Welcome to this edition of the International Journal of Health Promotion and Education. We hope you enjoy reading it. It contains an interesting collection of papers which showcase different aspects of health education and health promotion.
The paper by Knettel et al. explores the efficacy, sustainability and cultural compatibility of a volunteer programme for Community Health Workers in Haiti. The impact of Community Health Workers is significant and this is common to other low-income countries. Inevitably however, the evaluation revealed challenges in carrying out the CHW role in relation to logistical, material and financial barriers. Such challenges are not unique to the Haitian context. An important feature of this paper is the long-term nature of such work which is common to many health promotion efforts. Consequently, issues of sustainability are very important and community participation is the key. Partnership, a core concept of health promotion, is highlighted as important. The authors provide a number of recommendations for building effective, volunteer-led training programmes that can potentially be applied in other contexts.
Watson et al. highlight the global issue of unintentional home injuries in their paper. This is a significant issue worldwide and it is important to note, as they do, that there is a correlation between income and injury; the lower the socio-economic status the higher the incidence of injury. Health promotion, at its core, seeks to address such inequities which are viewed as unjust, unfair and avoidable. This particular study examined the implementation of guidance on preventing home injuries in childhood, in local authorities and health boards in the UK. Implementation was not consistent however, and the authors conclude that support is needed in order to make a difference to child injury rates and inequalities. Like Knettel et al., Watson et al. emphasise the importance of partnership in achieving this.
Keeping with the theme of child health, the paper from the UK by Izaki and Swiane looks at childhood obesity. Specifically, this paper acknowledges the wider context of this issue exploring associations between levels of physical activity and obesity with gender and socio-economic status in children. Whilst, this paper is based on research carried out in the UK it has resonance for similar contexts and similar challenges emerging in lower- and middle- income countries as epidemiological transition take place. In keeping with comparable findings elsewhere gender was strongly associated with physical activity patterns. In terms of the wider context, parental and peer encouragement was found to be an important facilitative factor. Being healthy, enjoyment, fun and improving physical skills were important factors for the children who took part in the study. The authors conclude that these aspects should be taken into account in the promotion of physical activity in school-aged children.
The final paper focuses on another important and related issue, physical activity in adults. The research here explores participation in a workplace intervention specifically looking at the effectiveness of pedometers for increasing walking activity. The findings are interesting; all participants increased their step-count and the increases were greater in the least active participants. The authors conclude that this type of intervention can be beneficial in reducing sedentary behaviour in the workplace. They also note that additional techniques such as goal-setting and social support may enhance participation. Such studies highlight the importance of the workplace as a setting for promoting health as advocated by the World Health Organisation.
We hope you enjoy reading this edition and we welcome your comments on, and contributions, to the journal. If you would like to become a reviewer for the journal we would love to hear from you. Please do get in touch via email at: [email protected]. Join us in championing health promotion and making a difference.