Promoting men's health through sports clubs: A systematic rapid realist review.

Background: Health promotion (HP) interventions delivered through sports clubs have demonstrated promising outcomes among men, but less is known about which aspects of the interventions work, for whom, and under what circumstances. This rapid realist review aimed to understand the contexts, mechanisms, and outcomes of HP interventions for men delivered through sports clubs.

Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted in February 2023 for studies published after 2013 in MEDLINE, Embase, and SPORTDiscus databases.

'You come as a human being…': exploring sense of equality in arts interventions through an ethnographic study of Shared Reading.

Research shows that the arts hold a particular potential for promoting health, well-being and social inclusion for vulnerable people. However, the use and consumption of the arts tend to be socially skewed in favour of people with high cultural, social and economic capital. While extensive research has been conducted on how to create equal access to arts activities for vulnerable groups, little research has investigated how to ensure meaningful engagement with the arts by this group.

Complexity in Epidemiology and Public Health. Addressing Complex Health Problems Through a Mix of Epidemiologic Methods and Data.

Public health and the underlying disease processes are complex, often involving the interaction of biologic, social, psychologic, economic, and other processes that may be nonlinear and adaptive and have other features of complex systems. There is therefore a need to push the boundaries of public health beyond single-factor data analysis and expand the capacity of research methodology to tackle real-world complexities. This article sets out a way to operationalize complex systems thinking in public health, with a particular focus on how epidemiologic methods and data can contribute towards this end.

"It's not that I don't have things to do. It just all revolves around me" - men's reflections on meaning in life in the transition to retirement in Denmark.

Retirement may bring about significant changes for those who retire. Studies have shown that men find it harder than women to adapt to retirement, putting them at greater risk of identity and meaning loss, which may reduce subjective well-being and increase the risk of depression. While men may experience retirement as a challenging life event that triggers processes of meaning-making motivated by an appropriation of meaning to a new life situation, their experiences of meaning in retirement are yet to be investigated.

Promoting the health of vulnerable populations: Three steps towards a systems-based re-orientation of public health intervention research.

This paper proposes a novel framework for the development of interventions in vulnerable populations. The framework combines a complex systems lens with syndemic theory. Whereas funding bodies, research organizations and reporting guidelines tend to encourage intervention research that (i) focuses on singular and predefined health outcomes, (ii) searches for generalizable cause-effect relationships, and (iii) aims to identify universally effective interventions, the paper suggests that a different direction is needed for addressing health inequities: We need to (i) start with exploratory analysis of population-level data, and (ii) invest in contextualized in-depth knowledge of the complex dynamics that produce health inequities in specific populations and settings, while we (iii) work with stakeholders at multiple levels to create change within systems.

The Impact of the Danish National Smoking Ban From 2007 on the Incidence of Eight Smoking-related Diseases: A Nationwide Register-based Interrupted Time Series Analysis.

Background: Previous research has documented the effect of comprehensive smoking bans on preventing various adverse health outcomes in the years post-ban. In 2007, Denmark implemented a national smoking ban that prohibited indoor smoking in workplaces and public settings, although only partial restrictions applied in specific premises such as small bars, one-person offices, and in psychiatric units. We tested the hypothesis that the implementation of the national smoking ban was associated with a decrease in incidence of smoking-related morbidity in the Danish population compared to the pre-ban period.

The stigma associated with gestational diabetes mellitus: A scoping review.

Background: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) affects an increasing number of pregnant women globally. Although studies have identified psychosocial ramifications associated with GDM, stigma in the form of experienced discrimination and self-blame and its consequences have received limited attention. Our objective was to examine the current evidence on stigma, as experienced among women with GDM, including the potential adverse consequences hereof.

The workings of an action learning program for building mental health promotion capacity - A realist evaluation.

Action learning is a promising approach for building mental health promotion (MHP) capacity. The aim of this study is to explore how action learning processes can strengthen MHP capacity within and across organizations in a community setting. We applied an embedded case study design and a realist evaluation framework to explore key combinations of mechanisms and contextual factors that generated the emergent MHP capacity outcomes of an action learning program, i.

Access to intervene. An ethnographic study of public health practices targeting health inequalities.

Much public health research has devoted attention to the question of how interventions aimed at reducing health inequalities can access so-called "hard-to-reach" populations. This work has generally reflected an instrumentalist approach, which implies the preexistence of particular target groups characterized by specific public health problems. The key research interests are to find ways to effectively alleviate health inequalities and to identify the best ways to intervene to address disparate health problems among certain groups of people.

'Standing together - at a distance': Documenting changes in mental-health indicators in Denmark during the COVID-19 pandemic.

There is a need to document the mental-health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated societal lockdowns. We initiated a large mixed-methods data collection, focusing on crisis-specific worries and mental-health indicators during the lockdown in Denmark. The study incorporated five data sources, including quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews.

Reflexivity in Health Promotion: A Typology for Training.

Reflexivity has emerged as a key concept in the field of health promotion (HP). Yet it remains unclear how diverse forms of reflexivity are specifically relevant to HP concerns, and how these "reflexivities" are interconnected. We argue that frameworks are needed to support more systematic integration of reflexivity in HP training and practice.

Associations of school tobacco policies and legislation with youth smoking: a cross-sectional study of Danish vocational high schools.

Background: In vocational high schools, the prevalence of smoking is high (nearly 40% daily smoking in Danish vocational high schools). Schools are increasingly adopting school tobacco policies (STPs) and a national law on smoke-free school grounds has been implemented. Our objective was to explore the extent of STPs in vocational schools and examine the association of STPs and smoke-free school grounds legislation with student smoking.

Effectiveness of the settings-based intervention Shaping the Social on preventing dropout from vocational education: a Danish non-randomized controlled trial.

Background: Lack of formal education is an important social determinant of health inequality and represents a public health problem. School dropout is particularly common in vocational education; however few prevention programs targeting dropout in the vocational school setting have been evaluated. The purpose of the present study was to test the effect on school dropout of a settings-based intervention program (named Shaping the Social) that targeted the school organization in order to create social and supportive learning environments.

Implementation of a politically initiated national clinical guideline for cardiac rehabilitation in hospitals and municipalities in Denmark.

A politically initiated national clinical guideline was launched in Denmark in 2013 to improve quality and equality of cardiac rehabilitation (CR) services. The guideline is to be implemented in both hospital and community (municipality) settings due to shared responsibility for provision of CR services. Little is known about implementation outcomes of a guideline in these two settings.

Time to dismiss the idea of a structural fix within government? An analysis of intersectoral action for health in Danish municipalities.

Aims: This paper examines the role of organizational structure within government(s) in attempts to implement intersectoral action for health in Danish municipalities. We discuss the implications of structural reorganization and the governance structures that are established in order to ensure coordination and integration between policy sectors.

Methods: The paper is based on 49 interviews with civil servants from health and non-health sectors of 10 municipalities.

Implementation between text and work-a qualitative study of a readmission prevention program targeting elderly patients.

Background: Numerous studies emphasize the importance of context in implementation. Successful implementation across the health care system depends on conditions and requirements that are often presented to health professionals through text-based materials and might present contradictory expectations to the work of health professionals. In this study, we operationalize institutional context as the text-based material, which from the perspective of health professionals, influence health care work.

Elusive implementation: an ethnographic study of intersectoral policymaking for health.

Background: For more than 30 years policy action across sectors has been celebrated as a necessary and viable way to affect the social factors impacting on health. In particular intersectoral action on the social determinants of health is considered necessary to address social inequalities in health. However, despite growing support for intersectoral policymaking, implementation remains a challenge.

The role of managers in addressing employees with musculoskeletal pain: a mixed methods study.

Purpose: This study investigates management awareness of employee musculoskeletal pain and conditions that shape managers' handling of employees with pain.

Methods: We used a mixed methods design including data from a questionnaire survey and focus group sessions. All employees and managers from seven nursing homes were invited to participate in the questionnaire survey and 327 employees (81%) and 31 managers (82%) responded.

How to measure experiences of healthcare quality in Denmark among patients with heart disease? The development and psychometric evaluation of a patient-reported instrument.

Objective: Measuring the quality of care as experienced by patients is increasingly recognised as a way of improving healthcare services. However, disease-specific measures that take the patient journey into account are needed. This paper presents the development of such a measure for patients with heart disease and details the psychometric evaluation.

The impact of acute high-risk abdominal surgery on quality of life in elderly patients.

Introduction: Undergoing acute high-risk abdominal (AHA) surgery is associated with reduced survival and a great risk of an adverse outcome, especially in the elderly. The primary aim of this study was to investigate the residential status and quality of life in elderly patients undergoing AHA surgery.

Methods: From 1 November 2014 to 30 April 2015, consecutive patients (≥ 75 years) undergoing AHA surgery were included for follow-up after six months.

Can inequality be tamed through boundary work? A qualitative study of health promotion aimed at reducing health inequalities.

This paper examines the organisational dynamics that arise in health promotion aimed at reducing health inequalities. The paper draws on ethnographic fieldwork among public health officers in Danish municipalities and qualitative interviews from an evaluation of health promotion programmes targeting homeless and other marginalised citizens. Analytically, we focus on 'boundary work', i.

A qualitative study to identify barriers to deployment and student training in the use of automated external defibrillators in schools.

Background: Student training in use of automated external defibrillators and deployment of such defibrillators in schools is recommended to increase survival after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Low implementation rates have been observed, and even at schools with a defibrillator, challenges such as delayed access have been reported. The purpose of this study was to identify barriers to the implementation of defibrillator training of students and deployment of defibrillators in schools.

Effects of a settings-based intervention to promote student wellbeing and reduce smoking in vocational schools: A non-randomized controlled study.

Rationale: School dropout and health risk behavior such as cigarette smoking represent major problems among students attending upper secondary vocational education. Modifications to the social environment may promote educational attainment as well as health and wellbeing of young people. However, there is a need for more evidence-based intervention programs.