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The role of health promoters and educators in the current and future response to COVID-19 is critical, but, to date, under explored. This opinion paper offers a number of important contributions that this professional group may offer both in the immediate and future strategy of global public health. While the importance of a medical model of health cannot be underplayed, the social model of health suggests that some groups in society are being more disproportionately impacted than others. Health promotion has been committed to reducing inequalities and therefore offers “a voice” to those most marginalised. The paper suggests that bottom-up approaches focusing on building individual and community control is essential and, moreover, the concepts of a settings approach in health promotion, the fostering of critical health literacy and “salutogenesis” may be worthy of further debate and discussion.

Digital communication supports are a relevant resource for the promotion of citizens’ health literacy. Aware of this reality, in the last quarter of 2019, health professionals of Inpatient Unit A of the Neurology Service of the Coimbra Hospital and University Centre designed the ‘Digital Neuroteca’, which consists of a digital repository with various educational materials in video format, e-books, pamphlets, manuals, infographics, and directories to websites that include credible information, and other content selected by the health team. The selection criteria consider the clarity and credibility of the information in various areas such as risk factors of neurological disease, strategies, and products to support self-care and available resources. Regarding more complex contents, there is a concern to transform them into information accessible to citizens in general. These contents are accessed by patients/caregivers through a tablet/computer, in the presence of the health professional, and can also be sent by email. We got positive results with an increase of satisfaction of those involved – patients, caregivers, and professionals. Health professionals and patients/caregivers reported high satisfaction with the use of this resource given the clarity of the contents, which facilitate understanding and meet their needs, recognizing this tool as an excellent complement to the process of health literacy promotion.

The aim of this study is to investigate the prevalence of corporate health initiatives as part of CSR, and how and to what extent these initiatives are communicated in CSR reports.

The study comprises two strands. First, a mapping of the extent and nature of health-related CSR initiatives among 11 selected Danish companies is developed, based on a qualitative email questionnaire. Next, the mapping serves as the framework for coding and analyzing CSR reports from 2018 to 2020 from 15 companies (45 in total).

The study provides a typology of the extent and nature of such CSR initiatives consisting of more than 50 types of health-related initiatives. Analysis of the CSR reports illustrates an increase in the explicit communication of employee health initiatives as well as the number of different categories applied over the three years.

The study provides CSR managers with awareness about the extent and usage of employee health as part of corporate communication on CSR, including how such initiatives can be communicated in the CSR report. It also gives rise to carefully considering the potential negative implications for employees when planning health initiatives.

The study is the first of its kind to combine the perspectives of CSR and workplace health promotion to discuss the potential institutionalization of employee health as part of the corporate CSR program.

This study aims to examine the recent literature on health-promoting behavior, health needs and associated factors among older adults.

An massive search of five databases involving documents in the past decade was commenced.

This review showed a significant relationship between older adults’ demographic characteristics (marital status, income, chronic disease, education level and smoking status) and health-promoting behaviors. This review showed that older adults with a high level of education, high income, chronic diseases and smoker and married older adults are associated with better health-promoting behaviors.

The result of the current review supports the Pender Health Promotion Model that individual personal characteristics can affect the level of engagement in health-promoting behaviors. Assessing the health-promoting behaviors of older adults can help in identifying their health needs.

Source credibility is a key influencing factor across both commercial and social marketing. It is perhaps even more important for the latter given that the issues under consideration generally have substantial implications for both individual and societal health and well-being. The Act-Belong-Commit campaign is a world-first population-wide application of social marketing in the area of positive mental health promotion. This study aims to focus on the perceived credibility of the Act-Belong-Commit campaign as a source of information about mental health as a predictor of three types of behavioural responses to the campaign: adopting mental health enhancing behaviours; seeking information about mental health and mental health problems; and seeking help for a mental health problem.

A state-wide survey was undertaken of the adult population in an Australian state where the Act-Belong-Commit campaign originated. The survey included measures of the above three behavioural responses to the campaign and measures of respondents’ perceptions of Act-Belong-Commit’s source credibility. Logistic regression analyses were performed to determine whether the three behavioural responses can be predicted based on perceived source credibility. The predictive performance of the model was examined by receiver operating characteristic curve analysis.

Greater perceived source credibility was significantly associated with having done something for their mental health and for having sought information, and an increased likelihood, but not significantly so, of having sought help for a mental health problem.

Despite the acknowledged importance of source credibility, there has been little published research that the authors are aware of that has looked at the impact of such on the effectiveness of social marketing campaigns. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first published study of the association between source credibility and behavioural response to a social marketing campaign.

Oral health is an integral part of general health. Different population groups have been assessed for oral health status in India, but still, many have been neglected; one such group is the prisoners. The prison population is a unique and challenging one with many health problems, including poor oral health, which may be due to lack of knowledge about good oral health practices. This study aims to assess effectiveness of oral health education on oral health knowledge, attitude and practices and oral hygiene status among the male prison inmates of central jail in Kolkata, India.

An interventional study was done among 240 male convicts. The data was elicited using a structured proforma; oral health status was assessed by recording OHI-S index, and the severity of gingivitis was assessed by recording the gingival index. Oral health education was delivered by using audio-visual aid. Oral health knowledge, attitude, practices and oral hygiene and gingival status were reassessed among the inmates before and after dental education at the end of three and six months.

A significant change in oral health knowledge, attitude and practices was seen, which in turn resulted in an appreciable decrease in the mean gingival index score (1.73 ± 0.382 to 1.20 ± 0.321) and OHI-S (3.31 ± 0.815 to 2.57 ± 0.551) in all the inmates after oral health education program over the period of time.

The oral health education with reinforcement proved to be an effective tool to instil good oral hygiene practices in the inmates.

This paper aims to propose and provide an overview of a model analysis that considers the main spatial design attributes that influence and produce the most relevant salutogenic outcomes. These results are essential for a healthy work experience, especially in shared workspaces.

This study departs from the theoretical contributions of the salutogenic approach, principles from supportive design theory, psychosocial supportive design and the environmental demands and resources model. After a scoping literature review covering different fields of workspace design, environmental psychology and evidence-based design of health-care facilities, a conceptual analysis is done on a proposed understanding of work, health and environmental relations to overview spatial attributes that enhance specific salutogenic and well-being-promoting outcomes needed for a healthy work experience.

The model of analysis, as a theoretical element that helps create methodological tools, combined with the application of a post occupancy evaluation, is thought to assist architects, designers, workspace owners and stakeholders in their new designs or to evaluate existing ones.

Studies on defining spatial attributes and their intended salutogenic outcomes have been formally done in health-care facilities. However, applying this idea to shared workspaces is something new and is expected to contribute to their design and evaluation, especially if the notion of environmental demands and resources is complemented.

This study, a narrative literature review, aims to examine the combined benefits of the active and passive use of social media (SM) for well-being (WB), physical and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A search strategy has been carried out in the databases: Riss, PubMed, Medline, Scopus and Google Scholar, including all the articles published until 19 October 2023.

SM offers various benefits, including global risk awareness, health information, social connections and support. With the natural increase in physical inactivity due to COVID-19 social restrictions, SM has been identified as an appropriate tool for promoting physical activity (PA) at home to improve health.

It suggests that the combined use of active and passive benefits of SM could potentially play an important role in public health by increasing individuals’ health behaviours. In addition, dissemination, sharing and social interaction of information provided by YouTube can encourage healthy behaviours, contribute to WB, physical and mental health and raise public health awareness.

The findings presented in this study highlight the combined benefits of differentiating the features of SM use. Compared to other SM platforms, YouTube can be used as a useful tool for home-based PA that promotes health by enabling people to remain active and avoid barriers to PA due to social restrictions during the global crisis. In addition, some recommendations from the findings may help protect against potential risks and improve public health outcomes during global crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, among the general public using SM.

The present study has attempted to examine the connection between health literacy (HL) and subjective well-being (SWB) amongst university students in North India. In addition, the present research also sought to establish the role of “gender” and “absence/presence of health professional in the family” as a socio-demographic variable in the relationship between HL and SWB.

This study used a descriptive and quantitative research design. Students were asked to respond to an online questionnaire as part of a survey strategy. Out of 550 respondents who completed the survey, only 511 responses were usable after data cleaning.

The structural equation modelling regression analysis revealed a positive association between HL and SWB. In addition, the moderating role of gender and the “presence/absence of health professionals in the family” between HL and SWB was also established.

Although a sizable sample of university students responded to this poll, it was a convenience sample. The study cannot be generalised to the general population; thus, future scholars can include other socio-demographic sections. Theoretically, it has tested a research framework concerning multiple dimensions of students' SWB and HL. In addition, the moderating role of gender and the “presence/absence of health professionals in the family” is another unique research contribution of this study.

The results of the current study provided evidence that HL promotion efforts are needed amongst the student population in India to enhance their well-being. The objective of practitioners and relevant stakeholders (parents, government agencies and universities) should be to build capacities concerning HL at both personal and institutional levels. Based on the findings, more educational programmes should be created for the students to promote HL and raise awareness of healthy lifestyles.

The degree to which people can locate, comprehend and use information and services to support health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others is known as “health literacy.” HL is closely associated with SWB, which means how people perceive and assess their lives and particular spheres and activities within them. The current research on the relationship between the two domains is limited. This study looked into the effects of HL on SWB amongst university students in North India.