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Operational Definitions Used in this Web Site and KDE Program
This page lists and briefly defines some of the terms used throughout this web site and knowledge development & exchange program. We have created these terms only for the operation of this program in order to develop a common understanding of how these terms are used in the glossary, encyclopedia, handbooks and bibliographies. These terms are used throughout the documents and presentations that are being produced or linked to this KDE program. Please note that many of the sections of this web site include other definitions and terms related to their respective focus and topics. Operational Definitions
Behaviour or Learning Theories often underpin and guide the development, implementation and maintenance of interventions, learning/behavioural models, multi-intervention programs and multi-component approaches. These include theories such as Social Learning/Cognition, Planned Behaviour, Moral Disengagement, Self-Determination, Social Attachment, Transtheoretical Model, Emotional Intelligence, Resilience and others. Learning theories are similar and can include constructivism, behaviourism, brain-based/neuroscience, humanism and others. Capacity (OD) (of organizations, professionals, communities and individuals): The concept of organizational capacity can be applied to school health, safety & social development programs at two levels, first in defining the baseline or minimum staffing, financial and policy requirements and secondly, by defining several operational capacities that promote effectiveness.
Curriculum: refers to the required courses of study and sets of learning objectives/outcomes stipulated by national, state/provincial or local education authorities Curriculum Supplement: refers to additional guidance, resources, suggested lesson plans and other advice produced to support the stipulated curriculum. Determinants of health The range of personal, social, economic and environmental factors which determine the health status of individuals or populations. The factors which influence health are multiple and interactive. Health promotion is fundamentally concerned with action and advocacy to address the full range of potentially modifiable determinants of health – not only those which are related to the actions of individuals, such as health behaviours and lifestyles, but also factors such as income and social status, education, employment and working conditions, access to appropriate health services, and the physical environments. These, in combination, create different living conditions which impact on health. Achieving change in these lifestyles and living conditions, which determine health status, are considered to be intermediate health outcomes. Reference: WHO Glossary of Terms in Health Promotion, 2006 Disease prevention covers measures not only to prevent the occurrence of disease, such as risk factor reduction, but also to arrest its progress and reduce its consequences once established. Reference: WHO Glossary of Terms in Health Promotion, 2006 Ecological Approaches recognize that multiple conditions, influences, behaviours and other factors within the child, family, community, neighbourhood, school, community and country interact to affect the child’s development. Consequently, we use multi-component approaches and multi-intervention programs to affect multiple, selected factors in a coordinated manner. Education for Sustainable Development has evolved from its beginning as environmental education into a broader concept that empowers learners to take informed decisions and responsible actions for environmental integrity, economic viability and a just society, for present and future generations, while respecting cultural diversity. Learning content in ESD integrates critical issues, such as climate change, biodiversity, disaster risk reduction (DRR), and sustainable consumption and production (SCP), into the curriculum. Critical thinking and systems thinking are emphasized. Like HPSD and GCED, education for sustainable development can b delivered through a variety of subjects. However, the backbone delivery subject is Science where a broad, holistic approach to environmental and life sciences can be the mainstay. Home Economics is another subject that can be the key delivery for consumer education and financial literacy. Extended Education (EE) is a term used in this survey to capture the non-classroom learning opportunities and programs that can be done through extra-curricular and co-curricular activities, school routines and events, on-line projects, social media campaigns, use of community radio and local media outlets, through family-based education programs, student peer and student leadership programs, mentoring programs, in the community with faith-based, health or social/civil or youth organizations and others. Often this informal learning can be a specific type of learning activity focused on one aspect of youth development or behaviour. However, Extended Education could be delivered through a more purposeful combination of activities to develop a broader spectrum of skills, attitudes, knowledge and behaviours or to increase the dose, intensity or duration of learning about a specific topic, set of skills or mitigate a specific set of circumstances. Global Citizenship Education (GCED) is a term used by many organizations including UNESCO. While the world may be increasingly interconnected, human rights violations, inequality and poverty still threaten peace and sustainability. Under the GCED umbrella, UNESCO and other organizations focus on themes such as social responsibility, including preventing violent extremism through education, education about the Holocaust and genocide, languages in education and the promotion of the rule of law, peace and human rights. Like HPSD education, global citizenship can be taught through several subjects but the main delivery vehicle for the social/societal aspects is Social Studies, particularly History. The personal development issues related to GCED (social responsibility, social & emotional learning, ethics, relationships, life skills, character and moral education are usually delivered through a core HPSD subject or in Moral & Religious education programs. Harm Reduction refers to policies, programs and practices that aim primarily to reduce the adverse health, social and economic consequences of the use of legal and illegal psychoactive drugs without necessarily reducing drug consumption. The concept is similar to "risk reduction" which is applied to other health behaviours to reduce the risks associated with other behaviours such as sexual intercourse by using a condom. (Adapted from National Alliance of Advocates for Buprenorphine Treatment) Health A state of complete physical, social and mental well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Within the context of health promotion, health has been considered less as an abstract state and more as a means to an end which can be expressed in functional terms as a resource which permits people to lead an individually, socially and economically productive life. Health is a resource for everyday life, not the object of living. It is a positive concept emphasizing social and personal resources as well as physical capabilities. Reference: WHO Glossary of Terms in Health Promotion, 2006 Health promotion is the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve their health. Health promotion has emerged as a cornerstone of contemporary public health that aims to advance the physical, social, [sexual, reproductive], and mental health of the wider community. Health promotion represents a comprehensive social and political process,it not only embraces actions directed at strengthening the skills and capabilities of individuals, but also action directed towards changing social, environmental and economic conditions so as to alleviate their impact on public and individual health. The Ottawa Charter identifies three basic strategies for health promotion. These are;advocacy for health to create the essential conditions for health indicated above;enabling all people to achieve their full health potential; andmediating between the different interests in society in the pursuit of health. These strategies are supported by five priority action areas as outlined in the Ottawa Charter for health promotion: (1) build healthy public policy (2) create supportive environments for health, (3) strengthen community action for health, (4) develop personal skills, and (5) re-orient health services. Reference: WHO Glossary of Health Promotion Health, Personal and Social Development Education is not only concerned with the communication of information, but also with fostering the attitudes, beliefs, motivation, skills, behavioral intentions, practical or functional knowledge and confidence (self-efficacy) necessary to take action to improve health, to be aware of and to access health services and various forms of social support as well as take responsibility for the health of others, the community and the environment. Health literacy is a term often used to describe the essential skills, knowledge, attitudes and beliefs required for all students to acquire in order to maintain their own health. Health education includes the communication of information concerning the underlying social, economic and environmental conditions impacting on health, as well as individual risk factors and risk behaviours and use of the health system. Thus, health education may involve the communication of information, and development of skills which demonstrates the political feasibility and organizational possibilities of various forms of action to address social, economic and environmental determinants of health. In the past, health education was used as a term to encompass a wider range of actions including social mobilization and advocacy. These methods are now encompassed in the term health promotion, and a more narrow definition of health education is proposed here to emphasize the distinction. HPSD education curricula in school systems are often delivered apart from or combined with Physical Education, Family Life/Home Economics, Personal/Moral or Character Education, Religious Education and Career/Life Planning Education. Adapted from: WHO Glossary of Health Promotion Health communication is a key strategy to inform the public about health concerns and to maintain important health issues on the public agenda. The use of the mass and multi media and other technological innovations to disseminate useful health information to the public, increases awareness of specific aspects of individual and collective health as well as importance of health in development. Reference: WHO Glossary of Health Promotion Health literacy represents the cognitive and social skills which determine the motivation and ability of individuals to gain access to, understand and use information in ways which promote and maintain good health. Health literacy implies the achievement of a level of knowledge, personal skills and confidence to take action to improve personal and community health by changing personal lifestyles and living conditions. Thus, health literacy means more than being able to read pamphlets and make appointments. By improving people’s access to health information, and their capacity to use it effectively, health literacy is critical to empowerment. Health literacy is itself dependent upon more general levels of literacy. Poor literacy can affect people’s health directly by limiting their personal, social and cultural development, as well as hindering the development of health literacy. Reference: WHO Glossary of Health Promotion Implementation of a Policy, Program, Practice or Approach. The execution of a decision to adopt a program or approach, that is, the innovation or reform of a system suggested by research or experience is put into practice. The scope of the implementation will vary, according to the size, scope and complexity of the change. Innovations (ie specific interventions such as policies, programs, services, professional or organizational practices) are usually implemented without intending or causing a change or shift in emphasis among the basic functions of the organization. Reforms of the system, such as comprehensive or coordinated school health programs, do require a shift in the basic functions of school systems, public health systems and other systems. Institutionalization Ongoing use or continued implementation of the innovation in practice by incorporating the innovation into the routines of an organization (part of sustainable health promotion actions) Other features include; features of “institutionalization”being a line item in the permanent agency budget; having a place in the agency’s organization chart; having personnel or full time equivalents (FTEs) assigned to specific prevention tasks;having position descriptions that include prevention functions and level of effort;having facilities and equipment for program operations;and developing an institutional memory for important agreements and understandings. .Reference: Oldenburg, B. and Parcel, G. 2002. Diffusion of Innovations. In Glanz et al., 2002 Health Behaviour and Health Education, Swisher, J.D. (2000). Sustainability of prevention. Addictive Behaviors, 25, 965-973 Instructional Program: refers to a published set of learning objectives, suggested teaching and learning strategies, lesson plans, educational resources and teacher training materials that have been produced to support a curriculum or even as a stand-alone document suitable for use with several curricula. Intervention is a policy, program, service, organizational or professional practice or organizational routine that can improve one aspect or issue affecting the educational success, health, safety, security, personal, social and environmental protection of young people, their families, and the staff that serve them. Often these individual interventions are developed as an immediate and singular response to a problem and are not positioned within an MCA, MIP or LBP. Knowledge A fluid mix of framed experience, values, contextual information, evidence interpretation and expert insight that provides a framework for decision making, evaluating and incorporating new experiences and information. It may be explicit or tacit, and individual or collective. In organizations, it often becomes embedded not only in documents or repositories, but also in organizational routines, processes, practices, and norms.Source: Davenport, T.H. & Prusak, L. Working Knowledge: How Organizations Manage What They Know, Harvard Business School Press, 1998 and European Committee for Standardization, 2004. Knowledge Dispersal is a more complex, sophisticated understanding of the Knowledge Development, Synthesis, Translation, Exchange, Uptake and Reflection stages in an ideal knowledge management cycle and one that recognizes that knowledge is based on data, evidence, experience and context as well as the fact that, increasingly, all participants in public service endeavours can access, use and even publish different forms of knowledge. Source: Knowledge Dispersal in Canada, Canadian Association for School Health Learning/Behavioural Models (LBMs) bring together a set of goals, elements and interventions to address, guide or promote aspects of child/adolescent development or learning. These include Social & Emotional Learning, Health Literacy, Life Skills, Global Citizenship, Character/Moral Education, Critical Thinking, Resilience, Human Rights, Education for Sustainable Development, Peace Education, Religious Education and others. Usually these LBM’s are anchored in a core subject within the school curriculum (e.g. Education for Sustainable Development in Science, Global Citizenship in Social Studies, Health & Life Skills in Health, etc.) but almost always that can be taught and learned across the core subjects and outside of the classroom. There are also LBM’s that have been developed specifically from the education sector. These include models such as experiential/project-based learning, flipped-learning and others. Multi-component Approach (MCA) is a defined, coordinated set of core components, pillars or Infrastructure that includes a macro-policy, mandatory health-personal-social development or similar curriculum & instruction, minimum set of health, social and other services, minimum physical conditions and safety/sanitary standards, minimum social environment delivered in and with schools through education systems in cooperation with other sectors/ministries and sets of corresponding agencies/ authorities. To be considered a “multicomponent approach”, the MCA needs to have a at least one sector (ministry, agencies professionals) as primary or equal partner. There are several published MCA’s, including Health Promoting Schools, Child Friendly Schools, School Health & Nutrition, Essential Package of Interventions, Safe Schools, Inclusive Schools, Community Schools, WASH, Disaster Risk Reduction, Education in Emergencies, Whole Schools etc.). The education sector works with several sectors, so they often use several MCA’s simultaneously, with different parts of the education system using different MCA’s in their interactions with different sectors. Many MCA’s often have their defined the desired results only at the school level. A systems approach will have multiple levels across multiple sectors as well as other indicators related to contextual fit, implementation quality, system & organizational capacity and other dimensions. Multi-Intervention Programs (MIP) address broad health & social issues (or topics) such as food/nutrition, substance abuse, sexual health/HIV, dropout prevention, bullying prevention, preventing violent extremism, positive behaviour support, gang prevention, child exploitation and others. MIP’s use the core components (policy, education, services etc.) as domains in which specific interventions are delivered and coordinated. MIP’s should be used to strengthen the delivery of a core component (e.g. nutrition & health education) or a MCA (mental health & health promoting schools) but often they are viewed or promoted as separate or even competing initiatives. Policy is a written statement or declaration describing the goals, scope of actions, intended results, essential responsibilities and reporting procedures on an issue or problem determined to be within the mandate of the ministry, publicly funded agency or profession. Population health is an approach to health that aims to improve the health of the entire population and to reduce health inequities among population groups. In order to reach these objectives, it looks at and acts upon the broad range of factors and conditions that have a strong influence on our health.Source: Public Health Agency of Canada. Population health approach. [cited Sept. 20, 2006] Available from: http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/ph-sp/phdd/approach/index.html Positive Youth Development, Asset Development An approach toward all youth that builds on their assets and their potential and helps to counter problems that may affect them. Examples of key elements include providing youth with safe and supportive environments, providing opportunities for youth to pursue their interests, and providing opportunities for youth to show they care about others and their society. Program is a defined and described set of activities (such as providing instruction, health or other services, social support or changes to the physical environment. Re-orienting health services: Health services re-orientation is characterized by a more explicit concern for the achievement of population health outcomes in the ways in which the health system is organized and funded. This must lead to a change of attitude and organization of health services, which focuses on the needs of the individual as a whole person, balanced against the needs of population groups. Reference: WHO Glossary of Health Promotion School Board, District or Local Education Authority is the regional or local organization elected or appointed to administer schools in a given territory. School Health & Development (SH&D) is a phrase used often in this web site to reflect various ad-hoc collections or planned combinations of these multiple aspects, sectors and the use of various MCA’s, MIP’s or LBM’s. Promoting “educational success, health and development” is another phrase used in this survey to capture all or several aspects of child/adolescent development. This success includes equal access, equitable academic achievement and school effectiveness School Health Promotion is the school-based or school-linked application of health promotion strategies within and through the school setting. Several terms are used around the world to describe this process including healthy schools, health promoting schools, coordinated school health programs and comprehensive school health approaches. Similar holistic terms are used to denote multi-intervention approaches, programs and strategies to promote community-school linkages, school safety and caring, effective schools, schools in low income countries, schools serving aboriginal communities and schools responding to emergencies such as war, disasters and epidemics. As well, there are similar issue specific terms promoting or addressing human rights, child/youth engagement, inclusion of students with disabilities, mental health, physical activity, drugs and alcohol, tobacco use, social & emotional learning and more. This encyclopedia and knowledge exchange program makes a distinction among comprehensive approaches (multi-issue, multi-system, multi-level), coordinated agency and school programs (multiple interventions involving education and other agency personnel on one or a select few issues) and whole school strategies that involve only school or education system personnel in the delivery of interventions. Social marketing is the application of commercial marketing technologies to the analysis, planning, execution and evaluation of programs designed to influence the behaviour of target audiences in order to improve the welfare of individuals and society. Reference: WHO Glossary of Health Promotion Social support That assistance available to individuals and groups from within communities which can provide a buffer against adverse life events and living conditions, and can provide a positive resource for enhancing the quality of life. Social support may include emotional support, information sharing and the provision of material resources and services. Social support is now widely recognized as an important determinant of health, and an essential element of social capita. Reference: WHO Glossary of Health Promotion Sustainable health promotion, safety and social or sustainable development actions are those that can maintain their benefits for communities and populations beyond their initial stage of implementation. Sustainable actions can continue to be delivered within the limits of finances, expertise, infrastructure, natural resources and participation by stakeholders. Reference: WHO Glossary of Health Promotion Systems-focused Actions through a systems approach shift or broaden our attention from promoting/enforcing specific policies and delivering specific programs at the front-line school/ neighbourhood level to the agencies and ministries that must provide coherent, coordinated and substantive support to schools and front-line professionals so that they have the organizational capacity needed to deliver multi-intervention programs and multi-component approaches. Systems-focused actions are more than an “ecological approach” that recognizes the influence of multiple factors and conditions at multiple levels and is also more than “systems thinking” that helps us to understand the barriers and bottlenecks that limit sustainable or significant change. These actions change organizational routines, structures, procedures, professional and manager practices and more. Whole Child approach recognizes that the education, health, safety, security, personal, social and sustainable development of children and adolescents are intertwined. Like the UN Sustainable Development goals, the ministries and agencies from these sectors need to align their efforts to avoid competition and duplication. In this survey, we use the term “health & development” to include all these aspects of child development and all of the ministries/ agencies that provide the school-based and school-linked services, programs through MCA’s, MIP’s or LBP’s. |
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