Individual, social and national coping resources and their relationships with mental health and anxiety : A comparative study in Israel, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands during the Coronavirus pandemic

Employing the salutogenic model, we asked how individuals in different countries cope with the COVID-19 crisis and stay healthy. We were interested in exploring the individual (i.e. sense of coherence) as well as the social and national resources (i.e. social support, sense of national coherence, and trust in governmental institutions) that could explain levels of mental health and anxiety during the outbreak of the pandemic. Data collection was conducted via convenience sampling on online platforms, during the end of March and the beginning of April 2020. The data included four samples: 640 Israeli participants (319 males), 622 Dutch participants (177 males), 924 Italian participants (338 males) and 489 Spanish participants (117 males); age range of 18–88 years. The questionnaires included standard tools (MHC-SF, GAD-7, SOC, SONC). Several questions were adapted to the context of coronavirus and measured levels of exposure to COVID-19, trust in governmental institutions, and social support. The results significantly confirmed the suggested salutogenic model regarding the contribution to individual and national coping resources to anxiety levels and mental health. The patterns of the coping resources in explaining anxiety and mental health were similar in the four samples, and SOC was the main predictor these outcomes. Despite these similarities, a different pattern and also different magnitudes of the predictive value of the coping resources were found for the two different reactions: anxiety vs. mental health. While SOC and situational factors (like financial threat) were significant in explaining anxiety levels, the SOC and national resources were found as significant in explaining mental health levels. The findings support the salutogenic approach in studying reactions during pandemic time. They also shed some light on the difference between pathogenic and salutogenic measures in studying psychological reactions to stressful situations.</p

Health professionals\u27 and dietetics practitioners\u27 perceived effectiveness of fruit and vegetable parenting practices across six countries

Fruit and vegetable intake may reduce the risk of some chronic diseases. However, many children consume less-than-recommended amounts of fruit and vegetables. Because health professionals and dietetics practitioners often work with parents to increase children\u27s fruit and vegetable intake, assessing their opinions about the effectiveness of parenting practices is an important step in understanding how to promote fruit and vegetable intake among preschool-aged children. Using a cross-sectional design, collaborators from six countries distributed an Internet survey to health and nutrition organization members. A self-selected sample reported their perceptions of the effectiveness of 39 parenting practices intended to promote fruit and vegetable consumption in preschool-aged children from May 18, 2008, to September 16, 2008. A total of 889 participants (55% United States, 22.6% Mexico, 10.9% Australia, 4.4% Spain, 3.3% Chile, 2.2% United Kingdom, and 1.6% other countries) completed the survey. The fruit and vegetable intake&ndash;related parenting practices items were categorized into three dimensions (structure, responsiveness, and control) based on a parenting theory conceptual framework and dichotomized as effective/ineffective based on professional perceptions. The theoretically derived factor structures for effective and ineffective parenting practices were evaluated using separate confirmatory factor analyses and demonstrated acceptable fit. Fruit and vegetable intake&ndash;related parenting practices that provide external control were perceived as ineffective or counterproductive, whereas fruit and vegetable intake&ndash;related parenting practices that provided structure, nondirective control, and were responsive were perceived as effective in getting preschool-aged children to consume fruit and vegetables. Future research needs to develop and validate a parent-reported measure of these fruit and vegetable intake&ndash;related parenting practices and to empirically evaluate the effect of parental use of the parenting practices on child fruit and vegetable consumption.<br /

Salutogenesis Post-Graduate Education: Experience From the European Perspective on the ETC-PHHP Health Promotion Summer Schools (1991–2020)

In this chapter, the authors, representing The Netherlands, Spain, Germany, Italy, Norway, the United Kingdom and Poland, trace the development of higher education in salutogenesis in Europe, spanning 30 years. At this time, the annual summer schools of the European Training Consortium in Public Health and Health Promotion (ETC-PHHP) have trained more than 700 participants from 60 countries. Perhaps the most distinguished member of the summer school’s faculty – at least from the perspective of advancing salutogenesis as a theory for health promotion – is Aaron Antonovsky, who participated in the 1992 edition of the course in Gothenburg, Sweden

Salutogenesis Post-Graduate Education: Experience From the European Perspective on the ETC-PHHP Health Promotion Summer Schools (1991–2020)

In this chapter, the authors, representing The Netherlands, Spain, Germany, Italy, Norway, the United Kingdom and Poland, trace the development of higher education in salutogenesis in Europe, spanning 30 years. At this time, the annual summer schools of the European Training Consortium in Public Health and Health Promotion (ETC-PHHP) have trained more than 700 participants from 60 countries. Perhaps the most distinguished member of the summer school’s faculty – at least from the perspective of advancing salutogenesis as a theory for health promotion – is Aaron Antonovsky, who participated in the 1992 edition of the course in Gothenburg, Sweden