This paper describes development, over a five-year period, of the Hunter Region Health Promoting Schools Project in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. The project implemented the principles and philosophy of the Health Promoting Schools concept and evaluated its effectiveness using a randomized controlled trial involving 22 public secondary schools. An overview of the preliminary intervention model based on the health promoting schools philosophy and trialed in a pilot study is provided. The authors also outline barriers to, and difficulties in, implementing the philosophically based intervention model in the secondary school setting. The current intervention approach, which evolved over five years, is described in relation to the roles played by project team members and school communities. In addition, the authors outline guiding principles arising from the new approach which facilitated adoption of health promotion strategies in secondary school settings.

Exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light from the sun or solaria is a major contributor to high rates of skin cancer. The study aimed to explore the intentions of active tan seekers in relation to the substitutional use of sunless tanning products. Participants were reluctant to reduce UV exposure in favour of using sunless tanning products, which were considered to be another tanning method rather than an avenue for reducing skin cancer risk. The 'sunless tan' approach is unlikely to reduce UV exposure in the majority of tan seekers, but may be valuable in targeting women with fairer skin.

Opportunities for evaluating experiential learning activities in tertiary public health education are growing. It has previously been shown that utilizing the “This is Public Health” (TIPH) sticker campaign as an experiential photo essay task led to increased understanding of public health. Emerging mobile technologies such as geocaching, which provide an opportunity to increase the experiential component of the TIPH photo essay task, have not been evaluated. This study aimed to determine whether adding geocaching to the TIPH photo essay task increased the efficacy of learning about public health, when compared with the TIPH photo essay task alone. A two-arm nonrandomized trial was conducted with 785 allied health and preprofessional teaching students studying first-year public health courses. Students were allocated to either the TIPH photo essay task ( n = 210) or the TIPH photo task plus geocaching ( n = 92) according to the course they were enrolled into. The primary outcome was the quality of the definition of public health provided by students, which was assessed using the Definition of Public Health Rating Scale. Data were analyzed using a linear mixed model. Of 302 (39%) students who consented to participate, 212 (70%) provided baseline and follow-up data. After adjusting for baseline demographic differences, the geocaching group had improved knowledge of public health at follow-up according to the Definition of Public Health Rating Scale (increasing 0.29 units more than the traditional group; p = .03). As this increase in knowledge score is unlikely to be of practical significance, the additional burden of implementing geocaching may not be justified.

Industry attempts to delay enforced regulation of solarium operators via committing to self-education are not likely to produce a substantial or a sustained increase in protection for solarium users.