Background: Although it is widely recognized that more attention needs to be paid to children's fluid intake, there is little information on how to improve it. Peer education has been suggested as an effective approach to changing health behaviors among school children. As a new approach, our study piloted a peer education program to improve children's fluid intake in primary schools. Methods: University students were prepared for their role as peer educators in an elective university course, including the concept of peer education and different pedagogical methods. The peer educators evaluated the training process by completing a questionnaire. The intervention took place during a School Health Day led by the peer educators. An anonymous survey with a questionnaire on knowledge of fluid intake was administered two weeks before, at the end of, and 15 weeks after the intervention. Changes in hydration knowledge were tested using repeated measures ANOVA. Results: The pilot program showed increased knowledge about fluid consumption (p < 0.001) in lower and upper primary school children (N = 326) at the end of the School Health Day compared to pre-intervention measures. A positive change was observed after 15 weeks only in upper primary students. Feedback from peer educators was useful for fine-tuning the program. Conclusions: This innovative program induced positive changes in knowledge about fluid intake in primary school children. The persistence of the changes differed between lower and upper primary school children. Based on the results, the intervention should be replicated to adapt the program to the needs of lower primary school children. Because the training of peer educators and the peer education program appeared to be successful, this program is worthy of international replication. This approach may also be suggested for other behavior change issues.

Background: With the increase of cyberbullying, several intervention programmes have been created that aim at reducing cyber-victimisation and perpetration. Objective: Our study presents the effects of the STAnD anti-cyberbullying programme with peer-education both on the short and the long run among lower and upper primary school students, with a focus on the participants’ cyberbullying roles. Method: The sample comprised of 536 students who participated in the intervention programme, involving 36% lower and 64% upper primary school students. Participants were measured by a self-reported questionnaire before and right after the programme, then six months later. Results: The main effect of the STAnD programme was a positive change in the participants’ willingness to engage in help-seeking and their active-defending reaction, although this effect decreased after six months. The changes were larger among lower primary school students compared to upper primary school participants. Conclusion: Our results imply that long-lasting and intensive health promotion programmes are necessary to reach a long-term intervention effect. Anti-cyberbullying programmes should take into consideration participants’ involvement and roles in cyberbullying. As our study was a non-randomised uncontrolled study design, thus interpretation of the effectiveness of the programme is limited.

Introduction: Marked gender differences have been identified in cyberbullying perpetration and victimization in adolescence. Age and phenotypic traits, including impulsivity and problematic internet use may mediate the association between gender and cyberbullying intervention outcomes. This study thus aimed to explore gender differences and the potential mediating role of age, impulsivity and problematic internet use regarding the outcomes of an elementary school cyberbullying program. Methods: The peer-led STAnD project shapes students' attitudes towards cyberbullying, and promotes help-seeking behaviors. Baseline sample consisted of 933 respondents (51.3% females, mean age = 11.25, sd = 1.64), and after a 42.55% drop-out, 536 remained in the sample for 6-month follow-up. Four primary outcome measures represented protective factors against cyberbullying. Results: Three of the intervention outcomes – change in 1) helpline knowledge, 2) empathy towards the victims of cyberbullying, and 3) risk perception regarding online hazards - were best predicted by gender. A gender-specific path analysis model indicated that higher amount of time spent online might put a barrier to changes in risk awareness among females and in help-seeking willingness among males. Conclusions: Future cyberbullying programs may design separate interventions for adolescent boys and girls with different emphasis placed on empathy training, or the barriers to help-seeking.

According to our knowledge, there has never been a comprehensive research in Hungary dealing with healthcare university or college students' social background. Aim: The main objectives of our cross-section research were to analyze differences in the social background of female students who decided to become doctors, professional nurses and health visitors. Method: This research was conducted among female medical and nursing college students at the Semmelweis University. There were 295 students invited to participate, the response rate was 68,08% (N = 201). Data analysis was performed by SPSS software by using descriptive methods of statistics. Results: We found a decisive difference among medical, nursing and health visitor students while analyzing a number of socio-demographic characteristics. Most medical students came from families where the parents had college or university degrees, but we can state that there is a minimal likelihood in the case of college students that they are descendants of parents with higher educational degrees. We did not find statistical differences in the three student sample groups regarding their marital status, but fewer nursing college students lived in marriage or household partnership. Conclusion: We found a significant difference in the social background of nursing college and medical students. The social disadvantages of nursing and health visitor students are more considerable than those of medical students.

Medical and nursing professions are stressing due to a number of major problems: high work related expectations, inadequate workplace conditions, the severe psychological burden placed on employees by the nature of their job. This study analyses the self-rated general and psychosocial health of female students and professional physicians and nurses related to healthy lifestyle habits and individual behavioural patterns. Method: our cross-section research was carried out among female nursing college students (N = 226), female medical students (N = 117), and among professional nurses and female doctors in hospitals (N = 409). Results: six out of ten staff members mentioned at least one health problem. To the self-rated health (SRH) of students and professional doctors and nursing staff were strongly related psychosomatic symptoms (p<0,001), pessimistic future expectations (p<0,001), perceived difficulties while maintaining the actual partnership (p = 0,001), and physical activity (p<0,001). About 40% (in student surveys 47,0%) said that they did some sports once a week or even more frequently. Smokers were represented with 16,7% (in student surveys 22,9%). Conclusion: results obtained suggest that health is not a highly appreciated value among female students and staff members in the Hungarian health care, moreover, their health-related behaviour is at a substandard level. Their roles as a social model in health promotion are rather questionable, for their insufficient health and risk behaviours. © 2008 Akadémiai Kiadó.