No abstract

Smoking prevalence among female adolescents in South Korea has increased gradually, despite a decreasing trend seen for male adolescents. Smoking scenes or cigarette advertisements in the media have influenced female adolescents’ initiation into smoking. It is therefore crucial to develop a smoking prevention program to enhance female adolescents’ smoking media literacy by implementing gender-specific interventions. The purpose of this study is to describe how intervention mapping protocol (IMP) was used to develop a media literacy-based smoking prevention program (MLSP) for female adolescents. The IMP was used in six steps: needs assessment (literature review and focus groups comprising 24 female adolescents and 12 teachers), program goal setting, selection of intervention methods, production of program components and materials, program implementation planning, and program evaluation by ten experts and three adolescents. Six performance objectives and 14 change objectives were generated. Each module consisted of theory-based methods such as raising consciousness. Half of the modules covered topics regarding smoking media literacy, while half covered topics related to gender-specific intervention. The major advantages of utilizing IMP are that MLSP has been developed to reflect multiple perspectives, including of adolescents, teachers, and professors through a systematic process, and identified to be acceptable and valid.

Encouraged by the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, Korea has implemented a nationwide School-based Smoking Prevention Program (SSPP) to reduce the prevalence of youth smoking. This qualitative study explored the school contexts of launching the SSPP in Seoul, Korea. Five focus groups were studied with 29 lead teachers in charge of the SSPP. Thematic analysis reveals three key findings. First, while infrastructure was insufficiently prepared due to the abrupt implementation, lead teachers agreed on the purpose of the SSPP. However, they perceived the program as myopic in only targeting smoking students and spending the mandatory budgets as a burdensome task. Second, the SSPP increased experience-based activities, influenced smoking family members, and created a smoke-free school environment. Third, to ensure more effective implementation, school principals should support inducing staff engagement. The teachers also maintained that the SSPP must be institutionalized as part of regular curricula with standardized books. For a more meaningful impact, the SSPP needs instructors and counselors to support smoking cessation programs that reflect school contexts. The teachers urged tobacco prevention measures at community, policy, and society levels. This study provides insights into a nationwide approach to initiating school-based smoking prevention program to achieve a tobacco-free generation.

Competencies of school health staff (SHS) members, including school nurses, are crucial to improving child and adolescent health. In Vietnam, although SHS members are dispatched to schools, they have limited training opportunities. This study identified SHS members’ training needs in a province of Vietnam. A cross-sectional, online survey was conducted with 204 SHS members. The performance and importance of SHS members’ competencies were measured using 59-items and rated by a 5-point Likert scale. SHS members’ training priorities were analyzed using the Borich Needs Assessment and the Locus for Focus model. Controlling infectious disease was the highest training priority while implementing health promotion programs was of relatively low priority. The high-priority training needs identified could be rendered mandatory in policy for continuing education of SHS members. Awareness of the importance of health promotion, which has been emphasized globally, should also be promoted via school health policy. These findings could guide development of future training programs for SHS members.

BACKGROUND Social networking services (SNSs) are recognized to be a promising approach to easily deliver health interventions and to enhance social support for exercise adherence. However, the patterns and aspects of social support through SNSs have not been reported and their influence on other social cognitive factors remain inconclusive. OBJECTIVE To explore how social support delivered through SNSs impacted interactions among KC middle-aged women and identify how this approach influenced social-cognitive factors for exercise (e.g., sense of community, self-efficacy for exercise, social support for exercise). METHODS A mixed-methods design was used. SNS Messages(n=259) were collected from 4 chat groups of 24 KC women who participated in a 12-week walking intervention program between August and October 2018. Text analysis of the messages and text mining using KoALA software were conducted. Social-cognitive factors (e.g., sense of community, self-efficacy for exercise, social support for exercise) were assessed at baseline and after 12 weeks using a structured questionnaire. A comparison of social-cognitive factors at baseline and 12 weeks was conducted to identify any potential significant changes using the Wilcoxon signed rank test. RESULTS The individual average frequency of chatting via SNSs was 10.79 (Range: 0-34) and the most frequent type of social support through SNSs was network support (66.4%). The most common words extracted from the SNS were “Health,” “Exercise,” “Participation,” and “We.” Overall, the perceived levels of sense of community (P<.001) and social support for exercise (P=.002) were significantly increased at 12 weeks compared with baseline. Groups 1(P=.03) and 4(P=.03), who demonstrated the highest frequency of network support only experienced a significant increase in the level of sense of community. CONCLUSIONS By integrating these data and conducting a mixed method analysis, we observed that among the types of social support, network support was a key point for the promotion of social-cognitive factors increasing exercise adherence. Therefore, network support through group-based SNSs should be considered as a useful strategy to help vulnerable migrant populations make changes to exercise behaviors.