(1) Background: There is a need for studies on population-level health literacy (HL) to identify the current state of HL within and between countries. We report comparative findings from 10 European countries (Austria, Belgium (Fl), Czechia, England, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Macedonia, Poland, and Slovakia) on adolescents’ HL and its associations with gender, family affluence (FAS), and self-rated health (SRH). (2) Methods: Representative data (N = 14,590; age 15) were drawn from the HBSC (Health Behavior in School-Aged Children) study. The associations between HL, gender, FAS, and SRH were examined via path models. (3) Results: The countries exhibited differences in HL means and in the range of scores within countries. Positive associations were found between FAS and HL, and between HL and SRH in each country. Gender was associated with differences in HL in only three countries. HL acted as a mediator between gender and SRH in four countries, and between FAS and SRH in each country. (4) Conclusions: The findings confirm that there are differences in HL levels within and between European countries, and that HL does contribute to differences in SRH. HL should be taken into account when devising evidence-informed policies and interventions to promote the health of adolescents.

(1) Background: Individuals have to effectively manage their physical activity in order to optimize the associated physical and psychological health benefits. Control competence allows the individual to structure and pace physical activity in a health-enhancing way. The concept was developed within a model of physical activity-related health competence, and is related to the concepts of health literacy and physical literacy. Therefore, the study firstly aimed to validate a self-report scale to measure the physical and psychological facets of control competence in adolescents. Secondly, relationships between control competence and its basic elements, knowledge and motivation, as well as between control competence, sport activity, and fitness, were investigated. (2) Methods: In two cross-sectional studies, ninth grade adolescents (study A: n = 794, 51% female; study B: n = 860, 52% female) were tested using self-report scales (study A and B), a test for health-related fitness knowledge (study B), and cardiovascular and muscular fitness tests (study B). (3) Results: Confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the two-factor structure of the self-report scale for control competence in studies A and B. In addition, the results of structural equation modeling in study B showed a relationship between motivation (via control competence) and sport activity, and a relationship between control competence and fitness. (4) Conclusion: The questionnaire extends the ability to assess control competence in adolescents. Moreover the findings support the importance of control competence in order to achieve health benefits through physical activity.

Zusammenfassung. Der Bedarf an einer multidimensionalen Erfassung von Motiven und Zielen im Freizeit- und Gesundheitssport wird von vorliegenden Testinventaren nur unzureichend befriedigt. Das BMZI schließt diese Lücke. Es ist spezifisch für Personen im mittleren und höheren Erwachsenenalter konzipiert und ermöglicht eine Individualdiagnose von Motivprofilen. Das BMZI erfasst mit 24 Items die sieben Dimensionen Kontakt, Wettkampf/Leistung, Ablenkung/Katharsis, Figur/Aussehen, Fitness/Gesundheit, Aktivierung/Freude und Ästhetik. Die psychometrische Qualität des Inventars wurde in mehreren Studien mit 1098 Erwachsenen explorativ analysiert und konfirmatorisch kreuzvalidiert. Hierbei konnte eine gute Modellanpassung festgestellt werden. Die internen Konsistenzen sowie die konvergente und diskriminante Validität können als gut bewertet werden. Die Validierung mit dem Konstrukt Selbstkonkordanz ergab erwartungsgemäße Korrelationen. Mit dem BMZI liegt ein ökonomisches, reliables und valides Instrument vor, welches sich zum Screening von multidimensionalen Motivprofilen und zur Beschreibung von Zielgruppen im Freizeit- und Gesundheitssport eignet.

Research has shown repeatedly that the “feeling better” effect of exercise is far more moderate than generally claimed. Examinations of subgroups in secondary analyses also indicate that numerous further variables influence this relationship. One reason for inconsistencies in this research field is the lack of adequate theoretical analyses. Well-being output variables frequently possess no construct definition, and little attention is paid to moderating and mediating variables. This article integrates the main models in an overview and analyzes how secondary analyses define well-being and which areas of the construct they focus on. It then applies a moderator and/or mediator framework to examine which person and environmental variables can be found in the existing explanatory approaches in sport science and how they specify the influence of these moderating and mediating variables. Results show that the broad understanding of well-being in many secondary analyses makes findings difficult to interpret. Moreover, physiological explanatory approaches focus more on affective changes in well-being, whereas psychological approaches also include cognitive changes. The approaches focus mostly on either physical or psychological person variables and rarely combine the two, as in, for example, the dual-mode model. Whereas environmental variables specifying the treatment more closely (e.g., its intensity) are comparatively frequent, only the social support model formulates variables such as the framework in which exercise is presented. The majority of explanatory approaches use simple moderator and/or mediator models such as the basic mediated (e.g., distraction hypothesis) or multiple mediated (e.g., monoamine hypotheses) model. The discussion draws conclusions for future research.

Bewegungstherapeutische Interventionen machen einen Großteil der therapeutischen Leistungen in der Rehabilitation aus. Demgegenüber nahm deren rehabilitationswissenschaftliche Analyse bislang nur einen kleinen Raum ein. In Anlehnung an das Theoriemodell der Rehabilitation und die Internationale Klassifikation der Funktionsfähigkeit, Behinderung und Gesundheit (ICF) wird hier ein heuristisches Modell zu Zielen und Wirkungen der Bewegungstherapie vorgestellt und eine Zielsystematik abgeleitet. Dies bietet eine Grundlage für die vertiefte wissenschaftliche Auseinandersetzung mit den biopsychosozialen Voraussetzungen und Wirkungen der Bewegungstherapie und damit für die Qualitätsentwicklung sowie die Evaluation von indikationsspezifischen bzw. -übergreifenden bewegungstherapeutischen Konzepten im Kontext einer multimodalen medizinischen Rehabilitation. Exercise therapy constitutes the better part of rehabilitative treatment. However, in rehabilitation research the scientific analysis of exercise therapy only plays a minor role. Taking the theoretical model of rehabilitation and the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) into account, we propose a heuristic model of aims and effects of exercise therapy and define a system of methodological target setting. This system offers a background for an expanded scientific discussion about biopsychosocial determinants and effects of exercise therapy as well as quality development and the evaluation of exercise treatment concepts within and across indications in the context of multimodal medical rehabilitation.