Search

Much is known about the value of peer mentoring in under-graduate programmes; however, little has been published about this in the context of transition into postgraduate education, particularly in low-middle income countries. This paper reports on an evaluation of peer mentoring on an MSc Public Health Promotion programme delivered in Ghana. Qualitative methods were used to elicit the experiences of thirty-five students using methods including focus group discussions that involved guided reflection. Data were analysed using a framework adapted from Kram's Model of Mentoring. Several key themes were identified: practical benefit; social benefit and emotional benefit; future benefit; and facilitating factors and challenges. The peer-mentoring scheme evaluated well benefiting both mentees and mentors. More importantly for Ghana, the relationships that developed between the mentees and mentors bode well for building a community of experts in health promotion that is key to tackling Ghana's health and development agenda.

Health education has changed in many ways since "Health Education Journal" was first published, with developments moving the discipline forward in ways not envisaged 75 years ago. While there have been recent concerns about the decline in status of health promotion and linked worries about health education, the contemporary evidence base has grown to support the delivery of good quality health education and the development of capable and skilled practitioners. Pedagogy has further developed as well, and new technology now enables health education to have broader reach through online teaching and learning, social media and open-access publications. Global challenges remain, however, and the context in England is one in which both education and practice face major trials despite the contribution that health education has made by those educated and trained in this setting over a period of many years.

Objectives: There has been an increased focus in policy discourse on individuals with severe, multiple and complex needs. This paper seeks to understand how best to enable these individuals to take greater control over their health. Design: Qualitative, user-led, peer research. Setting: Large urban UK city. Method: Trained peer researchers with previous experience in contexts of severe and multiple disadvantage gathered data using a snowball sampling approach from 21 individuals engaged in a service specifically designed to provide for their needs. Results: The study identified enabling factors that create conditions for individuals with severe and multiple disadvantage to take greater control of factors impacting on their health and social situations. These included working holistically with individuals, understanding the interconnected issues impacting on health, developing trusting relationships with professionals and working within a positive framework that fosters self-belief and which is focused on salutogenesis rather than pathogenesis. Conclusion: There exists a set of enabling factors that may support individuals facing particular challenges in their lives. While derived from within a specific geographical context, findings have relevance to other settings in relation to ways of working. Peer research demonstrates itself to be a research approach well suited to understanding lived experiences.

Background: Disadvantaged young women in England have been documented as having unmet needs. This has resulted in the growth of gender-specific intensive intervention programmes in which a more holistic women-centred service approach is implemented. Gender matters because structural inequalities (bias and disadvantaging societal conditions) that girls are born with influence health, their outcomes and associated inequalities. Aims and objectives: Policy-makers frequently call for the outcomes of intervention programmes to be quantified, and while this is important, it can miss opportunities for critical insights into the subjective experiences of participants as well as the context and circumstances within which change occurs. Methods: This paper reports on evaluation findings from a prototype project (The Way Forward) with a focus on holistic improvement using gender-specific methods and approaches to promote health for disadvantaged young women in a community setting. Findings: This paper documents the voices of young women within the project, illustrated through their creation of storyboards within focus group discussions and interview data from their support workers. Findings highlight the importance of the relational dimension of one-to-one support in achieving positive change in the lives of young women, as well as the complexity associated with efforts to improve their health.

Much is known about the value of peer mentoring in under-graduate programmes; however, little has been published about this in the context of transition into postgraduate education, particularly in low-middle income countries. This paper reports on an evaluation of peer mentoring on an MSc Public Health Promotion programme delivered in Ghana. Qualitative methods were used to elicit the experiences of thirty-five students using methods including focus group discussions that involved guided reflection. Data were analysed using a framework adapted from Kram's Model of Mentoring. Several key themes were identified: practical benefit; social benefit and emotional benefit; future benefit; and facilitating factors and challenges. The peer-mentoring scheme evaluated well benefiting both mentees and mentors. More importantly for Ghana, the relationships that developed between the mentees and mentors bode well for building a community of experts in health promotion that is key to tackling Ghana's health and development agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health education has changed in many ways since Health Education Journal was first published, with developments moving the discipline forward in ways not envisaged 75 years ago. While there have been recent concerns about the decline in status of health promotion and linked worries about health education, the contemporary evidence base has grown to support the delivery of good quality health education and the development of capable and skilled practitioners. Pedagogy has further developed as well, and new technology now enables health education to have broader reach through online teaching and learning, social media and open-access publications. Global challenges remain, however, and the context in England is one in which both education and practice face major trials despite the contribution that health education has made by those educated and trained in this setting over a period of many years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empowerment is core to health promotion; however, there is a lack of consensus in the wider literature as to how to define it and at what level it may occur. Definitional inconsistency inevitably leads to challenges in measuring empowerment; yet if it is as important as is claimed, this must be addressed. This paper discusses the complexities of measuring empowerment and puts forward a number of recommendations for researchers and policy makers as to how this can be achieved noting some of the tensions that may arise between theoretical considerations, research and practice. We argue that empowerment is a culturally and socially defined construct and that this should be taken into account in attempts to measure it. Finally we conclude that, in order to build up the evidence base for empowerment, there is a need for research clearly defining what it is and how it is being measured. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]