Addressing sickness absence among adolescents and young adults: an evaluation of the Medical Advice for Sick-reported Students intervention.

Background: Sickness absence is associated with lower school achievements and early school leaving. The Medical Advice for Sick-reported Students (MASS) intervention is a proactive school-based intervention focused primarily on early identification and reduction of sickness absence. This study used a program evaluation framework to evaluate the MASS intervention among intermediate vocational education students and Youth Health Care professionals.

Young adults' self-sufficiency in daily life: the relationship with contextual factors and health indicators.

Background: Certain factors, such as depressive symptoms and binge drinking, may be linked to young adults' ability to attain an acceptable level of functioning on specific life-domains (i.e. self-sufficiency).

School Absenteeism, Health-Related Quality of Life [HRQOL] and Happiness among Young Adults Aged 16-26 Years.

This study examines the association between school absenteeism, health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and happiness among young adults aged 16-26 years attending vocational education. Cross-sectional data from a survey among 676 young adults were analyzed. School absenteeism was measured by the self-reported number of sick days in the past eight weeks and hours of truancy in the past four weeks.

Medical Advice for Sick-reported Students (MASS) in intermediate vocational education schools: design of a controlled before-and-after study.

Background: School absenteeism, including medical absenteeism, is associated with early school dropout and may result in physical, mental, social and work-related problems in later life. Especially at intermediate vocational education schools, high rates of medical absenteeism are found. In 2012 the Dutch intervention 'Medical Advice for Sick-reported Students' (MASS), previously developed for pre-vocational secondary education, was adjusted for intermediate vocational education schools.

Reducing sick leave of Dutch vocational school students: adaptation of a sick leave protocol using the intervention mapping process.

Objectives: Since the extent of sick leave and the problems of vocational school students are relatively large, we aimed to tailor a sick leave protocol at Dutch lower secondary education schools to the particular context of vocational schools.

Methods: Four steps of the iterative process of Intervention Mapping (IM) to adapt this protocol were carried out: (1) performing a needs assessment and defining a program objective, (2) determining the performance and change objectives, (3) identifying theory-based methods and practical strategies and (4) developing a program plan. Interviews with students using structured questionnaires, in-depth interviews with relevant stakeholders, a literature research and, finally, a pilot implementation were carried out.