Background Road injury is the leading cause of death for young people aged 5-29 years worldwide. As the human factor has been shown to be responsible for more than 3/4 of road incidents, changing safety attitudes and driving behaviours among youth is crucial to combat this public health issue. The current study is part of a project implemented by the Laboratory of Health and Road Safety (LaHeRS), in collaboration with the Lead Authorities of Primary and Secondary Education of Crete and with the financial support of the Region of Crete. The project started in 2019 and aims at promoting a road safety culture among school teachers of primary and secondary education in Crete Region through improving their competence in designing and implementing road safety education in class. Methods The program consists of three phases: a) 20 hours face-to-face training (e.g. needs assessment techniques, teaching approaches and techniques addressing risky driving, evaluation methods, practical training using the advanced technology of the driving simulator of LaHeRS Lab <<Virage VS500M >> etc), b) 30 hours distant learning using an online training program and appropriately designed training handbooks to support personalized training and, c) small-scale pilot projects of road safety education in classrooms, upon the scientific guidance and supervision of the LaHeRS research staff. For the purposes of the evaluation a questionnaire was completed to detect changes in teachers' competence to design and implement road safety education as well as their knowledge and attitudes (e.g. DSI, DBQ questionnaires) towards road safety. Results A total of 160 teachers participated in the 2019-2020 training programme, including 129 women, 109 primary and 51 secondary education teachers with a mean age of 43.4 years and a mean teaching experience of 16.5 years. The programme met high acceptability and raised significant teachers' confidence in delivering road safety education. Key messages The project proved to be efficient in addressing the pedagogical gaps in road safety education. Road safety education should be part of health promotion initiatives targeting children and adolescents.

The study aimed at testing the effectiveness of a mixed-method pilot intervention in reducing risky self-reported driving performance, upon addressing stress and aggression while driving. The study recruited individuals who had performed these behaviors during the year preceding the study and allocated them into an intervention (n = 10) and a control group (n = 30). A pre-and postintervention evaluation design was employed to explore changes in risky self-reported driving behaviors, 12 months after the intervention. The intervention involved 2 h of experiential instruction and 1 h of cognitive restructuring using a driving simulator and scenarios appropriate for the processing of driving stress, aggression, and risk. The intervention group displayed significant improvements in the scales of “Hazard Monitoring” (p = 0.037) and “Covered Violations” (p = 0.049) at the postintervention level. No statistically significant differences were identified in terms of self-reported driving performance between the intervention and the control group at postintervention level. Launching large-scale experimental surveys with broadened cognitive restructuring approaches seems important to deepen our understanding of the behavioral change processes and increase the effectiveness of future interventions.

Introduction: The financial crisis of the last decade has increased the number of people living in extreme poverty in Greece. Despite this fact, little evidence exists on their profile and psychosocial needs. Method: The current study explored the socioeconomic circumstances and psychosocial profile of 798 people confronted with severe poverty. This article further reports on brief interventions introduced at individual-, group-, and community level to address the psychosocial burden of these people. Results: A huge health and mental health burden was found among the participants. People also experienced long periods of unemployment, bad housing and living conditions, and absence of a supportive social/family network. Brief interventions increased people’s self-awareness, self-expression, and self-esteem and improved their problem-solving and coping skills. Conclusions: Integrated and family-focused care seems necessary. Mapping the biopsychosocial needs of these people is important for health care and social welfare planning.

Background The financial crisis of the last decade has increased the number of people living in extreme poverty in Greece. Until today, there is no research evidence on the bio-psycho-social needs of the population. The current study, among other, aimed at investigating the living and working conditions, the health and mental health status of these people and produced recommendations for health care policy and planning. Methods A cross-sectional study was carried out in Crete Region with adult beneficiaries of material support benefits (according to income-related criteria). The study was part of the program FAED, which was co-funded by the EU and offered material support (e.g. food, material for personal hygiene, etc. to more than 17.000 beneficiaries in Crete region within 2016-2017. A structured questionnaire extracted information on various aspects including, working, housing and living conditions, health and mental health status. Results 798 individuals (46.5% male; 43.3 years) consented to participate and completed the questionnaire. Mean time of unemployment was 4.2 years. 26.8% was accommodated by relatives, 23.5% rented a house and 18% lacked heating. Nearly half of the participants reported a chronic disease (47.0%), 24.1% reported disability certified by health authorities. 4.9% had severe alcohol-related problems, 50.6% had mild to severe depression symptoms and 40.3% mild to severe symptoms of anxiety disorder. 12.0% totally lacked a support network for daily practical and emotional issues. Conclusions Personal psychosocial needs seem to have been neglected because of complex family needs. Socioeconomic deprivation seems to have exacerbated chronic disease management due to neglect of health care needs. A huge burden of mental diseases is evident necessitating community mental health care. Key messages Mapping of bio-psychosocial needs is important for social policy and health care planning. Integrated care is necessary to meet the complex needs of people living in extreme poverty.