Editorial

Abstract

Welcome to Issue 57.05 of the International Journal of Health Promotion and Education. In this issue we are delighted to present papers representing work from Europe, Ghana and Iran that provide a snapshot of the innovative research projects in health promotion, health education and public health that are taking place across the globe. This issue covers a broad range of issues from driver behaviour to health promoting hospitals to sun protective behaviours to concepts of health. The first paper explores the concept of Health Promoting Hospitals, one of the key settings for health promotion as outlined by the World Health Organization. This systematic review aimed to establish the facilitating and impeding factors in adapting the Health Promoting Hospitals standards using the Socio Ecological Model as a framework for investigation. Drawing on 24 publications from developed countries the review found that the most frequently cited facilitating factors were availability of resources, leadership and management support, intra health system collaboration/partnership and organizational capacity building for the implementation of Health Promotion Hospitals. Conversely, the impeding factors were found to be scarcity of resources, insufficient leadership and/or management support, lack of skilled and informed or committed staff, deficiency of evaluation programmes, low priority of health promotion activities, and the staff not having a health promotion approach. The impeding and facilitating factors occurred throughout the different levels of the Socio Ecological Model framework from the individual level to the political level. The authors discuss the implications of the findings for the design and development of current and future hospital settings. The next paper focuses on a country-level issue in urban Ghana that has relevance far beyond, particularly in contexts where rapid motorisation is taking place. Road traffic accidents and injury are a global health issue contributing significant mortality and morbidity. The paper explores risk perception and fatalism in relation to risky driving behaviour and argues that an understanding of these factors can aid in the design of more effective road safety education for drivers as well as for road safety policy and practice. The paper from Iran by Peyman et al. examines the effect of mother’s health literacy level on their teenage children’s sun protective behaviours using social cognitive theory. The findings from this study show that the health literacy level of the mother and constructs from social cognitive theory are significant determinants of sun protective behaviours in teenagers. As such, the authors argue that these factors should be taken into consideration in the design and development of educational interventions aimed at facilitating healthy lifestyles. The final paper in this issue from the Netherlands explores the attitudes of health care lecturers and students towards the concept of Positive Health which encompasses six domains: bodily functions, mental function, spiritual/existential dimension, quality INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HEALTH PROMOTION AND EDUCATION 2019, VOL. 57, NO. 5, 233–234 https://doi.org/10.1080/14635240.2019.1638074