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Effective public mental health policy and practice call for a trained workforce that is competent in mental health promotion and delivering on improved mental health. Systematic information on what competencies are needed for mental health promotion practice in the health sector is lacking. The purpose of this paper is to investigate these competencies for mental health promotion.

A Delphi survey was carried out to facilitate a consensus-building process on development of the competencies. Professionals (n=32) working in mental health and mental health promotion took part in the survey. The experts were asked their professional views on the needed competencies as well as to rank the importance of the competencies. Two questionnaire rounds were carried out in order to reach consensus.

In total, 16 main competencies and 56 subcompetencies were identified through the Delphi survey. The competencies were divided into three category domains: theoretical knowledge, practical skills and attitudes and values each category representing an important aspect of mental health promotion competency.

The competencies provide a resource for workforce development, as they illustrate what theoretical knowledge, practical skills and attitudes and values are required. They provide an instrument to enhance education and training programmes in mental health promotion contributing to a more skilled workforce and improved quality of practice as well.

A strong consensus was reached within the participating experts, them viewing all competencies as important. The identified competencies highlight the great variety of different competencies and competency areas that are needed for effective mental health promotion practice in the health sector.

The purpose of this paper is to explore Finnish adolescents’ subjective health literacy (HL) in association to school achievement, learning difficulties, educational aspirations, and family affluence.

Nationally representative data were collected in Finland as a part of the international Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study. The respondents consisted in total of 3,833 adolescents (7th and 9th graders) from 359 schools. The Health Literacy for School-aged Children instrument was applied to measure adolescents’ subjective HL, while the Family Affluence Scale was used to measure adolescents’ socioeconomic status. Information was gathered on school achievement, learning difficulties, and educational aspirations.

Approximately one-third of the adolescents manifested a high level of HL, around 60 per cent had a moderate level of HL, and about one-tenth had low HL. The HL level was lower for boys than for girls, and lower for 7th graders than for 9th graders. In the total sample, the strongest explanatory variables for HL were school achievement in the first language, and educational aspirations.

This study provides the first nationally representative examination of adolescents’ subjective HL levels, and how these vary across age and gender groups. In drawing conclusions and presenting suggestions for HL interventions, it is important to verify the nature of the HL examined in any given study, and how it was researched.

This paper aims to clarify the extent to which youth sports clubs guide their coaches to recognise health promotion as a part of the coaching practice. The guidance activity of clubs is seen parallel to internal organisational communication.

A survey of 93 (from 120, 78 per cent) youth sports clubs in Finland was carried out, and a total of 273 sports club officials acted as respondents. The clubs' guidance activity was examined under three domains: sports performance time, non‐performance sports club time, and health topics.

In general, youth sports clubs were passive on guiding their coaches on health promotion. Guidance activity was evident concerning actual sports performance time, whereas non‐performance sports club time received much less attention. Health topics were guided to a varying degree in that the clubs had been active in guiding the coaches on topics such as the risks of being physically active when ill, injury prevention, and sleep/rest, whereas topics such as nutrition and the use of various substances were much less acknowledged.

The study limitations relate to self‐reported data, and the complexity of assessing sports clubs. As one of the first studies in the area, all the measurement instruments and methods were created from the outset. Therefore, further studies are required for validation purposes. Despite the limitations, this study provides pioneering baseline information.

The results indicate that youth sports clubs are still discipline and competition oriented. Health promotion guidance especially regarding non‐performance sports club time and several health topics needs to be addressed by the clubs in order to meet the clubs' own health‐related intentions.

These findings are unique in this relatively new setting for health promotion, and they can act as a baseline for research methodology development and further studies.

A systematic review of literature was conducted to compile, analyse and describe the methodology and measurement of childhood/adolescent health literacy.

Six online databases (ERIC, PubMed, CINAHL, Biomed Central, Web of Science and Sports Discuss) were systematically searched to identify English language, peer‐reviewed articles, published between 1980 and April 2011, which reported on the measurement of health literacy in a population under the age of 18. The search identified 16 articles to be included in the final review, from which, data were systematically extracted in order to answer four review questions concerning several aspects of the method and effectiveness of the completed studies.

The majority (n=13) of the studies described the use of newly developed measurement tools and enquiry methods. The majority (n=14) assessed health literacy via task performance as opposed to examining self‐reported health literacy. Thirteen health topics and nine distinct components of health literacy were identified as being scrutinised by the 16 articles. Examination of the intended measurement aims of each study, in comparison with the actual measurement methods revealed that six studies fully succeeded in examining what they intended to measure. It is concluded that even though research in this field is escalating, clear definitions and measurement methods of childhood health literacy must be developed in order to effectively expand the field further and comprehensively assess childhood health literacy.

This review is to our knowledge the first to collate and examine studies concentrating solely on the measurement of health literacy in a child and/or adolescent population.

The purpose of this paper is to utilise the collective opinion of a group of Finnish experts to identify the most important learning outcomes of secondary-level school-based health education, in the specific domains of physical activity and nutrition.

The study uses a Delphi survey technique to collect the opinions of a group (panel) of Finnish experts. A list of learning outcomes was compiled via an extensive literature review of documents from all levels of health education (physical activity and nutrition) policy development and implementation. A general inductive analysis method was conducted, resulting in education themes which were then compiled into health literacy-constructed learning outcomes to present to the panel in the two Delphi rounds.

The study question is answered in the form of a ranked list of the 24 most important learning outcomes of physical activity and nutrition education in Finnish schools. The analysis of variance pair-wise comparisons with Bonferroni indicated that six items were statistically possibly more important than the 18 others. The three most important items being: first, understand the importance of a varied and balanced diet; second, the ability to analyse their own lifestyle; third, understand the link between physical activity and health. The study also identified topics/themes which could be either under-represented or over-represented in the current literature and teaching.

This study is the only one of its type, and researches an as yet unknown area of health education. The value of this study lies in its role in the further development of school health education, in terms of identifying the “most important” contemporary issues to teach in the classroom, and may also be used as a topic prioritisation and curriculum planning tool.

The aim of this study was to examine the associations between students' perceptions of the psychosocial school environment, health‐compromising behaviours, and selected family factors. The analyses were based on data provided for the Health Behaviour in School‐aged Children Study (2006).

The data were obtained from 1,670 Finnish 9th graders. Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the associations between school perceptions, health‐compromising behaviours, and selected family factors.

Educational aspiration was found to be the most influential factor connected to health‐compromising behaviour among both genders, favouring students who were intending to apply to upper secondary school. The results also indicated that all the measured dimensions of school perceptions were associated with health‐compromising behaviours: the more negative the perceptions, the more health‐compromising were the behaviours. The associations were somewhat different between girls and boys. In terms of engaging in health‐compromising behaviours, there was an association with school‐related social relationships among boys. By contrast, among girls, other aspects of the psychosocial school environment were more important, for example engagement with the school and school strain. The role of parental bonding and monitoring was also significant among girls.

The findings imply that attention should be paid to the health‐promoting factors of the school, and to gender differences, not merely in planning prevention or intervention, but in everyday school life.