Health promotion programs are becoming a vital component of comprehensive health care services worldwide for individuals and population, and health promotion activities have been a major component in advancing overall health of population. Promoting the health of individuals is akin to promoting the health of the community as these are closely linked to each other. Likewise, the health of every community in every state determines the overall health status of the Nation.(omitted)

Since its declaration in the year 1986, the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion1 continues to guide the global practice of health promotion. This situation is also true in Japan, and recently the notion of health promotion is substantiated to yield two of the national health promotion and disease prevention agendas, Kenkou Nippon 21(KN21; Healthy Japan 2010)2 in the year 1999 and Sukoyaka Oyako 21 (SO21; Healthy Parents and Children 2010)3 in the year 2000. The apparent characteristics of these two agendas are their multiplicity of numerical objectives.(omitted)

Over the past few decades, dramatic socioeconomic developments have resulted in the change of epidemiological transition from infectious to chronic diseases as leading causes of death in Korea$^{1)}$ . Behavioral factors, particularly smoking, diet and activity patterns, alcohol consumptions are among the most prominent contributors to mortality.(omitted)

Although the notion of “health promotion” has not yet been accepted as a fully developed academic concept, the National Health Promotion Act defines it as a “project with an aim of promoting the national health through health education, prevention of diseases, nutrition improvement and practice of healthy lifestyles.” With the enactment of the Health Promotion Act in 1995, the health promotion project is being rigorously undertaken, signaling a new paradigm shift and a new beginning in Korean healthcare.(omitted)

Canada has a rich history in the theory and development of the field of health promotion. Over 25 years ago, in 1974, the Canadian government produced the first government policy document that identified health promotion as a national strategy. The document, which came from the national Health Minister, was entitled A New Perspective on the Health of Canadians (Lalonde, 1974). It led the way for other governments to produce similar documents, and to many western countries embracing the ideas and ideals of health promotion.(omitted)

Background: Alcohol and tobacco use are two major behavioral risk factors implicated in increased morbidity and mortality. Since both substances are widely used in Korea, a concerted effort is currently underway to reduce the use of tobacco and alcohol in Korea. Objectives: Efforts directed toward preparing health promotion planners and health educators from local health departments to organize and implement community-wide interventions to reduce the proportion of people smoking and reduce the average level of alcohol consumption in the community. Methods: Comprehensive multi-media health promotion materials were developed based on health behavior theories and strategies. The materials were developed to introduce a user-oriented developmental approach by making messages more persuasive and organizing content in a user-friendly manner. Health educators from all local health departments in the country were trained in the use of the materials, to enable them to develop community interventions to reduce smoking and drinking. Implications for Practitioners: The process followed in developing the health intervention materials is described in detail to assist practitioners who need to develop effective programs to reduce the use of tobacco and alcohol. Sections of the report explain health intervention theories, specific program activities to include in an intervention, development, organization, evaluation, choosing a target audience, choosing goals of an intervention, and methods of making program content vivid and persuasive.

This study was administered to analyze important needs for the health education among Chinese, Korean-Chinese adolescents in Gilin, China and Korean adolescents in Seoul, Korea. The data were collected from 400 chinese and 200 Korean-Chinese boys and girls of 3 high schools in Gilin, China and 396 boys and girls of 3 high schools in Seoul, Korea. The results were as follow: 1. The prevalence of smoking and drinking in Korean students was quite high among three groups. More than one third of Korean students had behaviors of smoking and drinking. Forty two point five percent of Korean students were sick during the past 4 weeks, but only 10.8% of Korean-Chinese students and 11.5% of Chinese students were sick during the past 4 weeks. More than 70% of Chinese and Korean-Chinese students had health concern, but only 22.7% of Korean students were interested in health status and education. 2. Korean-Chinese and Chinese students had higher health education needs than the Korean students. They were not interested in sex education. On the other hand, Korean students were interested in mental health and health habits. 3. Korean-Chinese students had more health education needs than Chinese or Korean adolescents and the difference was statistically significant (p<0.05). 4. For the Chinese and Korean-Chinese students, the higher prevalence of drinking behavior, the higher needs of health education, and the difference was statistically significant (p<0.05). 5. The Chinese students tended to need health education after their illness experience, but the Korean students, the higher the self- rating health status, the higher health education need scores were(p<0.05).

Although periodic health examination has been one of the most common practices of preventive medicine, its effect on modification of risk behavior has been seldom assessed. Thus, this study attempted to demonstrate the influence of a health examination on modification of cardiovascular disease related health risk behaviors such as smoking, physical inactivity, and obesity. Data of 893 adults were derived from two types of a popular and highly acclaimed health examination program. With a conceptual model constructed using Persuasive Communication variables, McNemar tests examined Source-Outcome association, hypothesizing that different health examination programs would yield different levels of behavior change in smoking, physical inactivity, and obesity. No significant behavior change was found in any of the two health examination programs. Instead, previously established Receiver-Outcome relationship was reconfirmed by logistic regression modeling where gender was the most prominent predictor of all three behaviors. Men were more likely to be current smokers (OR=0.029), exercisers (OR=2.629), and obese (OR=0.237). The importance of followups after health examination is highly stressed as well as that of gender-specific health education strategies. This study recommends applying the social-ecological approaches in health examination, which emphasizes the support and collaboration at individual, family, organizations, community, and policy level to improve health. Long term and qualitative evaluation of health examination may provide more foundation for increasing the effectiveness of health education and communication in health examinations.

Adolescent psychosocial smoking prevention programs have been successful, but limited in the magnitude of program effects on the reduction of smoking behaviors. This is primarily due to the mixed results of independent studies with program variations. This systematic, quantitative research synthesis is designed to identify program key factors that are likely to increase program effects. The present study examined school-based psychosocial smoking prevention programs (1978-1997)among students in grades 6 to 12 in the United States. Theoretical formulations in this analysis of mediating effects posit that program impact on knowledge and/ or skills is associated with less smoking behaviors among program participants. Knowledge factors investigated in this study included health effects, social consequences, social influences, and social norms. Skill factors included affective skill, self-efficacy, assertiveness, self-control, problem solving, and refusal skill. The findings from this study highlight the importance of social consequences knowledge factor and assertive communication skill factor in decreasing adolescent smoking behaviors.

The purpose of this study is to examine the prevalence and correlates of three types of risk-taking behavior among high school students in Korea in a cross-sectional national sample. A sample of 636 male and 622 female high school students is analyzed using descriptive statistics and logistic regression. Three types of risk-taking behavior are examined: drinking alcohol, smoking, and premarital sex. The results are as follows: Forty-three percent of students in the sample have ever drunk alcohol, 32% have ever smoked, 11% have experience premarital sex. Risk-taking behavior is more prevalent among boys than among girls. Boys and girls in Seoul are much more likely to have experienced three types of risk-taking behavior. Not having two parents in the family and having lived away from immediate family increase the likelihood of some risk-taking behavior. Students who have a friend with premarital sexual experience are much more likely to have experienced premarital sex themselves. Among sexually active students, having multiple sexual partners is common and prevalence of condom use is low. Reproductive health education at school has no effect on students' sexual behavior. The prevalence of risk-taking behavior among adolescent in Korea is likely to rise in the future. Substantial proportion of adolescents are exposed to the risks of STDs and substantial proportion of adolescent girls risk premarital pregnancy. Current health education programs are inadequate in protecting students from risk-taking behavior. Students whose families do not include both parents and students who live away from their immediate families need special programs to protect them from risk-taking behavior.

Meta-analysis methods are becoming a central part of research integration in behavioral and medical science studies. The main goal of the meta-analysis is combining the quantitative findings from several studies which address the same research problem and is sharing conclusions in a published report. The purpose of this research is to develop meta-analysis approach to evaluate effectiveness of instructional program design to improve school-age children's knowledge and understanding of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). To achieve this purpose, meta-analysis is applied to analyze and synthesize findings for AIDS instructional programs from several prior studies.