The body mass index (BMI) of school children in Taiwan is markedly increasing. According to statistical data from the Taiwan Ministry of Education, the prevalence of obesity in school children from the southern part of the country is the highest in Taiwan. Thus, exploring the factors influencing BMI in elementary school children from southern Taiwan is crucial. This study investigated the influencing factors including physical activity levels, sedentary behaviors, dietary habits, and perceived body shape on the BMIs of elementary school children from southern Taiwan. A cross-sectional design was used, and the participants consisted of 3251 fifth-grade students (1628 boys, 50.1%; 1623 girls, 49.9%). The average BMI values for boys and girls were 19.69 and 18.70 (kg/cm) respectively. Statistically significant associations were observed between BMI and sex, 31–60 min of daily vigorous or moderate physical activities levels, length of time spent watching television, time spent on video games or the computer, and intake of vegetable or meat gravy with rice (p < 0.001). Perceived body shape also affected the BMI of school children. The results of this study enable educational institutions in Taiwan to understand the factors affecting the BMI of school children and use this information as the basis for future healthy body weight policies.

Tobacco smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke are major environmental risk factors that negatively influence health. It is recommended that tobacco product manufacturers and retailers receive empowerment counseling programs to achieve adolescent health targets. The present study conducted an empowerment counseling session to counsel tobacco product retailers in refusing to sell tobacco products to minors. The three stages of this study were conducted from March 2015 to February 2017. The results revealed that 74% of retailers were selling tobacco products to minors at baseline, 40% at stage two and 15% at stage three. These represent significant reductions in selling tobacco products to minors (all stage differences p < 0.001). However, experimental design studies could be used to examine the empowerment counseling program for preventing tobacco sales to minors in the future. Moreover, health care providers should collaborate with tobacco product retailers to design unique empowerment counseling sessions for specific regions to improve retailers’ capabilities for self-management in terms of tobacco hazard prevention.

Schools should design holistic sex education programmes to improve sex knowledge and enhance positive sexual attitudes among adolescents. A school-based social marketing sex education programme named Starting from love – Go! Go! Go! was designed. This study determined the effectiveness of the intervention to promote adolescent sexual health in junior high schools in Southern Taiwan. A one-group pretest–posttest design was utilised. Cluster random sampling was used to select participants (seventh-grade students aged 13–14 years) from 24 junior high schools. A total of 1,407 seventh-grade participants completed the survey. Among the 1,407 participants, 714 were boys and 693 were girls. The results revealed that the total average sexual knowledge score of the participants was 1.55 points higher after the interventions, indicating significantly increased sexual knowledge (p < .001). The sexual attitudes of participants after the interventions significantly improved compared with those beforehand (p < .001). Moreover, the sexual knowledge and attitudes of participants exhibited a positive correlation (r = .357, p < .001). The proposed school-based social marketing sex education programme holds the potential to improve sexual knowledge and enhance positive sexual attitudes of the junior high school students and the educational efficacy of sex education with respect to sex-related concerns.

Cigarette smoking not only damages the health of adolescents, but also contributes to air pollution. The Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act in Taiwan stipulates that cigarettes should not be sold to persons younger than 18 years. Therefore, schools should actively educate students and raise awareness of the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act to reduce the level of damage to the health of adolescents and maintain good air quality. This study had two main goals: (1) to evaluate the stipulation that no person shall provide tobacco products to persons under the age of 18 and the effects of counseling strategies on store managers confirming customer ages before tobacco sale in southern Taiwan; and (2) to evaluate the situation of tobacco hazard prevention education conducted by school in southern Taiwan. A cross-sectional design was adopted for this study. Study I: The investigation involved an analysis of 234 retailers including convenience stores (n = 70), grocery stores (n = 83), and betel nut stalls (n = 81). The results indicated that among the 234 retailers, 171 (73.1%) of them routinely failed to confirm the buyers’ ages before allowing them to purchase tobacco. The number of retailers who exhibited failure to confirm customer ages before selling tobacco products had decreased from 171 (73.1%) to 59 (25.2%) and that of those who confirmed customer ages before selling tobacco products had increased from 63 (26.9%) to 175 (74.8%) after counseling strategies had been provided, thereby revealing statistical significance (χ² = 11.26, p < 0.001). Study II: A total of 476 (89.1%) participants had received tobacco hazards prevention education and 58 (10.9%) had not. Among the various residential areas, the highest percentage of participants that did not received tobacco hazards prevention education located in the plane regions (8.4%). The government organizations should continue to adopt counseling strategies to reduce the rate of disobedience of the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act by selling tobacco products to minors. Schools should pay close attention to tobacco hazard prevention education for junior high school students to ensure that such students are adequately educated about tobacco hazard prevention.

Introduction: There was a high prevalence of non-prescribed medicine usage in Taiwan the reasons for this phenomenon may be the false advertisements on underground radio programs that exaggerate the efficacy of non-prescribed medicines combined with inadequate medication knowledge and the high prevalence of adverse self-medication of Taiwanese people. As the result, it is critical to investigate the health literacy in Taiwan. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between medication knowledge, safe use of medicines and health literacy in southern Taiwan. Methodology: A cross-sectional survey was used in the study. A total of 513 residents were recruited and 87 of these were excluded because of invalid data, giving a response rate of 83.0%. Data were collected from February to August 2013. Results: From 426 residents who participated in the study, 60.6% were women. The mean age of study participants was 45.8±5.2 years and the majority of them (38.7%, N=165) were between 31-50 years old. Health literacy was positively associated with medication knowledge (r =.520, p<.01) and safe use of medicines (r =.643, p<.01). Medication knowledge was positively related to safe use of medicines (r =.378, p<.01). Conclusion: Medical knowledge and safe use of medicines affect health literacy. Residents with appropriate medical knowledge, reduce adverse self medication behaviors, and promote health literacy.

Introduction: Statistics revealed that the percentage of convenience stores, supermarkets, betel nut stalls, and grocery shops that illegally sold tobacco products to minors is high in Taiwan. It is critical to prevent tobacco hazards to minors. The aim of the study is to evaluate the distribution of illegal sales outlets of tobacco products in minors among retailers in southern Taiwan. Methodology: A cross-sectional design was used in this study. The survey testers were university students older than 18 years and attired in senior high school uniforms to disguise themselves as senior high school students. They were assigned to test whether tobacco retailers confirmed customers’ ages before selling tobacco products. The survey investigations were conducted from March 2015 to August 2015. Results: The investigation covered 327 retailers, comprising 98 convenience stores, 115 grocery shops, and 114 betel nut stalls. The results revealed that among the 327 retailers, 239 (73.0%) failed to confirm that the buyer was at least 18 years of age before allowing the purchase. Age confirmation before tobacco sale was frequent in urban areas compared with coastal regions and mountain regions (F = 8.372, P < .01). Conclusion: This study proposes establishing self-management strategies for compliant and noncompliant retailers to prevent illegal sale of tobacco products to minors.