In this study, the researcher investigated the effectiveness of the strategies put in place by both the school and the community to control drug abuse by secondary school learners. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the strategies and identify whether there were any successes in controlling drug abuse by learners. This study was conducted during school time when learners were expected to be fully engaged with school work in the Libode-Mega district of education. The researcher had decided on the study with the feeling that there are strategies put in place by the relevant stakeholders but it might happen that the abusers were not cautioned on the seriousness of such measures. The researcher involved the schools, the community representatives and the health representatives in the study so that the information obtained would give a clear picture of what is happening in the area. The researcher used both qualitative and quantitative research designs whereby the questionnaires were distributed to learner respondents to answer while there were interview schedules drawn up for the teachers, the ward representative and health officials to respond to. The findings showed that there were strategies put in place at school and by the community and also the learner respondents who were the focal point in the study seemed to understand the bad behavior by abusers but it was noticed by the researcher that there was not unity in implementation of the strategies which might lead to little achievement. The researcher also noted that drug was prevalent in a number of communities especially in social gatherings. It is through that drug prevalence that both old and young people carelessly misused drugs while enjoying themselves in public places. A further research was suggested in order to improve relationships between the school and the communities in an attempt to control substance abuse.

Introduction. Infection prevention and control is both a national and international priority, with compliance with precautions being sub-optimal. One of the reasons suggested for poor compliance is a lack of appropriate education for health care professionals. There is a limited body of research available which considers infection prevention and control education for nursing students, particularly in clinical placements and no identified research in this area in midwifery. Aim. A body of research was undertaken with the overall aim of exploring and analysing the experiences and learning needs of nursing and midwifery students in relation to infection prevention and control in their clinical placements. Methods. An interpretivist approach was utilised to undertake semi-structured interviews with 32 nursing students, 15 midwifery students and 31 nurse mentors within a body of research comprising of three related studies. Date were analysed using Framework Analysis. Results. Several themes emerged from the body of work including the nature of infection prevention and control practice that is perceived as good or poor practice; attitudes towards infection prevention and control; barriers and motivators to learning about infection prevention and control; attitudes towards the infection prevention and control nurse and barriers to reporting poor practice. Conclusions. The body of work presented has several implications for future practice and research. New knowledge has been developed in particular in relation to perceptions of the role of the infection prevention and control nurse, barriers to reporting poor practice, the infection prevention and control education of midwifery students and the acceptance of poor practice as the norm. By triangulating findings from three separate but related studies, the research has been strengthened, providing additional support for the conclusions reached.

The study explores the role and contribution of education in developing a localized and relevant HIV/AIDS prevention strategy through a multi-voiced approach, involving the educational institutions, as well as the traditional leaders, community-members, including parents. The study comprised all public schools in one Zambian province from 2002-2008.  The study explores, among other factors, the role of traditional culture in mitigating and exacerbating the spread of the disease. Zambia was one of the countries hardest hit by the HIV/AIDs epidemic, and one of the few countries in the region that, in 2002, had a clear policy on the role of education in fighting the epidemic. Through the process of developing and implementing a learner-centered interactive HIV/AIDS education program in the province. based upon MOE`s  HIV/AIDS policies and strategies, syllabi, and teachers guides, and at the same time emphasizing the broader community as a point of departure. The qualitative and interpretivist research was conducted within a constructivist grounded theoretical approach. The study applies comprehensive and multilayered perspectives while utilizing a broad range of methods.   Documentary analyses, structured and semi-structured interviews, in depth conversations with traditional and educational leaders, teachers, parents and pupils, were all carried out during the period of the study. Nvivo, a computer-supported data analysis tool was used to support the process of categorizing the qualitative data and the study applied Cultural- and Historical Activity Theory for analytic purposes. The study revealed the mismatch between the decentralized, national HIV/AIDS prevention education approach, as stated in the policy documents and the global UNAIDS, centralized and cross-sectoral strategies favored by the Zambian government. The uncoordinated efforts did not reach  the grassroots level, where professionals, at district and school level, perceived and applied policies in highly different ways, if at all reaching students and the communities. The main categories of drivers of the epidemic were of socio-cultural and economic character, e.g. polygamy, sexual cleansing, local healing, gender inequality and poverty,  sexual violence, multiple concurrent sexual partners and prostitution, but there were also variety of local drivers, depending upon context. When analyzing the participatory approaches of the HIV/AIDS prevention strategy, predominantly, at the school-community level, the findings revealed that the traditional leaders, being legitimate leaders in their kingdoms, and the custodians of culture and traditions, were found to be gate openers to promote behavioral change and cultural transformation in their villages. The traditional leaders worked hand in hand with the schools and the villagers. Their involvement legitimated that discourses and HIV/AIDS prevention actions were taken at school as well as within their own chiefdom. Utilizing their traditional leadership structures, the chiefs sustained their cultural rites, e.g. cleansing, in order to chase away the evil spirits, by turning the rites into practices that do no put people at risk for contracting HIV. Particularly at the global and state level, culture has been seen as drivers of the epidemic. The study revealed that the traditional leaders used their role as significant others, became gate-openers, using their legitimate role as custodians of culture to transform cultural rites and practices.

HIV prevention programs in schools are acknowledged as one of the best prospects for controlling the world HIV epidemic. Epidemiological evidence indicates that deaths world-wide from AIDS are yet to peak. Although HIV notifications and AIDS deaths in the total Australian population have decreased', there has been an increase in rates in the Australian Indigenous population. There is also some evidence of complacency in HIV prevention vigilance in Australia which indicates a need for continued focus on prevention programs. The knowledge levels, attitudes toward HIV risk, and risk-taking behaviours of young Australians place them at risk of exposure to HIV. Appropriate prevention programs can be delivered to these vulnerable young people through the school setting. Programs delivered in schools have been shown to have a positive effect and teachers are vital to the delivery of these education programs. Without appropriate training, however, teachers may not optimise the outcomes of these programs. While it would be desirable for teachers to be trained in HIV prevention education in pre-service training this has not been the case in Western Australia (WA). When there is not an opportunity for pre-service training, professional development programs can be implemented to provide additional training required by teachers. Traditionally this professional development has been provided through workshops. These face-to-face delivery methods, however, do not always adequately serve the needs of all teachers, and in particular the needs of teachers in rural and remote areas. In an attempt to address the needs of these teachers, alternate methods of professional development delivery may be appropriate. The aim of this study was to test an alternate method of delivery. / The study designed, disseminated and evaluated the implementation of a flexible learning professional development program for teachers of HIV education. The program was based on print-based distance learning, supported by a video and tutors. Five objectives were developed for the study. These objectives were: Objective One - To determine factors associated with teachers' enrolment in the Protect Yourself Program (PYP). Objective Two - To determine the association between factors related to entry characteristics, social integration, external attribution, academic integration and incompatibility and amount of PYP completed. Objective Three - To determine the association between amount of PYP completed and factors related to the teaching of HIV lessons. Objective Four - To examine the context in which intervention and comparison group teachers were operating for this study. Objective Five - To evaluate the process of teacher recruitment to PYP, satisfaction with the flexible learning methodology, satisfaction with the PYP materials and completion of PYP. A comprehensive theoretical framework was constructed to guide the development of the empirical study and the professional development program, as little evidence was found in the literature of similar empirically evaluated studies. This framework incorporated: Adult Learning Theory; the Model of Student Progress; the PRECEDEPROCEED Model; the Health Promoting Schools Framework; Diffusion of Innovation and the Communication Behaviour Change Model. The study was conducted in two parts. Firstly, an exploratory study was conducted which provided a basis upon which to implement the second, larger empirical study. / A quasi-experimental study design was implemented due to restrictions placed upon the study by the WA Department of Health, the funding agency. The study sample was made up of teachers from government and independent, primary and second schools in WA. In total, 126 teachers were recruited to the intervention group and enrolled in the professional development program, and 128 to the comparison group, who completed some of the evaluation instruments, but did not participate in a professional development program. The professional development intervention program incorporated four comprehensive work modules, which were delivered in print form. A video and tutorial support supplemented the print materials. To evaluate the professional development program, seven instruments were developed. From these instruments five categories of variables were created, namely demographic, contextual, teacher characteristics, process and dependent. These variables were developed as single item variables, scales or indices. Quantitative data were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences and a combination of univariate, bivariate, and multivariate techniques (logistic regression and analysis of covariance) were conducted. Qualitative data were analysed for themes. A binary logistic regression was conducted to evaluate Objective One: to determine factors associated with teachers’ enrolment in PYP. The analysis identified four factors which were associated with enrolment in PYP. / The teachers most likely to enrol in PYP had no pre-service training in health education and did not consider themselves to be a specialist or coordinator of health education. The majority of program participants had been teaching health education for between three and seven years and displayed a high level of acceptance of the flexible learning methodology. Objective Two: to determine the association between factors related to entry characteristics, social integration, external attribution, academic integration and incompatibility and amount of PYP completed was evaluated using a nominal logistic regression analysis with the intervention group sample only. Completion of the PYP program by participants was related to circumstances which were often beyond the control of the program, such as events occurring in a teacher’s personal life. However, teachers who showed a preference for flexible learning were found to be more successful in completing the program. The effects of PYP were measured by Objective Three: to determine the association between amount of PYP completed and factors related to the teaching of HIV lessons. Three of the six factors considered by this objective returned a significant association with program dose. Teacher perceived access to HIV education resources was found to be positively related to the dose of materials a participant completed. / Participants who completed a high dose of the program considered HIV resources to be relatively easier to access than participants completing a low dose. Teachers who completed a high dose of PYP reported being more comfortable to teach HIV lessons than teachers completing a mid dose. In addition, intervention group teachers showed a significant change in comfort with their ability to teach HIV lessons and specified HIV topics to Years 8, 9, and 10 classes and intervention group teachers of Year 8 students thought the HIV topics were less important for this level of students. The final variable to show a significant change over time when dose of the program was considered was teacher sexual conservativeness. Both high and mid dose participants reported being less sexually conservative than low or no dose participants from pre to midtest. The context of the teachers participating in the PYP study was investigated through Objective Four: to examine the context in which intervention and Comparison group teachers were operating for this study. Two factors were found to be associated with gender, six with school location and eleven with level of teaching. These associations provided important contextual information for interpreting the findings of the study. Objective Five evaluated the process of teacher recruitment to PYP, satisfaction with the flexible learning methodology, satisfaction with the PYP materials and completion of PYP. The recruitment strategies implemented for PYP were effective in having teachers from government and independent schools in WA recruited to PYP. / However, more than 90% of the intervention group were from government schools. Schools encouraged more than one teacher from a school to enrol, with nine primary schools, four district high schools, one community high school, one secondary college, four senior high schools and one combined independent primary and high school enrolling more than one teacher in the program. The flexible learning methodology was reported to be suitable for the needs of teachers who enrolled in PYP, as they felt comfortable with the learning methodology and appreciated the opportunity to choose when and where they completed the program. The opportunity for face-to-face contact, however, was still preferred by some teachers. The materials within the program were considered to be appropriate and useful. The writing style and activities were well received and the efforts of the tutors were welcomed by the majority of the intervention group. One third of teachers who enrolled in PYP completed at least some of the materials, but less than 10% completed the entire program. The most frequent suggestions made for increasing program completion rates were to set dates for completion of the program modules and to allow time release to complete the program. At baseline, this research showed that teachers considered it important for their students to have access to HIV education, but many of these teachers did not feel comfortable providing HIV education for their students. / As positive effects were observed in the PYP program of impact of program dose on factors affecting the implementation of HIV education, it would appear that flexible learning professional development was a suitable alternative to face-to-face professional development. Teachers' acceptance of flexible learning professional development as an alternate methodology, however, appears to be in its infancy and will require more empirical research. Future research, study design improvements and intervention design improvements can be informed by the following recommendations. Future research Recommendation 1: There be more rigorous investigation of flexible learning as a methodology for provision of professional development for teachers of health education. Recommendation 2: The status of claiming credit for professional development toward postgraduate qualifications for teachers continue to be investigated. Recommendation 3 : Further research be undertaken to evaluate available technologies and their acceptance by teachers as a delivery method for flexible learning professional development. Study design improvements Recommendation 4: design limitations of the PYP study. Future research be designed to overcome the study Intervention design improvements Recommendation 5: The findings of the PYP study and suggestions made by PYP participants be used to improve future health education professional development programs.

The goal of the work is to ensure a safe feeling for the patient in preoperative preparation so that it can cooperate more actively in the prevention of incontinence in the postoperative period. Another goal of the work is to create an educational material intended for patients with planned prostate surgery. The research was carried out by a qualitative method using questioning in the form of interviews. One group of patients was educated according to the custom of the department and the other group was edited using a brochure. When searching for the respondents, patients were approached by the patients of the Písek hospital. Data analysis was carried out by the hand-coded method, also referred to as the paper and pencil method. The results can be divided into four areas according to which research question they apply. The first part of the results provided information that if the patient is subjectively well informed, we will ensure active co-operation in the prevention of incontinence in the postoperative period. In the second question, we investigated whether the lack of information has an impact on the feeling of safety and security. This has also been confirmed. The third area gave the answer to whether the patient is satisfied if he feels time pressure during reception. The majority of men were unsatisfied with the time pressure. The fourth area assessed the suitability of education through a brochure and according to the practice of the department in the success of the preventive measure of postoperative incontinence. The men who used the brochure were aware of the possible complication and its prevention. The work provides a comprehensive view of the issue of education in prevention of incontinence after prostate surgery. The output of this work is an information brochure for patients of the urological ambulance. Results of the research are used to improve the educational process in patients coming for surgery of the prostate.

The major goal of the thesis "Teaching prevention of infectious diseases in Czech school system" is to determine whether and to what extent is the curriculum of elementary schools incorporated lessons prevention of infectious diseases. Part of the curriculum in primary schools should be framework of basic education, prevention of infectious diseases, because it is the only way that the children instill awareness of the basic types of microorganisms, various ways of transmission, the difference between viral and bacterial diseases as well as the different treatment of these diseases. Only in such a way, the teaching of the issue touches the vast majority of primary schools (6-15years). The thesis consists of two parts, the theoretical part and the practical part.

Interaction is an important aspect for children’s language development. The intervention model Prevention Education Program for Parents (PEPP) is currently under development within the research project Ord gör skillnad, Karolinska Institutet. PEPP is an intervention for parents to children aged 0–12 months who’s recently been diagnosed with hearing impairment. In PEPP parents receive guidance based on the child’s language environment which is mapped through Language ENvironment Analysis (LENA) and video analysis. LENA is a speech processing technological tool that analyzes the child’s language environment. The video analysis is made manually based on short video records of interactions between child and parent. The purpose of this study was to evaluate these mapping methods reliabilities to measure verbal conversational turns. The study also aimed to investigate if there’s a pattern between the amount of verbal conversational turns in a structured playtime and in the home environment. Four families with children aged 0:26–7:3 months participated. The child and parent interacted in a structured playtime that was analyzed with LENA and video analysis. Each family also made a LENA recording for an entire day in their home environment. The amount of verbal conversational turns in the structured playtime was analyzed by two assessors through video analysis. Inter-rater reliability was calculated, and a qualitative assessment was made for intervals in which the inter-rater reliability was <80%. The conformity between video analysis and LENA in the structured playtime was calculated. Further, a comparison was made between the amount of verbal conversational turns measured with LENA in home environment and structured environment. The inter-rater reliability in this study was high and in the qualitative assessment aggravating factors were identified. The conformity between video analysis and LENA analysis of the structured playtime was moderate. The amount of verbal conversational turns was higher for all participants in the structured environment compared to the home environment. This study indicates that video analysis is a reliable method. However, the aggravating aspects should be remedied in order to increase the reliability. The results confirm previous findings that demonstrate limitations with LENA’s ability to measure conversational turns in young infants. This study indicates that the number of conversational turns is higher in structured environments. To ensure the results in this study further research should be conducted. / Barn lär sig språket i interaktion med sin omgivning. Föräldrainterventionen Prevention Education Program for Parents (PEPP) utvecklas inom forskningsprojektet Ord gör skillnad, Karolinska Institutet. I PEPP handleds föräldrar till barn i åldrarna 0–12 månader med nyligen upptäckt hörselnedsättning kring samspel och kommunikation. Handledningen baseras på barnets språkmiljö som mäts med kartläggningsmetoderna Language ENvironment Analysis (LENA) och videoanalys. LENA är ett talprocessande teknologiskt verktyg som beskriver barnets språkmiljö genom automatisk analys. Videoanalysen sker manuellt av bedömare utifrån korta videoinspelningar av samspel mellan barn och förälder. Föreliggande studie syftade till att utvärdera dessa kartläggningsmetoders pålitlighet i mätning av verbala turtagningar. Vidare syftade studien till att undersöka eventuella mönster mellan antal verbala turtagningar i hemmiljö och strukturerad miljö. Fyra familjer med barn i åldrarna 0:26–7:3 månader deltog. Barn och förälder samspelade under en strukturerad leksituation som analyserades med LENA och videoanalys. Varje familj gjorde även en heldagsinspelning med LENA i hemmiljö. Antal verbala turtagningar i den strukturerade leksituationen analyserades av två bedömare med videoanalys. Interbedömarreliabilitet räknades ut och en kvalitativ bedömning genomfördes på intervall med interbedömarreliabilitet <80 %. Samstämmigheten mellan videoanalysen och LENA beräknades gällande den strukturerade leksituationen. Vidare jämfördes antal turtagningar mätt med LENA i hemmiljö och strukturerad miljö. Resultatet visade på en hög interbedömarreliabilitet i videoanalysen och i den kvalitativa bedömningen identifierades försvårande aspekter. Samstämmigheten mellan videoanalysen och LENA var måttlig. Antalet turtagningar var genomgående högre i den strukturerade leksituationen jämfört med hemmiljö. Studien tyder på att videoanalysen är en pålitlig metod. Dock identifierades försvårande aspekter som bör åtgärdas för att öka mätningens tillförlitlighet. Studien bekräftar tidigare forskning som visat på begränsningar gällande LENA:s mätning av turtagningar hos unga spädbarn. Resultatet tyder på att det sker fler turtagningar i strukturerad miljö än i hemmiljö. För att säkerställa studiens resultat krävs fortsatta studier.

The diploma thesis is dedicated to the system of preventive educational activity in the area of population protection in the Czech Republic. The thesis introduces a comprehensive picture of the current state of knowledge of the population, pupils and teachers about the protection of the population and its integration into the lessons in the Pilsen region. The thesis is methodically divided into two parts : Theoretical and practical. In the theoretical part is used empirical research method, which focuses on the study of documents and literature. In the practical part, a qualitative research was then carried out in the form of semi-structured interviews directed at three groups of inhabitants, namely the inhabitants, teachers and pupils of primary schools. The research was realised in selected cities of the Pilsen Region, namely in Plzeň, Klatovy, Žinkovy, Blovice and Nepomuk. Subsequently, a comparison of the data was performed. The output of thesis is to present a proposal of identified shortcomings based on the acquired knowledge, including in particular the promotion of actions related to the PVČ and higher utilization of the potential of modern communication technologies.

Many nurses are physically and verbally abused by the patients under their care, with those providing care to patients dealing with mental illness or addition being at particular risk. Leadership of the project site, an urban mental health treatment center, identified a need to provide additional education to improve their nursing staff's ability to work with combative patients and prevent escalation of violent behaviors. Albert Bandura's social cognitive theory and adaptation to the environment guided the development of this project to answer the question if an education program for nurses working with potentially combative patients will increase their knowledge of strategies to prevent escalation of violent behavior. The education program was developed using results from an extensive literature review and input from a team of local subject experts, who provided evaluation regarding their satisfaction with the planning process through the completion of an anonymous, 10 questions, Likert-type survey. All team members scored each question with a (5) strongly agree or (4) agree. Project deliverables handed over to the facility included the developed education program, an associated handout, a plan for later implementation, and plans for outcome evaluation through evaluation of learning. This project has the potential to achieve positive social change through less violent encounters between nurses and patients, contributing to an increased culture of safety.

Falls are the most frequently reported incidents among hospitalized patients in the United States with at least 4 falls per 1,000 patient days occurring annually. Falls are related to high rates of mortality and morbidity and high hospital costs. The purpose of this project was to evaluate a fall prevention quality initiative to reduce falls in an acute care facility by educating staff on an evidence-based fall prevention protocol. The project sought to explore whether implementation of an evidence-based fall prevention initiative in educating nurses would affect the nurses’ professional knowledge and the number of patient fall incidences in the cardiac care unit. The theoretical framework supporting this project was Neuman’s systems theory. The Iowa model was used to guide this evidence-based project. An educational session was implemented to increase nurses’ awareness of fall prevention practices. Two sets of data were collected: the pretest and posttest results, and the number of falls on the unit. A total of 21 unit nurses participated in the pretest; 18 (86.0%) completed the posttest. The mean score on the pretest was 81.62%; the mean score was 85.89% for the posttest with a mean difference of 4.27%. A paired sample t-test revealed no statistically significant differences in scores after education. This project has implications for social change by supporting patient safety, decreased hospital stays, and reduced health care expenses to patients and health care organizations.