There is some debate about the most effective and least controversial means of sex education in schools. In several states, state law does not require education about Sexually Transmitted Diseases and Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (STDs and HIV/AIDS.) There is also debate about the effect and pervasiveness of sexual situations in video games and its effect on the healthy sexual development of adolescents. This research therefore aims to try to solve these two problems and answer the following question: Is it possible to represent sex in a more realistic and educational way through a video game while teaching more medically accurate and necessary information? The completion of this study will be able to provide some insights on the feasibility and benefits of widespread implementation of serious video games for health education in the United States and also point to the necessity of future research into this topic.

published_or_final_version / Applied Statistics / Master / Master of Social Sciences

The growing prevalence of childhood and adolescent physical inactivity and obesity are major concerns in Canada. Physical activity promoted within schools should be seen as a way to address these problems, since the majority of children receive public schooling. Research highlighting in-school physical activity helps influence school board and public health officials to create a physically active school environment. Consequently, this study has two objectives. The first is to describe the prevalence of in-school physical activity and four dependent variables in a nationwide sample of 9717 students, using data from the Health Behavior in School–aged Children survey. Dependent variables include life satisfaction, self-rated health, academic performance, and out-of-school physical activity. The second objective examines the association between in-school physical activity levels and these dependent variables, while controlling for potential confounders. Using existing data from the 2005/06 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children Survey, a partial proportional odds model form of ordinal logistic regression was fitted in order to investigate the relationship between in-school physical activity and self-rated health, life satisfaction, academic performance, and out-of-school physical activity, while controlling for potential confounders. The results showed a significant positive relationship between in-school physical activity and life satisfaction (OR range: 1.18 – 1.50), in-school physical activity and self-rated health (OR range: 1.10 – 2.86), in-school physical activity and academic performance (OR range: 1.20 – 1.40), and in-school physical activity and out-of-school physical activity (OR range: 1.09 - 6.68). Consequently, it is recommended that school environments which encourage physical activity continue to be promoted, and future studies continue to explore the benefits of in-school physical activity. / Thesis (Master, Community Health & Epidemiology) -- Queen's University, 2011-01-21 10:42:29.807

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Wollongong, 2006. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references: p. 331-353.

Les jeunes sont considérés par les pouvoirs publics comme une population particulièrement touchée par les conduites à risque, mais aussi comme un public difficile à atteindre par des messages de prévention. Les jeunes se détourneraient de cette logique de prévention pour de multiples raisons, dont le fait de considérer que leur capital santé est inépuisable ou encore que les questions de prévention ne les concernent pas encore. Face à ces difficultés et freins, ces dernières années ont vu apparaître, dans le domaine de la prévention en santé des jeunes et plus précisément dans le domaine de la communication sur la prévention des risques auprès des jeunes Français, un certain nombre d’actions sociales publiques qui s’opposent à la prescription forte, mais qui vont chercher une logique de co-construction des messages, c’est-à-dire qui essaient de faire passer le message préventif en associant le récepteur-destinataire dans la construction du message. Cette thèse vise à comprendre ce que sont véritablement ces nouvelles initiatives qui se veulent de co-construction des messages et comment elles fonctionnent : une attention particulière est portée à la manière dont se fait et se représente ce travail de co-construction des messages, sur les caractéristiques qui la décrivent le mieux et en quoi celle-ci contribue réellement à la construction du sens par le récepteur-destinataire. Elle articule, d’une part, une approche théorique basée sur une analyse de la littérature qui traite des populations juvéniles, de la santé des jeunes, des transformations du journalisme et du rapport entre jeunes et médias et, d’autre part, une approche empirique centrée sur un examen de trois objets distincts, qui mettent en évidence la tentative de trouver le moyen de faire passer le message préventif en associant le récepteur : les magazines pour adolescents, la Mission du bureau de la vie étudiante de l’IUT de Lannion et le dispositif de prévention rennais le Prév’en ville. Au cœur de cette double approche thématique (état de l’art et état social), ce sont les formes de co-construction des messages qui apparaissent, avec leurs logiques, leurs incertitudes, leurs tensions et leurs contradictions, mais toujours avec cette singularité qui est la leur : laisser la place au récepteur-destinataire, laisser la culture des récepteurs s’exprimer. / Young people are considered by the public authorities as a population who is particularly affected by at-risk behaviors, but also as a difficult audience to reach with preventive messages. Several reasons can explain why young people turn away this logic of prevention. Firstly, they think that their health capital is inexhaustible. Secondly, they feel that prevention issues do not concern them. Faced to these difficulties and these obstacles, some new initiatives are recently appeared and try to transmit preventive messages by associating the receiver in the construction of the message. This study aims to understand what are truly these new initiatives of co-construction’ messages. Special attention is paid to how co-constructed messages work, to characterize this phenomenon and to know how the co-constrction contributes to the understanding of the meaning by the receiver. It takes two approaches. The first one is theorical and is based on the analysis of the literature that deals with young people, youth health, transformations of journalism and the relationship between young people and the media. The second one is empirical and is based on the study of three examples:Teen magazines, Prév’en ville in Rennes and the “Bureau de la vie étudiante de l’IUT de Lannion”. At the heart of this dual approach, different forms of co-construction’ messages appear with their logics, their tensions and their contradictions, but always with their singularity: respecting the receiver and encourage the expression of the receiver’s culture.

Introduktion: Psykisk ohälsa ökar bland barn och unga i Sverige. Sedan mitten av 1980-talet har unga som har återkommande psykosomatiska symtom fördubblats, och ungefär hälften av 15-åringarna har besvär. Användning av datorer, surfplattor och smartphones har ökat bland 13- och 15-åringar under 2000-talet. De flesta ungdomar använder sociala medier såsom Facebook, Tiktok, Instagram och Snapchat, något som också har ökat markant under de senaste åren. Syfte: Syftet med litteraturstudien är att belysa sambandet mellan användning av sociala medier och psykisk hälsa för barn och ungdomar mellan 12 - 17 år. Metod: Litteratursökningen gjordes med hjälp av vetenskapliga originalartiklar från databaserna PubMed och CINAHL som var från år 2017 eller senare och som analyserades med en tematisk analys. Resultat: Användning av sociala medier uppvisar både negativa och positiva samband med barns och ungdomarnas psykiska hälsa men de negativa dominerar. För mycken användning av sociala medier kan orsaka ohälsa i form av depression, ouppmärksamhet, hyperaktivitet/impulsivitet, ångest och självmordstankar, beroendeframkallande och sömnbrist som har direkt effekt på prestation under dagtid och svårigheter att gå upp på morgonen. Sociala medier har också positiva effekter eftersom den är en plattform där man har interaktioner med kamrater på nätet då det inte finns möjlighet att umgås fysiskt, vilket bidrar till att lindra känslor av tristess och ensamhet. Positiva effekterna kan även innebära utvidgning av sociala nätverk och möjligheter att träffa nya människor samt att upprätthålla kontakt med gamla vänner utanför skolan och familjemedlemmar utomlands. Slutsats: Studien uppvisade både negativa och positiva samband mellan användningen av sociala medier och barns / ungdomars psykiska hälsa men de negativa effekterna dominerade. / Introduction: Prevalence of mental illness is increasing among children and young people in the world. The use of computers, tablets and smartphones has increased among adolescent during the 2000s. Most young people use social media such as Facebook, Tiktok, Instagram and Snapchat, something that has also increased significantly in recent years. Aim: The aim of the study is to explore the association between use of social media and mental health in children and young people between the ages of 12 to 17 years. Method: The literature review was carried out by searching original scientific articles from the data bases PubMed and CINAHL from the year 2017 onwards which were analysed with a thematic analysis. Results: The literature study show that use of social media sows both negative and positive associations with young people's mental health, where the negative ones are predominating. Excessive use of social media can cause depression, inattention, hyperactivity/ impulsivity, anxiety and suicidal thoughts, addiction and lack of sleep that have a direct effect on performance during the day and difficulties in getting up in the morning. Social media also has positive effects on young people's health as it is a platform where you interact with friends online when there is noopportunity to socialize otherwise, which helps to alleviate feelings of boredom and loneliness. The positive effects can also involve expanding social networks and meeting new people as well as maintaining contact with old friends outside school and family members abroad. Conclusion: The study showed both negative and positive effects of use of social media on young people's mental health but the negative ones were predominating.

For many decades, the World Health Organisation had highlighted the growing importance of chronic non-communicable diseases in developed and developing countries, with an increase in lifestyle-related diseases. Physical inactivity has been identified as one of the risk factors, in addition to other leading risk factors like diet, and the use of tobacco and alcohol, contributing to the occurrence of non-communicable diseases like cardiovascular diseases, cancers, obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Based on the researcher's observations while living in Belhar community for more then ten years, it was hypothesized that the level of physical inactivity among adolescents could become a public health problem in the future if not addressed immediately.

The purpose of the study was to explore and describe young people’s perceptions of access to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services in Swaziland. The study provided insights into the SRH services currently available to the young people of Swaziland and reveals the opportunities that can be used to improve accessibility and utilisation of the current reproductive health services. The findings will inform policy-making and appropriate future interventions for young people’s sexual and reproductive needs and services. Data were collected through a descriptive exploratory study design. Colaizzi’s seven steps of data analysis were used. The study provides ample evidence that young people face sexual health risks that justify their need to access and utilise SRH services. The findings revealed that access to service is an important but complex element of quality care, as it determines whether a client gets to the service provider. / Health Studies / M.A. (Health Studies)

For many decades, the World Health Organisation had highlighted the growing importance of chronic non-communicable diseases in developed and developing countries, with an increase in lifestyle-related diseases. Physical inactivity has been identified as one of the risk factors, in addition to other leading risk factors like diet, and the use of tobacco and alcohol, contributing to the occurrence of non-communicable diseases like cardiovascular diseases, cancers, obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Based on the researcher's observations while living in Belhar community for more then ten years, it was hypothesized that the level of physical inactivity among adolescents could become a public health problem in the future if not addressed immediately.

No description available.