Mental health promotion for young people: a proposal for a tripartite approach

Population Health Approaches to Defining the Mental Health Problems of Australian Adolescents

A cross‐sectional representative population survey was used to identify adolescents with mild to moderate mental health problems and to identify areas for possible intervention. Outcome variables were depression, stress, behavioural problems and study problems. An analysis was carried out examining associations between mental health problems and socio‐demographic and behavioural variables. A sizeable proportion reported one or more mental health problems. Among those reporting extreme levels of these problems, few had sought help or talked to someone. The paper concludes that population health data provide useful information that could be addressed through school programmes to enhance resilience and promote adolescent mental health.

The contribution of health promotion to community children's nursing

This article discusses the range of current thinking on health promotion with special reference to community children's nursing. The scene is set with the identification of a number of issues currently at the heart of the promotion of health in children and young people. Emphasis is placed on the unprecedented expansion of interest in the promotion of children's health in Northern Ireland. Current meanings attributed to health promotion are discussed and applied to the practice of community children's nursing. Some of the contentious elements of these definitions and meanings are debated. For example, the distinct meanings of health and well-being in children are discussed and the issue of whether health promotion should be aimed at individual children, their families, or their communities is pondered. Prevention, it is argued, is one particularly important component of the promotion of health in children in the community in Northern Ireland.