The Future of School Health Education in the United States: An Ontology.

Background: As summarized in this article, the widespread implementation of modern school health education (SHE) could become one of the most effective means available to improve the well-being of people in the United States and in other nations. However, the development and evolution of SHE largely remains unorganized, underdeveloped, and neglected by health and education agencies, policymakers, and the public.

Methods: Essential to the development of any scientific discipline, scientists today use the word ontology to refer to efforts to organize knowledge in particular domains.

School Gun Violence in the United States.

Background: Although less than 2% of all homicides among young people are school-associated, since 1970 1373 K-12 school gun violence incidents have injured 1403 people and killed another 728. These incidents have changed the education landscape. Informed stakeholders must work together to prevent school gun violence.

School Health as a Strategy to Improve Both Public Health and Education.

Because schools materially influence both health and education, they substantially determine the future well-being and economic productivity of populations. Recent research suggests that healthier children learn better and that more educated adults are healthier. School health is a cross-disciplinary field of study and a fundamental strategy that can be used to improve both health and education outcomes.

Hazardous Chemical Releases Occurring in School Settings, 14 States, 2008-2013.

Children are considered to be a vulnerabletion when it comes to exposures to hazardous substances. Schools, where children spend about one third of their day, are expected to be a safe environment. Yet, there are many hazardous substances in schools that can be inadvertently or intentionally released and harm the health of students and teachers alike.

Federal Public Health Service: In Retrospect and Prospects.

In this article, I offer a retrospective case study about my early, short-term work within the U.S. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health and then my later, longer-term work within the U.

What have we learned from collaborative partnerships to concomitantly improve both education and health?

Background: Collaborative partnerships are an essential means to concomitantly improve both education outcomes and health outcomes among K-12 students.

Methods: We describe examples of contemporaneous, interactive, and evolving partnerships that have been implemented, respectively, by a national governmental health organization, national nongovernmental education and health organizations, a state governmental education organization, and a local nongovernmental health organization that serves partner schools.

Results: Each of these partnerships strategically built operational infrastructures that enabled partners to efficiently combine their resources to improve student education and health.

Secondhand smoke exposure and other correlates of susceptibility to smoking: a propensity score matching approach.

Secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure is responsible for numerous diseases of the lungs and other bodily systems among children. In addition to the adverse health effects of SHS exposure, studies show that children exposed to SHS are more likely to smoke in adolescence. Susceptibility to smoking is a measure used to identify adolescent never-smokers who are at risk for smoking.

Secondhand smoke exposure in cars and rooms: trend comparisons among subpopulations of nonsmoking U.S. middle and high school students.

Introduction: Young people in the United States are exposed to secondhand smoke (SHS) primarily in 2 settings: homes and cars. Recently, researchers reported that the prevalence of U.S students exposed to SHS in cars decreased from 2000 to 2009; however, comparisons of trends across school levels, gender, and racial/ethnic groups were not assessed.

Effectiveness of the energize elementary school program to improve diet and exercise.

Background: The rate of childhood obesity has more than tripled during the past 30 years. Research shows that prevention at an early age is more effective than treatment later in life. Energize is a multicomponent intervention incorporated into the school day that combines nutrition education and physical activity aimed at maintaining healthy weight among elementary school youth.

Understanding African American women's decisions to buy and eat dark green leafy vegetables: an application of the reasoned action approach.

Objective: Examine intentions to buy and eat dark green leafy vegetables (DGLV).

Design: Cross-sectional survey assessing demographics, behavior, intention, and Reasoned Action Approach constructs (attitude, perceived norm, self-efficacy).

Setting: Marion County, Indiana.

Social-ecological factors of leisure-time physical activity in Black adults.

Objectives: To develop and test an explicative model of leisure-time physical activity (LTPA), including 6 selected contributory factors: self-efficacy, self-regulation, social support, perceived physical environment, outcome-expectancy value, and policy beliefs.

Methods: A social-ecological model of LTPA using the structural equation modeling technique was estimated in a regional, church-going sample of 649 African Americans.

Results: The results indicated this model is good fit to the data.

Health of adolescents and young adults: trends in achieving the 21 Critical National Health Objectives by 2010.

Purpose: The 21 Critical National Health Objectives (CNHOs) for Adolescents and Young Adults derived from Healthy People 2010 addressed the most significant threats to the health of individuals aged 10-24 years. This study assessed trends in the 21 CNHOs between 1991 and 2009, and from baseline years for which 2010 targets were established to 2009, and the extent to which targets were achieved.

Methods: For one CNHO (new HIV diagnoses), national data were not available.

Applying the theory of planned behavior to explore the relation between smoke-free air laws and quitting intentions.

Smoke-free air policies have been shown to reduce smoking, but the mechanism of behavior change is not well understood. The authors used structural equation modeling to conduct a theory of planned behavior analysis with data from 395 smokers living in seven Texas cities, three with a comprehensive smoke-free air law and four without a comprehensive law. Agreement with regulating smoking in public places was significantly associated with attitudes and perceived normative pressure about quitting.

The combined effect of behavioral intention and exposure to a smoke-free air law on taking measures to quit smoking.

Because of the large burden of disease attributable to cigarette smoking, a variety of tobacco control interventions, some focused on changing individual behavior and others focused on influencing societal norms, have been introduced. The current study tested the combined effect of behavioral intention and exposure to a comprehensive smoke-free air law as a prospective predictor of taking measures to quit smoking. Participants were 187 adults living in 7 Texas cities, 3 with a comprehensive smoke-free air law and 4 without such a law, who reported current cigarette smoking at baseline and completed a 1-month follow-up interview.

Leisure-time physical activity and obesity in black adults in Indianapolis.

Objective: To examine the relationship between the total volume of leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) and obesity among African American adults in Indianapolis.

Methods: Logistic regression analysis with 649 African American adults.

Results: The data show an inverse graded relationship between the total volume of LTPA and obesity for African American women, but not for men.

Association of smoking with body weight in US high school students, 1999-2005.

Objectives: To investigate the association of current smoking with body mass index (BMI) and perceived body weight among high school students in the United States.

Methods: We analyzed data from the 1999-2005 Youth Risk Behavior Survey.

Results: Perceived body weight and BMI were associated with adolescents' current smoking.

Health programmes for school employees: improving quality of life, health and productivity.

School health programmes in the 21st century could include eight components: 1) health services; 2) health education; 3) healthy physical and psychosocial environments; 4) psychological, counselling, and social services; 5) physical education and other physical activities; 6) healthy food services; and 7) integrated efforts of schools, families, and communities to improve the health of school students and employees. The eighth component of modern school health programmes, health programmes for school employees, is the focus of this article. Health programmes for school employees could be designed to increase the recruitment, retention, and productivity of school employees by partially focusing each of the preceding seven components of the school health programme on improving the health and quality of life of school employees as well as students.