Library Bulletin – Journal Articles – February 2010
Back to Bulletin Articles Index
SCHOOL HEALTH
MALLER, Cecily Jane. Promoting children's mental, emotional and social health through contact with nature : a model. Health Education Vol 109, No 6 - 2009: 522-543
Abstract: Purpose: This paper aims to determine educators' perceptions about the benefits of contact with nature for children's mental, emotional and social health. Design/methodology/approach: The approach was exploratory using qualitative methods. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with school principals and teachers as well as professionals from the environmental education industry. Interviews focused on the perceived benefits for children's health from school activities involving hands-on contact with nature. Findings: Hands-on contact with nature is perceived by educators to improve self-esteem, engagement with school and a sense of empowerment, among other benefits. Different types of activities are perceived to have different outcomes. A model is proposed to illustrate the findings. Research limitations/implications: Activities involving hands-on contact with nature may have significant health outcomes for children. Further empirical work is needed to determine the extent of the benefits and provide further evidence. Practical implications: Findings support the value of activities involving nature and provide further incentive to include such activities in teaching curricula. Activities involving hands-on contact with nature at school may be a means of promoting children's mental, emotional and social health at a crucial time in their development. Originality/value: This paper addresses two gaps in current knowledge: much research on contact with nature and health and wellbeing has focused on adults not children; despite the popularity of nature-based activities in schools there has been no investigation into the potential of these activities to promote children's mental, emotional and social health.
SABISTON, Catherine M and LOVATO, Chris Y and others. School smoking policy characteristics and individual perceptions of the school tobacco context : are they linked to students' smoking status? Journal of Youth and Adolescence Volume 38, Issue 10 - November 2009: 1374-1387
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to explore individual- and school-level policy characteristics on student smoking behavior using an ecological perspective. Participants were 24,213 (51% female) Grade 10-11 students from 81 schools in five Canadian provinces. Data were collected using student self-report surveys, written policies collected from schools, interviews with school administrators, and school property observations to assess multiple dimensions of the school tobacco policy. The multi-level modeling results revealed that the school a student attended was associated with his/her smoking behavior. Individual-level variables that were associated with student smoking included lower school connectedness, a greater number of family and friends who smoked, higher perceptions of student smoking prevalence, lower perceptions of student smoking frequency, and stronger perceptions of the school tobacco context. School-level variables associated with student smoking included weaker policy intention indicating prohibition and assistance to overcome tobacco addiction, weaker policy implementation involving strategies for enforcement, and a higher number of students smoking on school property. These findings suggest that the school environment is important to tobacco control strategies, and that various policy dimensions have unique relationships to student smoking. School tobacco policies should be part of a comprehensive approach to adolescent tobacco use.