Training for better adolescent health interventions
The 'Promoting health among adolescents in rural areas of Ukraine: training programme for teachers' (Promheal) project developed a training programme for teachers to deliver a multiple-component programme of health promotion interventions for preadolescent children and adolescents in rural areas of Ukraine. The health promotion programme was previously successfully pioneered in one rural area, and this project sought to extend the benefits to rural areas of 7 of the country's oblasts for preadolescent children and adolescents aged between 10 and 15. The programme addresses health needs and accounts for socio-cognitive and environmental factors influencing the health-related behaviours of the target group. The training programme for delivering health interventions was implemented in three main sessions at seminars and workshops, and an additional five seminars were held for different audiences. Participants at the latter series of events included school psychologists, social workers and educational specialists from various regions of Ukraine. Following the workshops and seminars, 50 000 copies of an information brochure were distributed at the schools that had sent their teachers for training as well as to organisations around the country that had expressed an interest in the initiative. In addition, meetings with national and local education authorities were held to garner support for and raise awareness of the project and its aims. Various national and local media were also involved, with participation taking the form of publications, television news features and filming of seminars and interviews. The Promheal website was designed in English, Ukrainian and Russian and served as the project's main dissemination tool, allowing the consortium to promote the initiative to teachers, health practitioners and other groups interested in the respective issues. The website also serves as a communication channel for stakeholders and as a platform for the Promheal rural school network. The establishment of the Promheal rural school network was aimed at providing sustainability and realising extended reach for more awareness and impact. The network offers networking opportunities and, with the help of the project consortium and local education authorities, will be used to encourage experience sharing and providing assistance in achieving Promheal goals. The particular approach and efforts contributed greatly to realising the Promheal consortium's objectives for a successful health promotion programme intended to reach great numbers of rural resident schoolchildren.