Changes in Psychosocial Factors and Physical Activity Among Finnish Working-Age Men in the Adventures of Joe Finn Campaign.

This study evaluated changes in psychosocial factors and self-reported physical activity (PA) among the sample of Finnish men who underwent the fitness tests during the national health campaign. Another aim was to examine whether the fitness test feedback was a meaningful experience for PA change. Baseline data were collected in 2011 by fitness test and questionnaire.

Psychometric Properties of a Short Measure for Psychosocial Factors and Associations With Phase of Physical Activity Change Among Finnish Working-Aged Men.

Insufficient physical activity (PA) and poor physical fitness are risks for several noncommunicable diseases among working-aged men. PA programs have been launched to increase activity levels in the population but working-aged men have been underrepresented in these programs. The aim of the present cross-sectional study was to evaluate validity of a short scale for psychosocial factors among Finnish working-aged men who participated in a PA campaign.

Readiness for health behavior changes among low fitness men in a Finnish health promotion campaign.

Men have been a hard-to-reach population in health behavior programs and it has been claimed that they are less interested in health issues than women. However, less is known about that how ready men are to adopt new health behaviors. This study examined readiness for change in physical activity (PA) and eating behavior (EB) among low fitness and overweight working-aged Finnish men who participated in a PA campaign.

A socio-ecological approach to physical activity interventions in childcare: a systematic review.

The promotion of physical activity (PA) in young children requires effective interventions. This article reviews the evidence on PA interventions in childcare by applying a socio-ecological approach. A computer-based literature search for intervention studies aimed at increasing children's PA levels was run across four databases: SPORTDiscus, ISI Web of Science, PsycINFO and ERIC.

'I saw what the future direction would be...': experiences of diabetes risk and physical activity after diabetes screening.

Objectives: To improve understanding of how individuals at high risk of type 2 diabetes experience the risk of diabetes and how these experiences relate to the adoption of physical activity as a protective behaviour.

Design: A qualitative study using semi-structured interview with individuals identified by screening as at high risk of type 2 diabetes.

Methods: Fourteen individuals, aged 40-64, were interviewed twice, with a 2-year interval between.

A cross-sectional study of low physical fitness, self-rated fitness and psychosocial factors in a sample of Finnish 18- to 64-year-old men.

Background: The biological risk factors of inactivity and poor cardiorespiratory fitness are well established. However, risk groups are hard to reach and they may have misperceptions of their need for change. This study explored self-ratings of physical fitness (PF) and the relationship between objectively estimated physical fitness (PFI) and psychosocial factors among Finnish men of working-age.

Community-based oral health promotion practices targeted at children and adolescents in Finland--developing an assessment tool.

Objectives: To develop an assessment tool for evaluating oral health promotion practices and to evaluate community-based oral health promotion practices targeted at children and adolescents with this tool.

Methods: A theoretical framework about health promotion planning, implementation and evaluation was made on the basis of a literature review. Then, information about Finnish community-based oral health promotion practices (n=12) targeted at children and adolescents was collected using semi-structured interviews.

Perceived sufficiency of physical activity levels among adults at high risk of type 2 diabetes: the FIN-D2D study.

Background: Any increase from a low level of physical activity reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes. However, lack of awareness of one's physical activity level insufficiency may act as an obstacle to increased physical activity.

Purpose: This study assessed the determinants of perceived physical activity levels (PALs) among adults at high risk of diabetes and the associations with self-reported physical activity.

Perceived need to increase physical activity levels among adults at high risk of type 2 diabetes: a cross-sectional analysis within a community-based diabetes prevention project FIN-D2D.

Background: Increased physical activity is a cornerstone of type 2 diabetes prevention. The perception of a need to change is considered essential in behaviour change processes. However, the existing literature on individuals' perceived need to change health behaviour is limited.

Perceiving need for lifestyle counseling: findings from Finnish individuals at high risk of type 2 diabetes.

Objective: To investigate the proportion of individuals at high risk of type 2 diabetes who perceive the need for lifestyle counseling, factors associated with this perception, and whether the perceived need is associated with subsequent attendance in lifestyle intervention.

Research Design And Methods: Baseline and intervention data were obtained from 10,149 participants in a Finnish National Diabetes Prevention Project.

Results: In total, 36% of men and 52% of women perceived the need for counseling.

The reporting of previous lifestyle counseling by persons at high risk of Type 2 diabetes.

Objective: To assess (i) whether the reporting of counseling previously received is associated with high-risk individuals' agreement to participate in lifestyle intervention, (ii) whether the reporting of previous counseling differed within such a high-risk group, and (iii) the associations between lifestyles and previous lifestyle counseling.

Methods: Cross-sectional data were drawn from 10149 adults at high risk of Type 2 diabetes, who were participating in a Finnish national diabetes prevention project (FIN-D2D). Bivariate analysis and multivariate logistic regression were used.

Behaviour-change interventions in primary care: influence on nutrition and on the metabolic syndrome definers.

The purpose of this paper was to examine whether interventions influenced patients' (i) consumption of fish; whole grain products; fruits and vegetables; (ii) overall nutrition, that is, the three former as an index; and (iii) clinical outcomes in terms of metabolic syndrome definers. A questionnaire was delivered to adult patients entering the nine health centres on November 2006 (n = 1211). During the year the ward personnel conducted intervention on patients with unhealthy habits.

Public health nurses' approaches to early childhood physical activity in Finland.

This study was conducted using five focus groups with 24 public health nurses from regional child health clinics in order to explore health professionals' perceptions concerning physical activity. Participants were professionally experienced (mean 13.9 years), female (mean 46.

Transtheoretical model-based dietary interventions in primary care: a review of the evidence in diabetes.

The objective of this study was to review the evidence concerning stage-based dietary interventions in primary care among persons with diabetes or an elevated diabetes risk. Search strategies were electronic databases and manual search. Selection criteria were randomized controlled studies with stage-based dietary intervention, conducted in primary care with at least 6 months of follow-up, and participants with either type 2 diabetes or with an elevated risk.

Variation in assessing the need for change of snacking habits in schoolchildren's oral health counselling.

Objectives: This study examined counselling communication activities that were used for assessing schoolchildren's need for change of snacking habits. In addition, the schoolchildren's assessment of their need for change was explored after a follow-up year (2002-2003).

Material And Methods: The follow-up research data included 66 counselling sessions in 2002 and 31 counselling sessions in 2003, with 31 schoolchildren.

Cultural and communicational traits of oral health care: results of a Finnish case study.

Purpose: This paper aims to describe the cultural and communicational traits of Finnish oral health care. First, employees' views and experiences regarding their organization and their position within it are investigated and, second, relations between different individual and organizational factors are analyzed. Finally, a conceptual framework of organizational coherence is constructed.

Dietary and physical activity counselling on type 2 diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance by physicians and nurses in primary healthcare in Finland.

Objective: To investigate the initiation of dietary and physical activity counselling and the arguments used when discussing physical activity and the type and consumption of dietary fats, during nurse-patient and physician-patient diabetic lifestyle counselling.

Design And Subjects: This study is a part of a larger follow-up research project focusing on diabetes counselling. The data include 129 videotaped counselling sessions between 17 patients and their physicians and nurses.

Oral health counselling in changing schoolchildren's oral hygiene habits: a qualitative study.

Objective: This study explored oral health counselling concerning changes of oral hygiene habits in 11- to 13-year-old schoolchildren within a theoretical framework of the transtheoretical model and the motivational interview.

Methods: The follow-up data (2002-2003) formed two sequential parts: the first part comprised 66 counselling sessions in 2002; the second part included 31 counselling sessions in 2003. Thirty-one (n = 31) schoolchildren were included in the counselling sessions that were conducted by four dental hygienists.

Lifestyle counseling in type 2 diabetes prevention: a case study of a nurse's communication activity to produce change talk.

As a case study, this article describes a nurse's communication activity, focusing on change talk during lifestyle counseling in primary healthcare. All videotaped counseling sessions with a single patient within a period of two years were transcribed verbatim. In the analysis, an emphasis was placed on the nurse's communication activity that produced change talk, how the nurse initiated change talk, and how the patient received it.

Organisational culture: pursuing a theoretical foundation within the Finnish public oral health-care context.

At the moment, Finnish oral health care is undergoing many changes. Little attention has been paid to issues of organisational culture and communication in Finnish oral health care. Yet the question of culture is of primary importance for changes in an organisation and for planning and reconstructing the rational functioning of an organisation.

Advice-giving styles by finnish nurses in dietary counseling concerning type 2 diabetes care.

Dietary advice-giving is an important part of dietary counseling in diabetes care and prevention. The strategies of advice-giving, however, have not been explicated and the qualitative characteristics of conversations in diabetes counseling have remained mainly unstudied. This article describes the styles in which nurses responsible for diabetes counseling in Finnish primary care practices offer dietary advice for patients with recently diagnosed type 2 diabetes or impaired glucose tolerance.

Negotiation in type 2 diabetes counseling: from problem recognition to mutual acceptance during lifestyle counseling.

Negotiation, an essential communication activity in lifestyle counseling, has rarely been studied at the micro level of interaction. Furthermore, the evidence for interpersonal negotiation to occur in counseling practice is inconclusive. In this study, the authors describe how negotiation focused on lifestyle changes was produced in nurse-patient interaction.

Teachers' views on curriculum development in health promotion in two Finnish polytechnics.

This study describes teachers' views on how to improve the health promotion element in the curricula of two health care polytechnics in Finland. The theoretical background of this study draws on curriculum development in nursing education and how to promote a human- or resource-centred approach in health promotion. The research data were collected by interviewing 10 teachers from both the schools involved in nursing or public health nursing education since August 1997.

Nurse-patient power relationship: preliminary evidence of patients' power messages.

The interactive relationship that is based on sharing power and control is the goal of health counseling practice. This research examined the nurse-patient power relationship and emphasized the patient's perspective. Health counseling sessions, 38 in number, were videotaped, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed by using an adaptation of conversation analysis (CA).