Linked projects

The aim of this study is to explore the clustering of four major behavioural risk factors (diet, physical inactivity, tobacco use and alcohol) in youth (15-19 years of age) living in the national capital territory (NCT) of Delhi and to examine the socio-demographic and psychosocial variation in the clustering of these risk factors in order to identify the youth population which is most at risk.

The specific objectives are:

• To assess the distribution of four major behavioural risk factors (diet, physical inactivity, tobacco use and alcohol) in youth (15-19 years of age) living in the NCT of Delhi.
• To assess the count of clustering and identify the patterns of clustering of these behavioural risk factors in youth (15-19 years of age) living in NCT of Delhi.
• To identify the role of socio-demographic (standard of living, education level, sex) and psychosocial (life satisfaction, family support, stress and peer relationships) determinants in the clustering of behavioural risk factors.

Contact: Manu Raj Mathur
Team Members: Monika Arora, Richard Watt, Georgios Tsakos
Email: manu.mathur@phfi.org
Address: Public Health Foundation of India ISID Campus, Plot No.4, Institutional Vasant Kunj, New Delhi- 110070, India
Phone: + 91 11 49566000 – 61661

HBSC Contact: Candace Currie (HBSC Scotland)

This linked project investigates the health behaviours of school-aged children living in Kosovo, with the aim of: providing a clear overview of the health and well-being of adolescents throughout the country, improving our understanding of the social competencies which affect health; informing policy-makers of ways to improve the lives of adolescents in Kosovo, and providing a comparison between the health behaviours of adolescents in Kosovo with those in other countries.

The 2010 HBSC survey instrument was used to collect data in 2012 with minor adaptations to the local context. Findings include:

• A low rate of smoking amongst Kosovar adolescents, where only 4.7% of them are active smokers.
• 10% of adolescents consume alcohol and most of them do so rarely.
• The percentage of adolescents reporting the use of cannabis in the last 30 days is even lower (1.5%).
• Out of the whole sample, 13.3% of the students reported to have had sex, while 32.8% out of them reported to have had it when they turned 14.
• Condoms remain the primary method of contraception, while a high percentage (26.5%) have not used any kind of protective measure at all.
• 22.3% of students declared to do physical exercise every day of the week and only 3.2% stated that they have not been physically active over the last weeks.

This research collaboration is led by the World Health Organization Office in Pristina and the UNFPA in Kosovo – in close collaboration with the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education Science and Technology and the UNICEF office in Kosovo; with financial support from the Government of Luxemburg.

Publications using HBSC: Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) in Kosovo A World Health Organization Collaborative Study. (2014). World Health Organization United Nations Population Fund Offices in Pristina.

Contact: Sami Uka
Team members: Skender Syla, Zarife Miftari, Fitim Uka, Naim Telaku, Petrit Beqiri, Naime Brajshori
Email: suk@whopr.org
Address: World Health Organization Pristina Office, Institute of Public Health, University Clinical Centre, St. Nëna Terezë, Rrethi i Spitalit pn, Pristina
Phone: +381 (0) 38 552 340 & 549 216

HBSC Contact: Candace Currie (HBSC Netherlands)

Children’s well-being and health status in the Republic of Kosovo is still widely unknown and little explored. To close this gap, in February 2011, 720 children and adolescents between the ages of 11 and 17 were surveyed in the municipality of Gjakova. This survey focused on health behaviours and was based on an adapted version of the 2009/10 HBSC Protocol. The study was carried out by German researchers from the University Clinic in Hamburg, working in close cooperation with Children for Tomorrow Kosovo, a NGO dealing with mental health in children. The results will be presented to health promoting organizations in Kosovo. This project aims to develop a network of researchers equipped with the skills and experience necessary to carry out the next wave of the HBSC international survey within Kosovo.

Contact: Fiona Klasen
Team Members: Birgit Möller, Ulrike Ravens-Sieberer, Anne Catherine Haller, Helen Bichmann, Urim Deva
Email: f.klasen@uke.de
Address: University Medical Center Hamburg, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, Child Public Health, Martinistr. 52 W29, D-20246 Hamburg, Germany
Phone: +49 40 7410 57378

HBSC Contact: Ulrike Ravens-Sieberer (HBSC Germany)

Kuwait urgently needs comparable data in order to be able to monitor the success of the first 5-year plan for a National Health Promotion (established 2010). School-aged children in Kuwait fare badly in several areas of health and there are growing risks for many public health diseases. National policies and programs are required to prevent diabetes, dental cavities and cardiovascular diseases.

This Linked Project is a research collaboration between the Dasman Diabetes Institute and Kuwait University. In 2002/03, a pilot study – based on the 1997/98 HBSC Protocol – was conducted by Kuwait University among 11- and 13-year-old schoolchildren. A nationally representative study using the HBSC 2009/10 Protocol was carried out in 2015 for 11-, 13- and 15-year-olds. Altogether, 5,285 children (50.5% being boys) filled in the questionnaire. The figures for 11-, 13- and 15-year-olds were: 1,778, 1,607 and 1,899, respectively.

The study is financially supported by the European Commission Framework, Horizon 2020.

Contact: Dalia A. Badawi
Team Members: Dalia A. Badawi (PI), Jaakko Tuomilehto(Co-I), Yousuf Al-Khamees (Co-I), Nadeen Ibrahim (Co-I), Shenna Behbehani (Co-I), and Dana Al-Salem (Co-I) and Dasman Diabetes; Sisko Honkala (Co-I), University of Helsinki, Finland and Eino Honkala (Co-I).
Email: dalia.badawi@dasmaninstitute.org
Address: Dasman Diabetes Institute, P.O Box 1180, Dasman 15462, Kuwait.

HBSC Contacts: Sisko Honkala (previously HBSC Finland) and Eino Honkala (HBSC Finland)

The aim of our work is to describe and analyze the health related behaviors of school children aged 11 years and more in Lebanese Schools. Since no study has ever been undertaken in Lebanon to study all health behaviors concomitantly, this will be an opportunity to study the co-occurrence of these behaviors, their interactions, in addition to the effect of protective factors on these interactions. We expect to publish at least 5 articles from this work, which will serve to inform policy makers and guide intervention towards high risk groups.

The HBSC core questionnaire will be used including a small addition on waterpipe smoking, using similar structures to HBSC’s smoking questions.

Data was collected from 4000 students from a sample of schools in Mouth Lebanon. Future work will include sampling 2000 school in Beirut to carry out further analyses. The analysis will be done based on two plans: 1, A descriptive part using the HBSC model and 2, an analytical part based on pre-established hypotheses for correlates and interactions.

This project involves collaboration with researchers from the Free University of Brussels.

Contact: Pascale Salameh
Team Members: Isabelle Godin and Hayat Gergy-Zghondi (PhD Candidate)
Email: pascale.salameh@lau.edu.lb
Address: Lebanese University (LU)- Faculty of Public Health (FPH)- section II- Master department- Beirut- Fanar- Lebanon

HBSC Contact: Isabelle Godin (previously HBSC Belgium French)

The 2001/02 HBSC Protocol was used to conduct a pilot study ‘Adolescent Health and Lifestyle Survey’ between April and May 2009. This pilot study modified the WHO HBSC questionnaire to examine a range of health behaviours and health outcomes among Taiwanese adolescents. The sample included a total of 3,560 students from grades 6 to 10 (10 being senior high-school freshmen) in all 27 public schools across the Kinmen County. This research team are planning to apply the HBSC 09/10 protocol to carry out a survey with a nationally representative sample, stratified by region and school type, and using the school as the primary sampling unit. The target age group will be 11-, 13- and 15-year-old students with 1500 respondents in each age group. The research instrument will include the core HBSC questions as well as county-specific questions.

Publications using HBSC: Lin, Y.C. Assessing the Use of the Family Affluence Scale as Socioeconomic Indicators for Researching Health Inequalities in Taiwan Adolescents. Social Indicators Research, 102(3): 463-475, DOI: 10.1007/s11205-010-9683-7

Contact: Yu-Chen Lin
Email: yclin@tea.ntue.edu.tw
Address: Department of Education, National Taipei University of Education, 134, Sec.2, Ho-Ping East Road, Taipei Taiwan
Phone: +886-02-27321104 Ext.5041

HBSC Contact: Candace Currie (HBSC Netherlands)

This project explored the association between subjective well-being, mental health and their social determinants among 6th, 8th and 10th grade students in Taiwan, and developed strategies for promoting youth mental health and well-being.

The research team conducted a survey using the WHO Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) 2013/2014 questionnaire. Approximately 5535 6th, 8th, and 10th-grade students in Taiwan were sampled using a two-stage stratified cluster sample design. Researchers used the same indicators of subjective well-being as used in UNICEF Report Card 11. Information on socio-demographic variables, social context variables and health-related behavioural variables will be used to explore their association with subjective well-being and mental health.

Findings include:

• Boys have higher subjective well-being than girls and subjective well-being is higher at age 11 than it is at age 13 and 15.
• Children with higher family affluence also have higher subjective well-being.
• Daily breakfast consumption, eating fruit daily, and taking vigorous exercise more than once a week increase children’s subjective well-being, while being a victim of bullying reduces subjective well-being.
• Currently smoking or ever been drunk has no impact on subjective well-being.

Contact: Yu-Chen Lin
Email: yclin@tea.ntue.edu.tw
Address: Department of Education, National Taipei University of Education, 134, Sec.2, Ho-Ping East Road, Taipei Taiwan
Phone: +886-02-27321104 Ext.5041

HBSC Contact: Candace Currie (HBSC Netherlands)