Editorial

Welcome to this issue and indeed to 2022.

Over the previous year the guest editorials provided a focus on five themes arising from the pandemic which emphasised that health promotion and public health are more important than ever. Moreover, the editorials argued for a reframing of the pandemic as a ‘syndemic’, reminding us of the importance of health promotion linked to the complexity of human health and the essential interconnections between people and planet (Dooris and Baybutt, 2021). Please do revisit these editorials and consider contributing research articles that connect with and deepen an international understanding of these and related issues to further develop the themes of these editorials into 2022.

The collection of papers in this issue provide an interesting focus on the opportunities of settings to promote health combined with contemporary health concerns. The opening article by Stickley and colleagues focuses on findings of a survey that sought to ascertain the views of children in relation to mental health and where they can seek help if needed. The results provide a timely reminder of the importance of hearing what children themselves think and understand about mental health while highlighting the evidence that mental health programmes in schools, especially those that adopt a whole school approach, lead to positive mental health, social and educational outcomes. The next article by McLachlan and Waitoki presents a Kaupapa Māori case study of collaborative efforts and collective action in response to rural community flooding in the Southern Rangitīkei area of New Zealand in which they describe Indigenous cultural values, knowledge, practices, leadership and genealogical relationships in comprehensive psycho-social responses to disasters and disaster prevention. Moshki et al. discuss an educational intervention based on Pender’s model of health promotion in relation to motivating healthier lifestyle factors and improving clinical outcomes for patients with myocardial infarction in Iran for the third article in this issue. In the fourth article, the authors set out the results of a survey which explored public awareness of patients’ rights and responsibilities enshrined in the Ghana Patient Charter in the Northern Region of Ghana. They argue that to promote awareness of patient rights and responsibilities, advocacy and public education using mass media and community engagement should be intensified especially within rural and Muslim-dominated communities. The final article in this issue focuses on experiences with the open kindergarten in Norway to identify predictors of satisfaction in a service that compliments other existing communal health-care services for children and their families. The findings emphasise the physical environment and relationships with staff as predictors of satisfaction of those who use the open kindergarten.

As always, I hope that you enjoy reading the papers in this issue which truly reflect diverse research of international reach and I welcome any comments you may have relating to the journal. I encourage you to continue to submit contributions to the International Journal of Health Promotion and Education which celebrates rigorous peer review and a broad and far-reaching audience.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.