HBSC Fitness team, prof. Andrea Madarasova Geckova and dr. Peter Bakalar visited on 12th and 13th of September 2018 our collegues  assoc. prof. Dagmar Sigmundova and dr. Frantisek Chmelik, in BALUO – Faculty of Physical Culture, Palacky University in Olomouc.  Main aim of this meeting was consultation on analytical strategy for antropometric and fitness data collected within HBSC survey among school-aged children.

Our colleagues, Lucia Bosakova, Zuzana Dankulincova, Daniela Husarova, Miriama Lackova Rebicova and Katerina Paclikova presented latest findings from Care4Youth and HBSC study at the symposium organised at Psychiatric clinic in Hran on 7th and 8th of September.

Our colleagues Daniela Filakovska and Andrej Belak participated at  The 2018 Annual Meeting of the Gypsy Lore Society and Conference on Gypsy/Romani Studies which was held in Bucharest, Romania, September 4th to 8th, 2018.

Andrej Belák presented Collaborative Health-Needs Assessment and Health-Mediation Evaluation in Marginalized Roma Communities in Slovakia: Lessons Learned upon Methodology Development. Daniela Filakovská presented Introducing the Position of Roma Health Mediators into Hospitals as Part of the National Strategy for Roma Integration in Slovakia.

On the 28th of August our colleagues, Eva Čepová (Thesis entitled Conceptualization and measurement of health literacy and its utilization in public health) and Michaela Mrázová (Thesis entitled  The influence of selected risk and protective factors on the healthy development of adolescents with emotional and behavioral problems) have been awarded a PhD degree in public health at the Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice. Congratulations!!!

Please find the first newsletter of the IMPACCT project attached. Do you want to know about our latest activities and plans for the future? Click on the link and download our newsletter http://healthliteracycentre.eu/1st-impacct-newsletter/.

The main objective of IMPACCT (IMproving PAtient-centered Communication Competences) is “to improve the relevance and quality of education of medical and nursing students in Europe through the development, implementation, evaluation and dissemination of an evidence-based Health Literacy Educational Program. The educational program will consist of a set of about 20 learning units. Taken together, these units reflect the fact that a comprehensive approach is needed to tackle health literacy problems. To enhance the health and well-being of people with low health literacy, students need a wide range of health literacy competences related to clinical competences (e.g. diagnosing among people with low health literacy), but also competences for communication, collaboration, leadership or quality assurance, to prevent health literacy related problems. Watch the short video below to get a well rounded impression of the project.

Learn more about the IMPACCT project our colleagues  Andrea Madarasova Geckova, Ivana Skoumalova and Peter Kolarcik are involved in at http://healthliteracycentre.eu/impacct/ or check out the leaflet below and join the newsletter here!

From 21 till 25 August 2018, our colleagues Zuzana Dankulincova, Miriama Lackova Rebicova, Jaroslava Mackova,  Laura Urbanova and Peter Kolarcik met with other prominent researchers in the field of health psychology on the 32nd annual conference of European Health Psychology Society in Galway, Ireland. They were invited to share their knowledge via five poster presentations on latest findings from Care4Youth, HBSC and Health literacy studies.

Pilot project “Health Assistants in the Hospitals Environment” has succesfully completed its first months of running in hospitals of Trebisov and Michalovce. More information with positive feedback from all involved here, here and here.

Our colleagues Daniela Filakovska and Andrej Belak participated in Working Group set for this pilot project and were on the beginning of this unique cooperation with hospitals.

The activity is implemented within the framework of the Healthy Community National Project 2A – under the title “Health Assistants in the Hospitals Environment”.

International Journal of Public Health editorial board was attended by our colleagues prof. Andrea Madarasová Gecková as editor-in-chief and dr. Jana Holubčíková as associate editor in August in Cali in Colombia.

Our colleague, Lucia Bosakova, published her WHO publication “A bottom-up approach to employment”.

This report reviews a bottom-up approach to employing Roma, a large, hard-to-employ group of people, in Slovakia. This unique approach follows four steps. First, it involves hard-to-employ people in the job search process, ensuring that they receive a stable income that enables them to support their families. Second, it helps them to develop qualifications and skills to improve their opportunities in the labour market. Third, it focuses on improving the quality of life in their community, aiming to make the employment of one family member beneficial for the whole family, and ultimately for the entire community. Fourth, it supports children’s education, aiming to motivate and encourage children to acquire education and skills that could increase their opportunities in the labour market.