Welcome to the final issue of 2019. In this issue we are delighted to present papers from Iran, the United States of America and Cyprus. Once again the selection of papers shows the breadth of international work that is taking place in health education, health promotion and public health and highlights a range of issues that are relevant to many different contexts.
The first paper from Iran by Rakhshani et al. investigated an important issue for older people’s quality of life – fear of falling. The authors looked at the association between fear of falling and anxiety and depression disorders using a survey designed to assess sociodemographic factors and physical health condition alongside scales to assess fear of falling and depression. The results highlighted the risk of anxiety and depression in older people and indicated that both physical and mental health disorders play a significant role in fear of falling. The authors argue that improving mental health is an important factor in falls prevention. This paper highlights two key global public health concerns – mental health and unintentional injury. It also brings to bear the importance of designing and developing interventions that improve the quality of life of older people which is a key issue for many countries with ageing populations. The next paper by Alami et al, also from Iran, is about iron and vitamin D deficiency. This study aimed to establish the effectiveness of using the Theory of Planned Behaviour to underpin an educational intervention designed to increase uptake of iron and vitamin D supplements among adolescent girls. The results indicated that behavioural intention increased in the group of girls that received the intervention as compared to the control group who did not and that, in keeping with other research findings, the constructs of the Theory of Planned Behaviour have utility in educational interventions designed to effect behaviour change. Findings such as these support the case for designing and developing health education and health promotion interventions that are underpinned with appropriate theory.
The Zika virus has, in the past few years, become a major cause for concern in certain parts of the world and is a threat to both individual and public health. Scarborough et al.’s paper explored the presence and spread of the Zika virus in Cameron County, Texas, United States of America during a specific period of time using geographical analysis with the intention of exploring potential patterns in the spread of the disease in order to forecast community risk. Using mapping techniques the authors found that, despite the general decrease in the overall number of Zika virus cases, the virus had a geographic spread in the county that indicated a public health issue for concern. They concluded that geographical mapping is a useful means of addressing public health issues and can assist public health personnel in addressing outbreaks of infectious disease as well as in anticipating communities at risk for the spread of communicable disease.
The final paper in this issue is from Cyprus by Galazi et al. and highlights a further significant public health concern – oral health. It evaluated the oral care knowledge and habits of patients and physicians as well as examining their knowledge about the relationship between oral health and general health status. The findings revealed a deficit in knowledge and behaviour for both groups in relation to oral health and the authors argue that appropriate health promotion programmes are needed in order to enhance oral and general health. Specifically they argue that general physicians need to have more knowledge and skills about oral health problems given their association with general health status. In common with other findings this study found that people with a higher level of education were more likely to engage in health-promoting behaviours (in this case, regularly visiting the dentist). This illustrates how important the social determinants of health are in influencing health experience and health outcomes. This paper also highlights the role of healthy public policy in the development of health promotion programmes and in the prevention of ill-health.
We hope you enjoy reading this issue 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.