Health Promotion International[JOURNAL]
Sun
200 papers
From community engagement to lived experience leadership: a systematic review of HIV services among men who have sex with men.
Pamoso AHG, Waldron E, Sutarsa IN … +2 more , Rasmussen ML, Scholz B
Health Promot Int · 2026 Jul · PMID 42391518 · Publisher ↗
Community responses are essential to achieving the global goal of Ending AIDS by 2030, yet men who have sex with men (MSM) remain underrepresented and often tokenized within HIV initiatives. While community engagement is...
Community responses are essential to achieving the global goal of Ending AIDS by 2030, yet men who have sex with men (MSM) remain underrepresented and often tokenized within HIV initiatives. While community engagement is widely emphasized, far less attention has been given to leadership rooted in lived experience. Meaningful community engagement requires recognizing MSM not merely as a target population, but as leaders shaping HIV responses. This systematic review examines how MSM perceive the use of their lived experiences in HIV responses and how institutions incorporate these experiences into service delivery. Following PRISMA guidelines, we analyzed 40 peer-reviewed studies. Results show that across diverse contexts, MSM navigate systemic barriers-including intersecting systems of oppression-that hinder equitable access to HIV care. Despite these challenges, MSM assume (in)formal roles of leadership, negotiating power, and agency within institutions that have historically marginalized them. Using lived experience leadership as a framework in HIV services characterizes meaningful community engagement among MSM and their communities, including pathways for strengthening community-engaged HIV health promotion. This synthesis underscores the need to move beyond narrow notions of community engagement and toward recognizing MSM as leaders whose experiential expertise can enhance equity, relevance, and effectiveness in HIV health promotion programs and provides actionable insights for community-engaged service design and policy.
Understanding how food literacy is characterized and measured in the Pacific Islands region: a scoping review.
Horsey B, Taylor J, Burkhart S
Health Promot Int · 2026 Jul · PMID 42384948 · Full text
Food literacy is an emerging research area and focus of health promotion initiatives to improve nutrition outcomes. Food literacy is contextual, and definitions differ across specific populations or settings. Food litera...
Food literacy is an emerging research area and focus of health promotion initiatives to improve nutrition outcomes. Food literacy is contextual, and definitions differ across specific populations or settings. Food literacy as a concept has not been well studied in Pacific Islander populations. The aim of this scoping review was to identify how food literacy is characterized and measured in the Pacific Islands context and describe food literacy health promotion initiatives that may inform policy, practice, and research. The research questions were as follows: (i) How has food literacy been defined, described, and measured in Pacific Islands countries and territories populations? (ii) What health promotion initiatives have been implemented to develop and improve food literacy in these populations? A scoping review using a published protocol was conducted to identify grey and empirical evidence that broadly defined, described, measured, or explored food literacy and/or its components within Melanesia, Polynesia, and Micronesia subregions, within the previous 30 years. The search using three academic databases and relevant websites identified 44 sources representing 16 Pacific Islands countries and territories. Of these, four sources used the term 'food literacy'. All other sources measured or promoted a food literacy knowledge, skill or behaviour, or a skill without directly naming it, highlighting the unique sociocultural elements influencing food literacy throughout this region. Understanding food literacy from this sociocultural context can help inform public health policy and health promotion practice, leading to more effective initiatives that reflect local values and practices and support local food systems.
Exploring school nurses' potential to strengthen young people's resilience to misinformation by promoting critical health literacy in Norway.
Holst C, Munthe-Kaas HM, Nordheim LV … +2 more , Enoksen M, Rosenbaum S
Health Promot Int · 2026 May · PMID 42361227 · Full text
Young people are increasingly exposed to health misinformation, especially in social media. They often lack the skills necessary to think critically about misleading claims they encounter and decisions they make. The Inf...
Young people are increasingly exposed to health misinformation, especially in social media. They often lack the skills necessary to think critically about misleading claims they encounter and decisions they make. The Informed Health Choices framework provides principles for critical health literacy. These can be taught using resources shown to have positive impact on student's abilities to think critically about health claims and make informed decisions. We explored the potential for school nurses in Norway to use a tailored set of teaching resources to support young people's resilience to health misinformation harm. We conducted this qualitative context analysis for the purpose of informing resource development. We identified key issues related to school nurses' capability, opportunity, and motivation to teach a set of critical health literacy principles and their needs regarding resource design. We conducted interviews, a focus group discussion, and co-design workshop and applied framework analysis to synthesize findings. School nurses in Norway seem keenly aware of young people's vulnerability to harms posed by misinformation and likely motivated to expand their teaching role to include teaching critical health literacy. However, critical health literacy knowledge varies among school nurses. Teaching opportunities are limited, largely due to many mandated tasks. Therefore, content needs to be clearly aligned with their nurses' existing responsibilities and school curricula, and resources should be designed to support school nurses with limited time and critical health literacy skills, adaptable to emerging topics, be engaging to students, and facilitate school collaboration.
Learning from Latin America: toward stronger regulation of unhealthy food marketing.
Théodore FL, Aragón-Gama AC, Durán R … +2 more , Rodríguez Osiac L, Tolentino-Mayo L
Health Promot Int · 2026 May · PMID 42330193 · Full text
Childhood obesity in Latin America and the Caribbean continues to rise, driven in part by increased access to ultraprocessed products and pervasive unhealthy food marketing. For more than two decades, the World Health Or...
Childhood obesity in Latin America and the Caribbean continues to rise, driven in part by increased access to ultraprocessed products and pervasive unhealthy food marketing. For more than two decades, the World Health Organization has called on governments to regulate such practices. While prior research has focused largely on policy design and adoption, less attention has been given to implementation, monitoring, and evaluation, critical stages of the policy cycle. This study addresses this gap by examining experiences in Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Peru, and Uruguay. We report findings from the qualitative component of a mixed-methods study based on a descriptive qualitative design. Data were generated through semistructured interviews with 22 key informants from diverse institutional sectors and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Across all cases, implementation processes were shaped by sustained industry interference and, in some cases, political instability and broader systemic disruptions. Informants highlighted that countries' capacity to withstand these pressures depended on two interrelated domains: governance arrangements and institutional capacity. Overall, the effectiveness and sustainability of unhealthy food marketing regulations depend on strong health governance, adequate institutional capacity, comprehensive regulatory frameworks, and exposure-based monitoring approaches that reduce regulatory ambiguity and strengthen child protection.
Exploring parkrun experiences of women aged 35 to 54 in Australia: a qualitative study.
Benkowitz C, O'Halloran P, Quirk H … +2 more , Bullas A, Haake S
Health Promot Int · 2026 May · PMID 42302191 · Full text
To increase global activity levels, the World Health Organization's Global Action Plan on Physical Activity includes the implementation of mass-participation, community events that provide an opportunity for individuals...
To increase global activity levels, the World Health Organization's Global Action Plan on Physical Activity includes the implementation of mass-participation, community events that provide an opportunity for individuals to be active in their local spaces. One such initiative is parkrun, with free, weekly 5-km run/walk events worldwide and around 500 events with roughly 50 000 participants every Saturday morning in Australia. While women make up half of parkrun participation in Australia, they face different barriers than men to physical activity and have lower activity levels globally. With the aim of informing how community-based physical activity initiatives like parkrun could increase women's physical activity levels, 29 semistructured interviews were conducted with women aged between 35 and 54 years old who have participated in parkrun. Using reflexive thematic analysis, four themes were developed based on elements that are important to women in their parkrun experience: (1) parkrun can be whatever you want it to be, (2) the parkrun experience is consistent, (3) parkrun creates connections, and (4) parkrun allows growth and change. Based on these themes, and with the context of health promotion theories, some elements that should be considered when aiming to create initiatives to increase women's activity levels through community events are to have an element of regularity and repetition; to allow for flexibility in attendance; and to create space for social engagement.
Navigating strategies for intercultural maternal and newborn care in Latin America and the Caribbean: a scoping review.
Guedes de Almeida MM, Barreto do Nascimento Filho T, Ruiz Cortés RI … +1 more , Iturrino Vilchez F
Health Promot Int · 2026 May · PMID 42295021 · Full text
In Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), women from racial and ethnic minority groups experience disproportionately worse maternal health outcomes. In addition to facing barriers to accessing maternity services, they of...
In Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), women from racial and ethnic minority groups experience disproportionately worse maternal health outcomes. In addition to facing barriers to accessing maternity services, they often receive culturally inappropriate care. To address these inequities, a range of intercultural approaches to maternal and newborn care has been implemented across the region. However, the extent and nature of these initiatives over the past decade remain underexplored. We conducted a scoping review to identify, categorize, and describe strategies for promoting intercultural maternal and newborn care in LAC. We searched nine databases and grey literature for studies published in English, Spanish, or Portuguese between 2013 and 2024. This review identified 75 studies and 16 strategy categories across 13 countries. Most studies addressed Indigenous populations and employed qualitative methods. Strategies were grouped into four cross-cutting domains: (i) healthcare adaptations and workforce capacity building, (ii) intercultural communication and knowledge exchange, (iii) community engagement, and (iv) institutional support and governance. The identified strategies engaged stakeholders at the community, facility, and system levels. Based on these findings, we developed a framework for interculturality in maternal and newborn care. Our analysis indicates that sustainable implementation depends on addressing structural barriers and integrating intercultural principles into health system planning, service delivery, policy, and governance. The proposed framework can inform research, policymaking, and development of intercultural maternal and newborn care initiatives in LAC and other culturally diverse settings.
Urgent investment needed to reclaim lactation care and training to support Indigenous women, babies, families, and communities.
Stewart G, Finlay SM, Kennedy M … +9 more , Bennett J, Gall A, Sherwood J, Chamberlain C, Dickson M, Turner N, Williams K, Briggs M, Sherriff S
Health Promot Int · 2026 May · PMID 42275272 · Full text
Indigenous women have been nurturing and sustaining our babies through breastfeeding for thousands of years as an important practice for health, wellbeing, community and culture. Breastfeeding is key to giving our babies...
Indigenous women have been nurturing and sustaining our babies through breastfeeding for thousands of years as an important practice for health, wellbeing, community and culture. Breastfeeding is key to giving our babies the best start to life. For many Indigenous women in Western colonized countries breastfeeding and cultural practices have been disrupted by the ongoing impacts of colonization. In this article, we draw on our lived experiences as Indigenous women with breastfeeding knowledges and a review on the field of breastfeeding support. We highlight how cultural breastfeeding practices and cultural medicines, including community-governed use of plant medicines, ceremony, massage and other practices defined by each Community, sustain breastfeeding, maternal wellbeing and infant health, yet remain marginalized in mainstream lactation care. There is a need to reclaim the lactation support space to have care that is grounded in our ways of knowing, being and doing. Indigenous voices have been sidelined from the breastfeeding support and lactation training space due to Western centric knowledges and a colonial lens being privileged. Therefore, prioritizing and privileging the voices and knowledges of Indigenous women and amplifying their experiences into the lactation field will improve breastfeeding rates and health outcomes. We call for the urgent investment into lactation care that prioritizes Indigenous knowledge systems, including cultural medicines, to support Indigenous women through their breastfeeding journeys. This requires funding, resources, investment, and support to build an Indigenous lactation workforce and recognize Indigenous-led lactation training as legitimate and necessary ways of supporting Indigenous women and families to breastfeed.
Discourses on children and health in National Public Health Policy documents: examples from Sweden and Norway.
Lögdberg U, Hammerin Z, Hedin G … +4 more , Oldeide O, Tjelta T, Dahl BM, Clancy A
Health Promot Int · 2026 May · PMID 42262065 · Full text
Promoting the health of children remains a global and national priority, as reflected in the proliferation of public health policies, strategies, and guidelines over the past decade. While these documents aim to improve...
Promoting the health of children remains a global and national priority, as reflected in the proliferation of public health policies, strategies, and guidelines over the past decade. While these documents aim to improve health outcomes, they also play a critical role in shaping how children and young people are constructed as health subjects. This study critically examines recent national public health policy documents from Sweden and Norway through a health promotion lens, focusing on the discursive positioning of children. Drawing on theoretical insights from critical childhood studies and public health policy research to frame our discourse analysis, we identify dominant narratives that frame children primarily as passive, dependent, and vulnerable. These adult-centric discourses, rooted in risk and knowledge paradigms, offer limited space for agency, participation, or rights-based approaches. Despite strong rhetorical commitments to equality and child health, the policies risk reinforcing hierarchical power relations and deficit-based views of childhood. We argue that aligning public health policy with health promotion principles requires reframing children not merely as future investments, but as present rights-holders and active contributors to their own health. Embedding participatory mechanisms and expanding comparative research across welfare contexts may foster more inclusive and empowering policy development. This study contributes to ongoing debates on child agency, policy framing, and the role of discourse in shaping health promotion practice.
Enduring strengths and a critical gap, the Ottawa Charter and animal rescue fostering in Aotearoa-New Zealand.
Roseveare C, Murray L, Breheny M … +2 more , Mansvelt J, Wilkie M
Health Promot Int · 2026 May · PMID 42262064 · Full text
According to the Ottawa Charter, both care for others and a supportive environment promote health. Although the Ottawa charter focuses on the human context, animal rescue organizations can be conceptualized as providing...
According to the Ottawa Charter, both care for others and a supportive environment promote health. Although the Ottawa charter focuses on the human context, animal rescue organizations can be conceptualized as providing supportive environments as part of their work to rehome animals. Animal fosterers also build care relationships with the animals they foster. Therefore, the Ottawa Charter provides a foundation for viewing animal fostering as health promotion. This mixed-methods study analysed animal rescue cat fostering programmes in Aotearoa-New Zealand from the perspective of the Ottawa Charter. Data was collected using a quantitative survey of 40 cat rescue organizations with foster programmes, and semistructured interviews (n = 14) with foster programme co-ordinators across Aotearoa-New Zealand. Template analysis was used to apply principles from the Ottawa Charter to the interview data, revealing (i) fostering as care to create health, and (ii) Ottawa charter strategies in action. Key findings were that fostering involved multiple, sometimes challenging aspects of care for others. Some co-ordinators described using strategies aligned with Ottawa Charter action areas to structure their service (strengthening community action, creating supportive environments, developing skills, and reorienting from institutional to community-based services). These strategies supported their ability to care for themselves, and animals. We argue the Ottawa Charter's framing of care for others can be expanded to include human-animal relationships and that cat fostering programmes demonstrate health promotion in action. This case study demonstrates the Ottawa Charter's enduring contribution while highlighting the need for public health to evolve to maintain relevance in our multispecies world.
Attitudes to mandatory COVID-19 vaccination in early life: findings from the multi-country cross-sectional CANDOUR study.
Porter G, Roope LSJ, Violato M … +4 more , Duch R, Clarke PM, Knight M, Ramakrishnan R
Health Promot Int · 2026 May · PMID 42262063 · Full text
We examined variation in attitude toward mandatory COVID-19 vaccination in early life by sociodemographic characteristics, personal COVID-19 experience, health risk attitude, political ideology, and other COVID-19 vaccin...
We examined variation in attitude toward mandatory COVID-19 vaccination in early life by sociodemographic characteristics, personal COVID-19 experience, health risk attitude, political ideology, and other COVID-19 vaccine mandate attitudes. For this purpose, we used data from 19 928 participants from 16 countries surveyed in March-November 2022 for the second wave of the COVID-19 vaccine preference and opinion survey (CANDOUR). Analyses were adjusted for poststratification weighting. Participants who disagreed with early life mandatory COVID-19 vaccination were more likely to decline vaccination against COVID-19 (14.5%) compared with those who were neutral (1.8%) and those who agreed (0.5%). Disagreement with early life mandatory vaccination was associated with more unwillingness to take risks with their own health, being centre or left-wing on the left-right political spectrum, believing COVID-19 vaccination should be a personal choice, and being opposed to vaccine mandates for schoolchildren and the public. Neutrality or agreement with early life mandatory vaccination was associated with neutrality or agreement with a vaccine mandate for schoolchildren or a governmental COVID-19 vaccine mandate for everybody. Pandemic preparedness governance needs to focus on attitudes toward vaccine mandates. Further research and commitment by governments at various levels are needed to identify social, cultural, and system-level factors that could inform vaccination strategies to be implemented for the next pandemic.
Evaluating digital health literacy interventions for adults 45+ years: a scoping review.
Sinanan R, Van Doorn G, Browning C … +2 more , Klein B, Foale C
Health Promot Int · 2026 May · PMID 42261765 · Full text
Digital health literacy is increasingly vital for equitable healthcare, yet adults aged 45+ may face age-related and psychosocial barriers that limit digital engagement. Interventions targeting these barriers are crucial...
Digital health literacy is increasingly vital for equitable healthcare, yet adults aged 45+ may face age-related and psychosocial barriers that limit digital engagement. Interventions targeting these barriers are crucial. This review mapped the design and effectiveness of current digital health literacy interventions for adults 45+ years, assessing how they addressed biological, psychological, and social (biopsychosocial) dimensions and key outcomes. The review followed Joanna Briggs Institute methodology and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines. Five databases were searched for English-language studies published between 2015 and 2025. Twenty-four studies met inclusion criteria, comprising randomized controlled trials, quasi-experimental studies, qualitative research, and systematic and scoping reviews. Data were synthesized and thematically mapped against biopsychosocial dimensions and effectiveness outcomes, including competence, critical thinking, empowerment, sustained engagement, and health outcomes. Most interventions were associated with improvements in digital skills, confidence, and self-efficacy, particularly when delivered face-to-face, in small groups, or through blended formats. However, most focused on psychological factors, with biological and social dimensions addressed inconsistently. Only one study incorporated all three biopsychosocial dimensions, and none assessed all effectiveness outcomes simultaneously. There was limited evidence for improvements in sustained engagement, critical thinking, and longer-term health outcomes following intervention. Digital health literacy interventions for adults aged 45+ years may therefore benefit from extending beyond a focus on technical skills to address the broader range of age-related biopsychosocial barriers. In this context, a biopsychosocial-digital framework appears to offer a more comprehensive foundation for the design and evaluation of interventions aimed at supporting meaningful and sustained health outcomes.
Income, food expenditure shares, and severe food insecurity in Australia across 21 waves of HILDA.
Paloyo AR, Kent K, Gebremariam A … +1 more , Charlton K
Health Promot Int · 2026 May · PMID 42240051 · Full text
This study aimed to examine the association between household income and severe food insecurity in Australia and to assess how income-related patterns vary across geographic scales. Using 21 waves (2001-2021) of the Hous...
This study aimed to examine the association between household income and severe food insecurity in Australia and to assess how income-related patterns vary across geographic scales. Using 21 waves (2001-2021) of the Household, Income, and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey, we measured severe food insecurity through reported meal skipping due to financial constraint and food-related economic pressure through the share of household income spent on food. All estimates were weighted using HILDA population weights matched to each outcome. At the national level, weighted prevalence of meal skipping was 3.6% over the pooled sample (3.4% in the most recent wave), with a pronounced income gradient: individuals in the lowest income percentiles had a predicted probability of meal skipping exceeding 7%, compared with <1% at the 95th percentile. Food expenditure share declined monotonically with rising income, with households in the lowest quintile spending more than 30% of equivalized income on food. Among those who ever reported meal skipping in the balanced panel, the experience was episodic for most (5.8% of respondents reported it in exactly one of 21 waves) but recurrent for a nontrivial minority (9.1% in two or more waves). We formally tested whether prevalence in the Illawarra Shoalhaven region differed from the national average and found no statistically significant difference (F = 1.01, P = 0.315), suggesting that the income-gradient finding generalizes across geographic contexts. Severe food insecurity in Australia is strongly and persistently patterned by income, reinforcing income adequacy as the central policy lever for reducing hunger in high-income settings.
Validity of the Japanese version of the Health Promoting School culture scale: multilevel associations with workplace social capital.
Kyan A, Masukawa K, Takakura M
Health Promot Int · 2026 May · PMID 42227136 · Full text
The World Health Organization's Health Promoting School (HPS) framework takes a multi-component approach integrating health into education, environment, policy, and community partnership. Effective implementation depends...
The World Health Organization's Health Promoting School (HPS) framework takes a multi-component approach integrating health into education, environment, policy, and community partnership. Effective implementation depends not only on resources but also on school culture-the shared values and norms that sustain health promoting practice. The Health Promoting School Culture Scale (HPSCS) measures these cultural and normative foundations. This study validated a Japanese version (J-HPSCS) and examined its psychometric and multilevel properties. A web-based survey was administered to 1148 staff from 135 public high schools in one Japanese prefecture. After forward-backward translation and expert review, confirmatory factor analysis tested factorial validity; convergent and discriminant validity were examined using composite reliability, average variance extracted, and the Fornell-Larcker criterion. Multilevel models assessed between-school variation and concurrent validity using workplace social capital as an external correlate. Four items on community partnerships, school meals, and active transport showed weak performance and were removed. The refined 12-item, three-factor structure (Parent engagement in the school, School/Teachers' Commitment to Student Health, and School Physical Environment) demonstrated acceptable reliability and validity. J-HPSCS scores were positively associated with workplace social capital at both individual and school levels, with stronger effects at the school level. The J-HPSCS provides a concise, reliable measure of school organizational culture that supports health promoting practice and can be used to monitor implementation and inform policy within educational systems.
Rethinking fussiness in commercial food contexts.
Bennett J, Harper I, Broom A … +4 more , Kenny K, Harris HA, Wright F, Raubenheimer D
Health Promot Int · 2026 May · PMID 42224087 · Full text
So-called 'fussy' or 'picky' eating has been construed as a problem of parenting feeding practices and children's defiant eating behaviours. However, this 'fussiness' about food unfolds in a food environment rife with mi...
So-called 'fussy' or 'picky' eating has been construed as a problem of parenting feeding practices and children's defiant eating behaviours. However, this 'fussiness' about food unfolds in a food environment rife with misleading marketing messages, conflicting information, and the widespread availability of ultra-processed food (UPF). Where fussiness leads to dietary patterns high in UPF, it can have significant implications for a child's life-long health. These broader intersections of commercial forces, biology, developmental neurology, and family food environments are unclear. This paper extends recent work on the commercial determinants of health by reframing food fussiness as a structural phenomenon shaped by commercial influences, rather than solely as an individual trait. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 34 parents of children aged 1-18 years old, the paper examines a rising form of food fussiness that follows a different timeline to the expected ∼3-year old peak-one which develops in early school years and presents as a persistent preference for UPF. We find that parents see themselves as pitted against a powerful food industry that directly engineers and markets food commodities that shape children's tastes, which in turn structures and delimits what foods children expect and desire. We argue that the commercial food environment is an overlooked influence on food fussiness, and that systems-level interventions are required to address it.
Clarifying the social and structural determinants of health and health inequities: refining and extending a conceptual framework.
Karatekin C, Chakraborty S, Fteiha M … +4 more , Corcoran F, Khanna U, Mason SM, Barnes AJ
Health Promot Int · 2026 May · PMID 42216839 · Full text
Social and structural determinants of health and health inequities (SSDHHI) include upstream factors influencing policies that shape health. We conducted a qualitative case study of the 2023 passage of the Minnesota Chil...
Social and structural determinants of health and health inequities (SSDHHI) include upstream factors influencing policies that shape health. We conducted a qualitative case study of the 2023 passage of the Minnesota Child Tax Credit (CTC) to refine and extend an SSDHHI framework [Karatekin et al. (Re-politicizing the WHO's social determinants of health framework. Health Promot Int 2024;39:daae122)] that centers power and the agents who use power to shape SSDHHI. We coded interviews with key players in the state administration, legislature, and advocacy organizations (N = 15); and related news items and hearings. We operationalized the framework's components, including "Agents, Power, Governance, and Institutional Practices," the "Election System," and "Ideas" fueling narratives about the CTC. Using the results, we refined the framework by linking "Agents" and "Power"; considering the types, dimensions, and motivations for "Power"; pointing out components that need further clarification; and introducing bidirectional links between components. We extended the framework by including a temporal dimension to highlight historical roots and emphasizing the importance of the conjunctions of factors that affect SSDHHI. This framework can be used to analyze other SSDHHI and to guide action by practitioners, e.g., by identifying individual or institutional targets of interventions and strategies for obtaining and using "Power" to drive policy change and improve public health.
Dance for health impact in a rural Scottish island community: understanding stakeholder experiences.
Davis E, Whiteside B, Stott T … +1 more , Paul L
Health Promot Int · 2026 May · PMID 42216838 · Full text
Research and practice around dance for promoting health and well-being are rapidly expanding, especially dance for chronic neurological conditions. Yet, research has primarily focused on assessing individual-level therap...
Research and practice around dance for promoting health and well-being are rapidly expanding, especially dance for chronic neurological conditions. Yet, research has primarily focused on assessing individual-level therapeutic outcomes, providing limited insight into broader stakeholder voices and community-level health impacts. In response, a longitudinal qualitative interview study was conducted to explore stakeholder perspectives on the community impact of a collaborative, community-centred dance for multiple sclerosis (MS) initiative in a rural Scottish island community. Repeated semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 19 participants, recruited purposively across three fieldwork visits. Participants included organizational partners, dance practitioners, musicians, volunteers, and dancers with MS. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Three themes were developed: (i) amplifying specialist community dance capacity, supporting individual practitioners and the island's wider dance industry; (ii) promoting social capital and inclusion among the diverse local stakeholders involved, especially those living with MS; and (iii) providing a holistic well-being resource for participant dancers with MS, affording regular opportunities for physical, joyful, and meaningful activity through dance. By adopting a broader health promotion perspective, findings show that community-centred dance for health initiatives can generate a range of impacts in rural contexts both among and beyond the primary target participant group (i.e. people with MS), supporting capacity, inclusion, and well-being. Given the breadth of community impacts reported, findings also highlight the importance of maintaining such changes locally, suggesting the need for further consideration around organizational planning, support, and investment in the long-term sustainability of dance for health in rural contexts.
The illusion of empowerment: commercializing women's health in the digital age.
Nickel B, Copp T, Mintzes B
Health Promot Int · 2026 May · PMID 42216837 · Full text
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Promoting sexual and reproductive health in development and governance priorities for youth in Nepal: a qualitative exploration using reproductive justice framework.
Neupane P, Adhikari P, Luitel B … +3 more , Tuladhar L, Dhakal P, Timilsina A
Health Promot Int · 2026 May · PMID 42216836 · Full text
This qualitative study explores the perceptions of promoting sexual and reproductive health (SRH) as a priority in development and governance among youth in Nepal. Despite progressive national frameworks supporting gende...
This qualitative study explores the perceptions of promoting sexual and reproductive health (SRH) as a priority in development and governance among youth in Nepal. Despite progressive national frameworks supporting gender equality and SRH, the SRH indicators and ground reality suggest a pressing need for improved commitment to ensuring safe and quality SRH services. Using a reproductive justice lens, the study engaged 105 diverse participants including youth leaders, former youth leaders, donors, and local government officials through in-depth interviews, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions conducted across all seven provinces of Nepal. While youth-led initiatives demonstrate promising efforts in policy advocacy, and digital engagement, they often encounter systemic and institutional hurdles like tokenism, policy exclusion, limited funding; and socio-cultural barriers such as deep-seated social stigma, and lack of inclusive programming. These barriers disproportionately impact marginalized groups, including sexual and gender minorities, persons with disabilities, and Dalit and Madheshi communities. To enable real progress in promoting SRH, this study identified a shift away from existing top-down approaches towards localized and decentralized strategies fostering youth agency, co-creation, and co-ownership of programs along with local governments, mainstreaming gender, and decentralizing resources and power for effective SRH promotion strategies.
Operationalizing the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion in Thailand: the role of ThaiHealth.
Wongwatcharapaiboon P, Ruangrittisak N, Sakornsin Ruddit M … +2 more , Munkong R, Supaka N
Health Promot Int · 2026 May · PMID 42206955 · Full text
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Correction to: Co-design of the 'OurFutures Vaping' programme: a school-based eHealth intervention to prevent e-cigarette use.
Health Promot Int · 2026 May · PMID 42200555 · Full text
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