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.

The purpose of this study was to understand the difference of health-promoting life styles among the Fifth and Sixth grades students in Kaohsiung City, and analyze the related factors. A descriptive study design was chosen, and data was collected by self-reported questionnaires that include: demographic data, cues to self-efficacy of health behavior and health-promoting lifestyle profile. The number of subjects was 1164, consisting of 623 Fifth grade students and 541 Sixth grade students. The data collection was based on structural questionnaire method, and there were 1164 valid samples, which were then analyzed by SPSS for Windows 14.0. Results of this study include: 1. The average score was 157.93 in terms of overall scaling table. The highest score fell on health-promoting lifestyles, followed by daily life security habits ,then Self-Care habits, Stress & Sentiments Management, Recreation and Sport,and the lowest score was on eating habits. 2.The average score was 113.39 in terms of overall scaling table. The highest score fell on self-efficacy of health behavior, followed by health responsibility behavior, then stress management behavior, nutrition behavior, and the lowest score was on exercise behavior. 3.The result indicated that these background factors did show significant differences in health promotion life-style. 4. The result indicated that these background factors did show significant differences in self-efficacy of health behavior. 5. Health behavior self-efficacy were positively correlated with health-promoting lifestyles. ¡]r¡×.730¡Ap¡Õ.01¡^ 6. It was realized through hierarchical enter regression analysis that, health¡@responsibility behavior , stress management behavior, nutrition behavior, the gender ,results of study in class(last / middle), Father¡¦s occupation¡]field / general¡^ , Father¡¦s teach(democracy /abandon¡^ , exercise behavior, mother¡¦s level of education ¡]a primaryschool / a junior college¡^ and to stay with parent(yes / no¡^ and could explain to 59.7¢H total variance in health promotion life-style. Among these 10 factors, health responsibility behavior ,has the biggest influence; also, the research conclusions could serve as a reference for future health education and activities planning within the school.

Hälsofrämjande ledarskap är ett komplext fenomen som innefattar att främja hälsan i arbetslivet med hälsofrämjande aktiviteter. Studien fokuserade på det salutogena perspektivet, hälsa och hälsofrämjande arbete, arbetsrelaterad stress, arbetsmiljölagen samt ledarskapsteorier som kan kopplas till det hälsofrämjande ledarskapet. Studien syftade till att undersöka ledares upplevelser av hälsofrämjande ledarskap och resurser som främjar deras hälsa. Elva ledare från två organisationer deltog i studien.  Halvstrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes som kategoriserades genom meningskoncentrering. Analysen resulterade i ett antal slutsatser som var gemensamma för flertalet av respondenterna. Majoriteten av ledarna ansåg sig inte vara hälsofrämjande ledare och var fokuserade på fysiska friskvårdsåtgärder snarare än psykosociala. Ledarna  hade en uppfattning om att det rådde otydlig ansvarsfördelning, bristande kunskap  om hälsofrämjande ledarskap, men tillgång till hälsofrämjande resurser. / Health promotion leadership is complex and includes promoting health in the workplace. The study focuses on the salutogenetic perspective, health promotion, work-related stress, work environment legislation and leadership theories that can be linked to health promotion leadership. This study aims to investigate if leaders have knowledge about health-promoting leadership and access to resources that are health promoting. Eleven leaders from two organizations participated. Semi-structured interviews were conducted thematised through meaningful concentrator. The analysis showed several recurring statements amongst a majority of the respondents which were that the leaders did not view themselves as health- promoting leaders and their focus were on physical working environment rather than psychological. The perception of responsibility in the matter was unclear in both organizations and the leaders generally lacked knowledge of health promotion leadership while having access to health promoting resources.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / This study is an investigation into teacher perceptions of the role of a primary school principal in supporting their well-being: learning from a South African public school in challenging conditions. As a grounded theory study using a classical grounded theory approach it proposes a substantiated theory based on the synthesis of findings from a single case study of a school. This grounded theory proposes that teacher well-being is a dynamic, fluctuating and holistic state of LOVING, BEING, HAVING and MEANING1 in a teacher’s personal and professional life, as a result of being part of a school community and broader system, and the SUPPORT2 it provides to enhance the physical, social and cultural environment and working conditions of teachers. In order of significance of responses, teacher well-being is related to: Caring and Supportive Relationships (LOVING) A State of Being (BEING) Environmental and Working Conditions (HAVING) Meaning (MEANING) LOVING and BEING influence the ability of teachers to access a level of HAVING and MEANING. Key factors supporting and constraining the well-being of teachers in a school in challenging conditions are personal, professional, organisational and systemic. Teachers identify organisational and systemic factors as having a greater negative influence on their well-being than personal and inter-personal factors. In this working class school greater job demands and limited job resources negatively influence teacher well-being. The key role of the principal (as defined by the teachers and reported in this study) in supporting the well-being of teachers requires a focus on personal, professional, organisational and systemic strategies to enhance support. These include a wide range of skills, attributes and abilities which include a democratic and contingent leadership style; a respectful, trustworthy and courageous personal 1 As defined in chapter five. 2 As defined and reported on in chapter seven. University of the Western Cape Karen Collett Page iv character; the ability to provide teachers with both personal and professional support; a focus on curricular leadership and strategies that enable teachers to address a range of barriers to learning; building a caring and supportive collegial culture; promoting professional learning communities; paying attention to the functioning of school level structures; addressing discipline and safety; drawing in additional funding and support at a school community and systems level; and having the moral courage and leadership to address issues at both a personal and systemic level. Leadership to support teacher well-being requires a focus by the principal and school management team on both structural and cultural dimensions of support at the school level and in addition requires the school leadership to address structural inequalities at the systemic level. It is hoped that the findings of this study will make an important contribution to understanding the role of leadership in supporting the well-being of teachers. They illuminate the challenges teachers in primary schools in challenging conditions face and provide suggestions to enable enhanced systems of teacher support at a school and systems level. These findings identify a number of personal and systems level indicators of well-being that can be used to evaluate and monitor school level teacher well-being and the bio-psycho-social elements of school health promotion. They provide a conceptual model of school well-being from the perspective of teachers. The study concludes with a number of recommendations to strengthen policy, practice, training and further research.

<p>The aim of this study was to investigate how a workplace should be formed to promote health according to the employees. The study was made in IKEA handla hemma in Älmhult, Sweden. The aim of the study was to find out why people experience health at their workplace environment, from a salutogenetic point of view. The study is based on 12 strategically selected interviews and where analysed according to Grounded Theory. This resulted in a model where the core category was “The prevailing spirit of the organisation” and the five main categories was “That the organisation creates favourable conditions to promote health”, “That there is a god atmosphere amongst the colleagues and the bosses”, “The personal point of view about health”, “The relationship to goals and responsibility” and “The personal point of view about their surroundings”. The result shows that it’s important to look upon health in its entirety. Health isn’t stronger than its weakest point. The findings should work as a guide in the on going work with the employees at IKEA handla hemma. For the future it would be interesting to do a study in a workplace with worse health and then compare them with each other.</p>

The aim of this study was to investigate how a workplace should be formed to promote health according to the employees. The study was made in IKEA handla hemma in Älmhult, Sweden. The aim of the study was to find out why people experience health at their workplace environment, from a salutogenetic point of view. The study is based on 12 strategically selected interviews and where analysed according to Grounded Theory. This resulted in a model where the core category was “The prevailing spirit of the organisation” and the five main categories was “That the organisation creates favourable conditions to promote health”, “That there is a god atmosphere amongst the colleagues and the bosses”, “The personal point of view about health”, “The relationship to goals and responsibility” and “The personal point of view about their surroundings”. The result shows that it’s important to look upon health in its entirety. Health isn’t stronger than its weakest point. The findings should work as a guide in the on going work with the employees at IKEA handla hemma. For the future it would be interesting to do a study in a workplace with worse health and then compare them with each other.

The purpose of this cross-sectional, descriptive, correlational study was to describe the relationships among demographic factors (age, gender, education, income), perceived severity of illness, perceived barriers to action, perceived self-efficacy, and interpersonal influences (social support) and health-promoting behaviors (HPB) and to identify predictors of HPB. A nonprobability sample of 110 participants with Chronic Renal Failure (CRF) was recruited from the outpatient clinic of Burirum hospital and Surin hospital located in north-eastern Thailand. All participants were individually interviewed by the principal investigator in a private area within an outpatient clinic. Six variables were significantly correlated with the HPB. They were age, education, perceived severity of illness, perceived barriers to action, perceived self-efficacy and social support. According to the results from the analyses of demographic data and HPB, participants who were younger and had higher educational levels practiced more HPB. From the analyses of perceived severity of illness, perceived barriers to action, perceived self-efficacy, and social support and HPB, the results showed that participants with lower levels of perceived severity of illness and lower levels of perceived barriers to action reported better HPB. In contrast, the participants with higher levels of perceived self-efficacy and social support reported better HPB. By using a stepwise multiple regression analysis, two predictors were identified from 8 predictor variables, and those two accounted for 78.2% (p < 0.01) of the variance in HPB. Two variables that contributed significantly to the variance in the HPB were perceived self-efficacy ([beta] =.769, p < 0.01), and social support ([beta] = .162, p < 0.01); whereas age, gender, income, educational level, perceived severity of illness, and perceived barriers did not contribute to the variance in the HPB. The study found that participants who experienced better perceived self-efficacy and social support reported better HPB. In contrast age, gender, income, educational level, perceived severity of illness, and perceived barriers did not enter as predictors in this stepwise regression equation. / text

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There is a developing international understanding of the relationship between gender, wellbeing and educational outcomes. Wellbeing influences students’ abilities to learn and emotional wellbeing is fundamental to children’s learning and ability to develop positive relationships with others. Research has found that those who have emotional competencies and skills find it easier to manage themselves, relate to others, resolve conflict, and feel positive about themselves and the world around them (CASEL, 2003; Greatz, 2008). Boys’ emotional wellbeing has been a particular focus of the discussion because of their lack of engagement at school and increasing levels of violence and bullying. This qualitative study investigated the factors that influenced the emotional wellbeing of a group of 12 year old boys in their final year of primary school. This age group was the focus of this research as it is a transitional age in relation to puberty and secondary school. The study involved one adult listening to, and making meaning from eight young boys’ perceptions of their world during a semi-structured interview with two focus groups. Analysing the data involved the qualitative strategy of thematic analysis where themes and categories were identified and then further analysed for corresponding linkages and relationships. The findings identified a multifaceted range of factors that influenced boys’ emotional wellbeing. Family, friendships, school and the wider community were all specifically identified as enhancing or harming emotional wellbeing. Strongly underpinning all of the factors was the influence of normalised gendered behaviours within different social contexts that enforced conformity towards a hegemonic form of masculinity. Boys’ failure to follow the ‘rules’ assigned to a social groupings hegemonic form of masculinity, ran the risk for them of being relegated to a lower rank, being unable to manage or express emotions, being excluded, or becoming the victim of bullying. The research concluded that boys need support in developing a wide range of personal and interpersonal skills and strategies to enhance emotional wellbeing. Underpinning the development of these skills however, is the need for a safe and supportive home, peer group and school environment where students can be empowered to think critically and deconstruct the way in which gender norms influence social interaction and behaviour. Peers, teachers, schools, families and the wider community working in synergy are crucial to developing an approach that addresses and enhances emotional wellbeing.

Aims: The overall aims were to study depressive symptoms among mothers and fathers in early parenthood and how depressive symptoms are related to dyadic consensus (DCS), sense of coherence (SOC), perceiving of the child temperament, separation within the couple and bonding to the infant. Methods: Study I-III was based on the BiT-study, a longitudinal project where 393 couples answered 3 questionnaires including instruments measuring DCS at one week after childbirth, depressive symptoms at 3 months and parental stress at 18 months after childbirth. Study IV was based on the UPPSAT-study, a population based cohort project, where 727 couples answered questionnaires measuring depressive symptoms at 6 weeks and 6 months after childbirth, and impaired bonding at 6 months after childbirth. Results: In the BiT-study, 17.7% of the mothers and 8.7% of the fathers scored depressive symptoms at 3 months after childbirth, using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) cut-off of ≥10. There was an association between depressive symptoms and less consensus (DCS), and the parents partly differed regarding which areas of their relationship they perceived that they disagreed about. Parents with depressive symptoms had a poorer SOC and perceived their child as more difficult than parents without depressive symptoms. Among the couples, 20% were separated 6-8 years after childbirth. Separation was associated with less dyadic consensus, more depressive symptoms and parental stress. In the UPPSAT-study, 15.3% of the mothers and 5.1% of the fathers scored depressive symptoms 6 weeks after childbirth, using the EPDS cut-off of ≥10. Further, there was an association between impaired bonding at 6 months and the parents’ depressive symptoms, as well as experience of deteriorated relationship with the spouse. Conclusions and clinical implications: Health professionals need the knowledge that depressive symptoms are common in both mother and fathers in early parenthood. It is also important to understand how depressive symptoms are associated to dyadic consensus, SOC, separation and impaired bonding in order to optimize conditions for the whole family. This knowledge is also important for the public, so those who are pregnant and new parents as well as the society are aware that there might be problems in early parenthood as depressive symptoms.