar och böcker inom området. Resultatet analyserades med en berättande analysmetod baserad på den teoretiska referensramen och det empiriska materialet.  Efter att ha sett och analyserat hur Tekniska förvaltningens ledning arbetar med aktiviteter, åtgärder och ledarskap inom de här för studien aktuella områdena kan slutsatsen dras att de här teorierna och begreppen är aktuella idag för hälsofrämjande ledarskap.

The personnel policy program for the employees in studied municipality includes guidelines for the working environment, saying that health promoting activities is offered to all employees.                              Objective: To investigate how these activities were used and how the staff perceived the activities offered. The aim was also to find out how well the information about current health promotion efforts reached the staff.Method: A qualitative approach was used in the form of interviews. The sample consisted of municipal employees from seven different work sites.  A total of 12 women aged 32-52 years participated. The interviews were recorded and a hermeneutic theory was used to interpret the results.Results: The results showed that most informants used some form of fitness activity. In most cases health care-time was used for anything from walking to organized workouts. The great barrier was lack of information and lack of trained and dedicated health motivators. In several cases, informants had no knowledge about what a health motivator is supposed to do. The informants own suggestions for health promotion interventions included stress management and foot care.Conclusion: The survey showed that respondents were poorly informed about which wellness activities the municipality offered. The result could also be interpreted as a communication gap between the local authority, health motivators and the employees. A request for group activities was detected.