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SL��N 2007 was the third national Survey of Lifestyle, Attitudes and Nutrition (SL��N) in Ireland and followed previous surveys in 1998 and 2002. The 2007 survey was conducted through faceto-face interviews in the homes of 10,364 randomly selected adults, aged 18 years and older. There was a 62% response rate. The overall findings are contained in the SL��N 2007: Main Report (Morgan et al, 2008) and a number of sub-reports on specific aspects (e.g. diet and nutrition, mental health and social well-being, alcohol, injuries, Northern Ireland comparisons) are also available or forthcoming (see www.slan07.ie). As part of the SL��N 2007 survey, respondents were asked about previous and current smoking behaviour, attempts to quit (current smokers only) and rules regarding smoking in the home. A ���current smoker��� was defined as smoking ���every day��� or ���some days���, and ���having smoked at least 100 cigarettes during my lifetime���. ���Former smokers��� were current non-smokers who had smoked at least 100 cigarettes in the past. Findings are analysed and presented here by gender, age, social class and occupation where differences within these categories are significant and important. Results comparing SL��N 2007 with SL��N 1998 and 2002 ��� and with the HBSC 2006 Survey of school-aged children ��� are highlighted where comparisons are possible.

Background In Japan, few community-based approaches have been adopted in health-care professional education, and the appropriate content for such approaches has not been clarified. In establishing community-based education for health-care professionals, clarification of its learning effects is required. A community-based educational program was started in 2009 in the health sciences course at Gunma University, and one of the main elements in this program is conducting classes outside school. The purpose of this study was to investigate using text-analysis methods how the off-campus program affects students. Methods In all, 116 self-assessment worksheets submitted by students after participating in the off-campus classes were decomposed into words. The extracted words were carefully selected from the perspective of contained meaning or content. With the selected terms, the relations to each word were analyzed by means of cluster analysis. Results Cluster analysis was used to select and divide 32 extracted words into four clusters: cluster 1—“actually/direct,” “learn/watch/hear,” “how,” “experience/participation,” “local residents,” “atmosphere in community-based clinical care settings,” “favorable,” “communication/conversation,” and “study”; cluster 2—“work of staff member” and “role”; cluster 3—“interaction/communication,” “understanding,” “feel,” “significant/important/necessity,” and “think”; and cluster 4—“community,” “confusing,” “enjoyable,” “proactive,” “knowledge,” “academic knowledge,” and “class.” Conclusions The students who participated in the program achieved different types of learning through the off-campus classes. They also had a positive impression of the community-based experience and interaction with the local residents, which is considered a favorable outcome. Off-campus programs could be a useful educational approach for students in health sciences.

This study reports on the evaluation of Zippy's Friends, an international emotional wellbeing programme for children in primary school. The purpose of this study was to (i) assess the immediate and long term impact of the programme on the pupils' emotional and behavioural wellbeing and coping skills and (ii) examine the process of implementation and the relationship between this process and the programme's outcomes. The study employed a cluster randomised controlled design with data collected from pupils and teachers before, during and after the implementation of the programme. A total of 766 pupils and 52 teachers from 44 disadvantaged schools were randomly assigned to intervention and control groups. The evaluation was comprised of a range of structured questionnaires and qualitative methods. The results from this study indicate that the programme was successfully implemented in disadvantaged primary schools in Ireland and that it had a significant positive impact on the children's emotional literacy, hyperactivity and coping skills. The improvements in the intervention group's emotional literacy scores were maintained at 12 months follow-up. The programme did not have an impact on children's conduct problems and prosocial behaviour. Children in the control group, however, evidenced a reduction in their conduct problems between pre- and post-intervention. Results from the process evaluation indicate that the programme was well received by both teachers and children. Findings from the teachers' weekly questionnaires and structured observations confirm that the intervention was implemented with high fidelity and that the quality of programme delivery was also high. Analysis of programme fidelity further revealed that the intervention had a greater impact when implemented with high fidelity. The structured nature of the programme, the suitability of the content for the children, the engaging activities and the teacher training were cited as factors that facilitated programme implementation. Key recommendations regarding the role out and sustainability of Zippy's Friends in Ireland include the need for a whole school approach and as part of this, the need for active parental involvement with the programme. Overall, the findings from this study are in keeping with a broader base of international evidence on the benefits of emotional wellbeing programmes for children's social and emotional functioning. Furthermore, the results from the process of implementation assist in helping to understand how an evidence-based programme is implemented in the Irish setting and the factors that affect quality of implementation.

The focus of the PROMO project (Best Practice in Promoting Mental Health in Socially Marginalised People in Europe) is on the delivery of health and social care for people with mental health problems in 14 EU member states who belong to one of the six following groups: (1) long-term unemployed; (2) homeless; (3) prostitutes/sex workers; (4) asylum seekers/refugees; (5) illegal immigrants; (6) travellers. The project reviews legislation and policies, and ¿ focussing on major cities - assesses systems of health and social services for the people concerned. non-peer-reviewed

The Discipline of Health Promotion at the National University of Ireland, Galway delivers a Postgraduate Diploma and Master¿s course in Health Promotion. While a core Research Methods module incorporates some teaching of evaluation research in health promotion, a need was identified for the further development of this component into a stand alone module. The main aim of this new module is to provide students with a greater understanding of the relationship between the evidence-base and research practice of evaluation in health promotion. A primary objective was to progress from the theoretical aspects of evaluation to incorporate evaluation research practice into delivery of the module. non-peer-reviewed

This report presents the main findings on the evaluation of the Zippy's Friends emotional wellbeing programme in Irish primary schools. The Zippy's Friends programme is designed to promote the emotional wellbeing of children aged five to eight years of age by increasing their repertoire of coping skills and by stimulating varied and flexible ways of coping with problems of day-to-day life. The programme is based around a set of six illustrated stories about a group of children, their families, friends and an imaginary stick insect called Zippy. Comprised of six modules, the programme addresses the following themes: feelings, communication, making and breaking relationships, conflict resolution, dealing with change and loss, and general coping skills. Structured into sessions, the programme is supported by a teacher's manual and an attractive set of teaching materials, which are designed to actively engage the children in a range of child-centered activities. Teachers participate in a structured training programme before implementing the programme in class. non-peer-reviewed

In 2005 an action plan for educational inclusion, Delivery Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) was launched in Ireland to ensure the educational needs of children and adolescents from disadvantaged communities are prioritised and effectively addressed. One of the core elements comprise a new integrated School Support Programme (SSP) that will bring together, and build upon, existing interventions for schools and school communities with a concentrated level of educational disadvantage. The School Meals programme is an existing scheme that will continue to provide funding towards provision of food services for disadvantaged schoolchildren. To investigate the dietary habits and related food behaviours of children attending schools that receive support under the SSP, data from the 2006 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey was examined. The overall aim of the HBSC survey is to gain insight into and improve the understanding of the health behaviour and well-being of children and adolescents. HBSC is a school-based survey with data collected through self-completion questionnaires administered in the classroom. HBSC Ireland collected data in 2006 from children aged 9‐18 years in primary and post-primary schools (n 10 334). Ethical approval was granted for the study and consent was obtained from schools, parents and children. Schools that took part in the 2006 HBSC survey were checked against the SSP list provided by the Department of Education and Science (1) , resulting in twenty-eight primary and twenty-four post-primary schools. These schools were then matched with schools from the general HBSC sample according to school size, type (e.g. community school) and location (urban or rural). Diet and related lifestyle variables were analysed and compared using c 2 tests.

In the 32 western countries that participated in the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC-2002) survey conducted in schools by means of an anonymous self-administered questionnaire among 45,848 schoolchildren, about 20% of 15-year-olds declared that they had already used cannabis, which is consequently the third most frequently consumed psychoactive substance after alcohol and tobacco. Boys are heavier consumers than girls in every country. France is one of the ten countries with the highest cannabis use rates among 15-year-olds (29.8%). The majority of users surveyed belonged to groups of experimental use (once or twice during the previous year: 7.9% of children) or moderate use (3-39 times: 7.3%); these groups were less frequently represented in Eastern, Northern and Southern Europe, in favour of "discontinuation" (have tried cannabis, but no cannabis use during the previous year). Frequent use is rarer (2.7%). After adjustment for economic level and age, being a boy, smoking tobacco (especially frequently), drinking alcohol (especially frequently) and having been drunk (especially more than twice) significantly and independently increased the probability of having smoked cannabis at least once during the subject's life. Finally, a correlation was observed between daily tobacco and alcohol consumption, frequent drunkenness and passage from experimental use to more frequent use. Psychoactive substance use is therefore rarely isolated among young people, and certain subgroups appear to be at greater risk and therefore warrant further research and prevention. peer-reviewed

Substance misuse by healthcare professionals raises many concerns, including the threat to patient care. This review summarizes the recent literature concerning misuse by doctors (physicians), nurses, dentists, undergraduates and other healthcare workers. Self-medication is common among doctors. Specific specialities are noted to be at higher risk, including emergency medicine, psychiatry, anaesthetics, and nurses in high stress specialities. Most studies are descriptive cross-sectional prevalence studies of self-reported substance use. Dedicated treatment programmes are reviewed, including specific treatment services for addicted professionals created at national, regional and local levels. A recognition of the risk of substance misuse should be explicitly included early in the training of healthcare workers. Specialist treatment programmes should be holistic in approach, and should not concentrate solely on substance misuse issues but include the treatment of depression, anxiety, sexual disorders and adjustment disorders. peer-reviewed

This paper describes the needs assessment phase of a mental health promotion programme for rural communities in Ireland. As part of a larger study encompassing four rural communities, a cross-sectional study of the mental health beliefs and perceptions of 1014 people was carried out. Employing a combination of interviewer-administered questionnaire and the vignette method, the needs assessment explores the levels of awareness, current practices, attitudes and stigma concerning depression and suicide among a randomly selected quota sample of community members. Lower levels of awareness, less confidence in dealing with mental health issues, negative attitudes to help-seeking and social stigma emerge as particular issues for men and the under 40 age group. Women were found to have more positive attitudes generally, were more likely to use informal social support networks and were more open about discussing mental health matters. The predominant interpretation of the depression vignette was to view it as a mental health problem with good prospects for recovery given appropriate help. Social relationships, negative thinking patterns and social stresses were perceived as being particularly important in explaining the origins of depression. The implications of the findings for planning the intervention phase of the project are considered. peer-reviewed