Success for pacific learners : the impact of tertiary education strategies

This project examined the impact of the 3 successive tertiary education strategies (2002-2007; 2007-2012 and 2010-2015) on how tertiary education institutions have developed their support for Pacific learners. Findings show that the Pasifika objectives within each of the 3 strategies are considered to be an important signal to Tertiary Education Institutions (TEIs) that success for Pasifika learners is a significant and continuing government priority and that the strategies are seen as an important enabler of change. These objectives have raised the priority for action to support Pasifika learners, unlocked resources for Pasifika initiatives and promoted the inclusion of Pasifika priorities on the strategic agendas of TEIs. It was noted however, this influence is only one of a number of internal and external, and local and national influences on enhancing success for Pasifika learners

Children’s learning from a Smokefree sports programme: implications for health education

Objective: This article reports on a qualitative evaluation of the Love Life, Smokefree Sports primary school pilot intervention. This 8-week programme used sports and physical activity sessions to convey Smokefree messages to 120 children aged 10 and 11 in two primary schools in Sheffield in 2018. The study aimed to understand children’s experiences of participating in the programme. Its objectives were to explore children’s recall of the health promotion messages associated with each of the learning sessions; explore children’s perceptions of the meaningfulness of those messages in the context of their everyday lives; and identify and understand any contextual factors that might impact upon children’s recall and/or the meaningfulness of the Smokefree messages. Method: Qualitative data were generated with 25 children through focus groups after the programme concluded. Data were analysed thematically using cross-sectional, categorical indexing. Results: Learning from the programme was particularly likely to be described as meaningful by children when they could interact with material and visual representations of complex ideas and when sessions involved strongly embodied experiences. However, children did not always find it easy to relate learning to their everyday lives and sometimes struggled to reconcile pre-existing, contextualised understandings with intervention messages. We mobilise the concept of critical health literacy as a theoretical lens through which to interpret these findings. Conclusion: Health education should be meaningful in the context of children’s everyday lives. Starting from the premise that children are active critical health literacy practitioners and working with them to design and evaluate health education initiatives can promote this

Promoting the health of children and young people who migrate: reflections from four regional reviews

Calls to enhance the health of migrant population sub-groups are strengthening, with increasing evidence documenting the relationship between migration and health outcomes. Despite the importance of migration to global health promotion, little research has focused on the health experiences of young migrants. As part of a Worldwide University Network project, we completed four systematic reviews examining the existing evidence base on the health experiences of children and young people who migrate. In this commentary, we share commonalities with the international evidence but also reflect on some of the challenges, omissions and limitations. These insights expose significant gaps and methodological shortcomings in the evidence – providing space for new research that seeks to identify the influences on migrant children’s health

Young people’s perspectives of e-cigarette use in the home

There is concern that the emergence of e-cigarettes could result in an increase in young people's intake of, and exposure to, nicotine. This UK study used friendship group interviews to elicit the perspectives of young people from socioeconomically contrasting backgrounds regarding e-cigarettes. Young people from both advantaged and disadvantaged backgrounds described similar e-cigarette practices in the home environment, and, for both health and sensory reasons, viewed these as preferable to tobacco smoking. Space-related practices of adult e-cigarette use in the home were revealed to be more malleable than those of tobacco use. Results also highlighted that e-cigarettes offered young people new opportunities for nicotine consumption in the home. Methods of storing e-cigarettes in domestic spaces posed safety risks to younger children and easy access to e-cigarettes for others

Making health information meaningful: Children's health literacy practices

Children's health and wellbeing is high on the research and policy agenda of many nations. There is a wealth of epidemiological research linking childhood circumstances and health practices with adult health. However, echoing a broader picture within child health research where children have typically been viewed as objects rather than subjects of enquiry, we know very little of how, in their everyday lives, children make sense of health-relevant information.This paper reports key findings from a qualitative study exploring how children understand food in everyday life and their ideas about the relationship between food and health. 53 children aged 9-10, attending two socio-economically contrasting schools in Northern England, participated during 2010 and 2011. Data were generated in schools through interviews and debates in small friendship groups and in the home through individual interviews. Data were analysed thematically using cross-sectional, categorical indexing.Moving beyond a focus on what children know the paper mobilises the concept of health literacy (Nutbeam, 2000), explored very little in relation to children, to conceptualise how children actively construct meaning from health information through their own embodied experiences. It draws on insights from the Social Studies of Childhood (James and Prout, 2015), which emphasise children's active participation in their everyday lives as well as New Literacy Studies (Pahl and Rowsell, 2012), which focus on literacy as a social practice. Recognising children as active health literacy practitioners has important implications for policy and practice geared towards improving child health. Keywords: Children, Health literacy, Qualitative, U

Trends in the psychosocial characteristics of 11-15-year-olds who still drink, smoke, take drugs and engage in poly-substance use in England.

INTRODUCTION AND AIMS: Youth substance use is declining in many high-income countries. As adolescent substance use becomes less common, it may concentrate in higher-risk groups. This paper aims to examine how the psychosocial characteristics of young substance users in England have changed over time. DESIGN AND METHODS: Annual cross-sectional data from the 2001-2014 Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use Among Young People in England survey are analysed (n = 112 792, age: 11-15). Logistic and Poisson regression analyses are used to test whether the sex, socioeconomic status (SES) and prevalence of truancy and exclusion from school of those who drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes, take cannabis, take other drugs and engage in poly-substance use changed across the study period. RESULTS: Use of all substances decreased and there were shifts in the psychosocial characteristics of young smokers, illicit drug users and poly-substance users. The proportion of current smokers and ever-users of cannabis of low SES and who had been excluded increased significantly between 2001/2003-2014. The proportion of last month drug users who had been excluded from school also increased significantly and there were increases in the proportion of polysubstance-users who had truanted and been excluded. The proportion of low SES alcohol users who had been excluded also increased significantly, but this change was very small. There was no evidence of substance use becoming more or less concentrated in one gender. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: There is some evidence that smoking, illicit drug use and poly-substance use are becoming more concentrated in potentially at risk populations. There is limited evidence of concentration amongst young drinkers

Everyday Family Food Practices

This chapter considers the debates around childhood obesity and focuses on UK public health campaigns, such as Change4Life, aimed at children and their parents. It aims to broaden the childhood obesity debate commonly discussed in the UK public health literature by using Childhood Studies to critique everyday assumptions that seem to be made about children in public health policy. The chapter consider views and perspectives of children, thereby challenging assumptions that children are ‘passive vessels’ to be filled, suggesting instead that children play an active part in everyday family feeding practices. The family as a context for the negotiation of everyday food practices is explored and the dichotomous relationship of parent and child considered. Reflections are also offered on the fluidity and complexity of family structures and the importance that food plays within the context of everyday family life and how food provisioning impacts on intergenerational relationships within the family. The chapter finishes by exploring perceptions of ‘proper’ or ‘real’ food and its perceived importance for children. While the health literature assumes that children are simply recipients of parental feeding, this chapter highlights research that shows that children also construct their own understandings about the healthiness of food and that they are active participants in negotiating family food practices. Through exploring studies situated within contemporary childhood and families research, the chapter affords a much more nuanced picture of everyday family food practices and children’s roles in those practices than is often presented in childhood obesity discourses