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Health promoting schools, as conceptualised by the World Health Organisation, have been developed in many countries to facilitate the health-education link. In 1994, the concept of health promoting schools was introduced in South Africa. In the process of becoming a health promoting school, it is important for schools to monitor and evaluate changes and developments taking place. The Health Promoting Schools (HPS) Monitoring Questionnaire was developed to obtain opinions of students about their school as a health promoting school. It comprises 138 questions in seven sections: sociodemographic information; General health promotion programmes; health related Skills and knowledge; Policies; Environment; Community-school links; and support Services. This paper reports on the reliability and face validity of the HPS Monitoring Questionnaire. Seven experts reviewed the questionnaire and agreed that it has satisfactory face validity. A test-retest reliability study was conducted with 83 students in three high schools in Cape Town, South Africa. The kappa-coefficients demonstrate mostly fair (j-scores between 0.21 and 0.4) to moderate (j-scores between 0.41 and 0.6) agreement between test-retest General and Environment items; poor (j-scores up to 0.2) agreement between Skills and Community test-retest items, fair agreement between Policies items, and for most of the questions focussing on Services a fair agreement was found. The study is a first effort at providing a tool that may be used to monitor and evaluate students' opinions about changes in health promoting schools. Although the HPS Monitoring Questionnaire has face validity, the results of the reliability testing were inconclusive. Further research is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leadership support has been identified as an essential component of successful workplace health promotion (WHP) programs. However, there is little research in this area and even less theoretical conceptualization on ways in which leadership support for WHP is related to improved employee wellbeing. In this paper, we developed and tested a model of leadership support for WHP and employee wellbeing outcomes using employer and employee data gathered from 71 South African organizations. A theoretical model based on social exchange theory was developed. It was hypothesized that perceptions of company commitment to health promotion mediates the relationship between leadership support, the provision of WHP facilities and employee wellbeing. A hierarchical structural equation modeling technique was used to test the model. We determined that leaders' support for WHP was important insofar as they also provided health promotion facilities to their employees. No direct relationship was found between leadership support alone and employee wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health promotion (HP) capacity of staff and institutions is critical for health-promoting programmes to address social determinants of health and effectively contribute to disease prevention. HP capacity mapping initiatives are the first step to identify gaps to guide capacity strengthening and inform resource allocation. In low-and-middle-income countries, there is limited evidence on HP capacity. We assessed collective and institutional capacity to prioritize, plan, deliver, monitor and evaluate HP within the South African Department of Health (DoH). A concurrent mixed methods study that drew on data collected using a participatory HP capacity assessment tool. We held five 1-day workshops (one national, two provincial and two districts) with DoH staff (n =  28). Participants completed self-assessments of collective capacity across three areas: technical, coordinating and systems capacity using a four-point Likert scale. HP capacity scores were analysed and presented as means with standard deviations (SDs). Thematic analysis of verbatim transcripts of audio-recorded group discussions that provided rationale and evidence for scores were conducted using deductive and inductive codes. At all levels, groups revealed that capacity to develop long-term, sustainable HP interventions was limited. We found limited collaboration between national and provincial HP levels. There was limited monitoring of HP indicators in the health information system. Coordination of HP efforts across different sectors was largely absent. Lack of capacity in budgeting emerged as a major challenge, with few resources available to conduct HP activities at any level. Overall, the capacity mean score was 2.08/4.00 (SD = 0.83). There is need to overcome institutional barriers, and strengthen capacity for HP implementation, support and evaluation within the South African DoH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diabetes, a serious disease resulting in significant morbidity and early mortality, is currently on the rise globally. A major contributor to this observed increase in low- and middle-income countries, such as South Africa, has been the observed change in diet at the population level—a shift from a traditional diet, to one consisting of more energy-dense, processed foods, with more added sugar, salt and fat. Implicated in this degradation of diet are changing local food environments. Participant-generated digital photographs and facilitated focus group discussion-style workshops were utilized to better understand diabetic community members' perspectives on their food environments in both an urban and rural setting in South Africa, and what (and how) aspects of these physical environments influence their food acquisition behaviours and diet. Qualitative data were analysed using a deductive thematic analysis approach. The resulting predominant themes of accessibility, availability and affordability are outlined and discussed. Findings from this study have implications beyond the self-management of diabetes and extend to the self-management and reduction of all diet-related non-communicable diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health promotion researchers are increasingly conducting Community-Based Participatory Research in an effort to reduce health disparities. Despite efforts towards greater inclusion, research teams continue to regularly exclude diverse representation from data analysis efforts. The DEPICT model for collaborative qualitative analysis is a democratic approach to enhancing rigour through inclusion of diverse stakeholders. It is broken down into six sequential steps. Strong leadership, coordination and facilitation skills are needed; however, the process is flexible enough to adapt to most environments and varying levels of expertise. Including diverse stakeholders on an analysis team can enrich data analysis and provide more nuanced understandings of complicated health problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]