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BACKGROUND: The goal of the current study was to evaluate the effects of the Social Emotional Learning program Skills 4 Life on mental health and its risk factors self‐esteem, self‐efficacy, and social interaction skills in students of secondary schools. METHODS: A cluster randomized controlled study was conducted, including 38 schools (66 classes; grades 7 to 9) for secondary education, with a 1 year and 20 months follow‐up (teachers and students reports). RESULTS: The intervention was effective in improving self‐efficacy, depressive symptoms, and teacher‐reported psychological problem behavior, all after 20 months. Stratified analyses showed effects in mainly lower educational level students. CONCLUSION: The Skills 4 Life curriculum is effective in improving the mental health and self‐efficacy among adolescents, especially for adolescents from lower educational level, a group that is most prone to ill mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To assess levels of self-efficacy for health-related behaviour change and its correlates in patients with TIA or ischemic stroke. Methods: In this prospective cohort study, 92 patients with TIA or ischemic stroke completed questionnaires on self-efficacy for health-related behaviour change and fear, social support and depressive symptoms. Relations between fear, social support, depressive symptoms, cognitive impairment, vascular risk factors and history and demographic characteristics and low-self-efficacy were studied with univariable and multivariable logistic regression. Results: Median total self-efficacy score at baseline was 4 (IQR 4-5). Older age (OR 1.05, 95% CI 1.01-1.09), depressive symptoms (OR 1.09, 95% CI 1.03-1.16), presence of vascular history (OR 2.42, 95% CI 0.97-6.03), higher BMI (OR 1.15, 95% CI 1.01-1.30), fear (OR 1.06, 95% CI 1.01-1.12) and low physical activity (OR 1.49, 95% CI 1.01-2.21) were significantly associated with low self-efficacy. Conclusion: Patients with recent TIA or ischemic stroke report high self-efficacy scores for health-related behaviour change. Age, vascular history, more depressive symptoms, higher BMI, less physical activity and fear were correlates of low self-efficacy levels. Practice implications: These correlates should be taken into account in the development of interventions to support patients in health behaviour change after TIA or ischemic stroke. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Behavioral interventions containing behavior change techniques (BCTs) that do not reach the target populations sufficiently will fail to accomplish their desired outcome. To guide sexually transmitted infection prevention policy for internal migrants in China, this study examines the extent to which BCTs aiming at increasing condom use reach the migrants and investigates the preference of the target population for these techniques among 364 migrants and 44 healthcare workers (HCWs) in Shenzhen, China. The results show that condom-promotion techniques that had been offered by HCWs to internal migrants reached a limited proportion of the population (range of reach ratio: 17.6-55.0%), although there appears to be a good match between what is offered and what is preferred by Chinese internal migrants regarding condom-promotion techniques (rank difference ≤ 1). Our findings highlight the need to increase the reach of condom-promotion techniques among Chinese internal migrants, and suggest techniques that are likely to reach the target population and match their preferred health education approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]