International Journal of Public Health editorial board will be organized by our colleagues prof. Andrea Madarasová Gecková as editor-in-chief and dr. Jana Holubčíková as associate editor from 27th till 28th of October in Olomouc in Czech Republic. More information could be found here.

Our team will host assoc. prof. Erik Sigmund from Palacký University in Olomouc and member of Czech national HBSC team, since October 27th till October 29th 2017. We intensively collaborate on research protocol for upcoming data collection in 2018 within Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study.

Our team hosted Kateřina Paclíková, Msc. from Palacký University in Olomouc, OUSHI since October 9th till October 12th 2017. We intensively collaborate on mapping of care system for children with emotional and behavioral problems as a part of her PhD studies.

Our colleagues, Zuzana Dankulincová Veselská, Daniela Fiľakovská Bobáková, Miriama Lacková Rebičová, Jaroslava Macková and Michaela Pálfiová, on October 11, 2017 in Košice, took part in the day-long conference “Bridges to family” in order to establish contacts with care providers for children with emotional and behavioral problems within the Care4Youth project. Organized by the non-profit organization “Úsmev ako dar”, which is working with us on the Care4Youth project.

Our new PhD student, Ivana Skoumalova, along with colleagues dr. Peter Kolarcik and prof. Andrea Madarasova Geckova will be in Groningen on October 12-13, 2017 working on research protocols of ongoing project and discussing frames of PhD thesis of our new double degree PhD students with supervisors prof. Sijmen Reijneveld and assoc. prof. Jitse van Dijk.

Kick off meeting of ERASMUS+ IMPACCT project IMproving PAtient-centered Communication Competences: To build professional capacity concerning health literacy in medical and nursing education) will be held in Groningen on October 12-13, 2017 with our colleagues Ivana Skoumalova, dr. Peter Kolarcik and prof. Andrea Madarasova Geckova  representing CoHeRenT team. This project aims to develop a training program for health care providers to enhance their capacity in work with clients with low health literacy.

Our colleague Andrea Madarasová Gecková was invited to deliver lecture on utilization of database of patients’ experiences in clinical practice and training of health care workers at 11^th AGEL symposium “New technics and technologies in medicine” which took place in Olomouc in Oct 5-6, 2017. For more information click here.

Our team is happy to welcome three new PhD students, who started their PhD studies at the Department of Health Psychology, Faculty of Medicine, P.J. Šafárik University in Košice in cooperation with University in Groningen, The Netherlands in September.

Jaroslava Macková joined our team in vulnerable children research area working on Care4Youth project focusing on children with emotional and behavioral problems. Her PhD thesis is focused on the impact of selected risk and protective factors on the healthy development of adolescents with emotional and behavioral problems.

Ivana Skoumalova joined our team in specific patient group research area as a member of HLQ CD project. Her PhD thesis is focused on research in using the health literacy profile to increase the effectiveness of chronic kidney disease management.

Laura Urbanová became national team member of Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study as a part of school-aged children research area. Her PhD thesis is focused on research of the association of socieconomic disadvantage cumulation with health inequalities and possible sources of resilience.

On the 20th of September our colleague Daniela Husárová Brindová have been awarded a double PhD degree at the University of Groningen and at the Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice. PhD ceremony held in the University of Groningen’s auditorium. The thesis entitled “Barriers to active participation of school-aged children” was defended in the presence of the College of Deans and the PhD Examining Committee. More information about defence ceremony might be found here.

Participation in daily activities within a social context (e.g. family, school, community, etc.) is essential for healthy development in adolescence. This also holds for adolescents with chronic health conditions. However, due to the requirements for treatment and due to simply being perceived as different from their healthy peers these children are often limited in many areas of everyday life.

Results of our colleague presented in her PhD thesis showed that a considerable number of Slovak adolescents exceeded the recommended duration of screen-based activities and at the same time were not sufficiently physically active. Both were associated with negative health outcomes. Similarly, adolescents with long-term illness or chronic conditions reported higher levels of screen-based behaviour, however they did not differ from their peers, with exception of those with asthma and learning disabilities. Such children perceived barriers to active participation, including parental and personal worries, which might be associated with frequent engagement in screen-based activities. Moreover, parental restrictions as well as family joint activities were found to be important determinants of the amount of screen-time. The need of supporting a healthier and active lifestyle not only among healthy adolescents, but even more among those with health conditions is important. Intervention strategies should target their social context, including family and school, as well as the creation or increasing of a physical activity-enhancing environment.

Understanding the factors contributing to active participation and the barriers perceived by healthy adolescents as well as by adolescents with health conditions is important for the development of strategies to maintain active participation and growing up healthily.

Our colleague, Daniela Fiľakovská Bobáková, was invited to attend “Equity in Health in All Policies (eHIAP) for Central European countries: WHO Flagship Course” held in Ljubljana, Slovenia, 18-20 September 2017.

The aims of this eHiAP Flagship course are to build capacity in the soft skills which are essential to implement cross sectoral working for health equity and wellbeing and strengthen the skills and knowledge to integrate health  and health equity into policies, strategies and agendas for development, growth & inclusion.