Inom ramen för denna artikel diskuterar vi såväl den psykosociala som den fysiska miljön i skolan. Vidare argumenterar vi för att skolans miljö är av betydelse för elevernas möjligheter att lära sig, likväl som för deras upplevelser av lärandesituationerna. Särskilt intressant blir då att lyssna till eleverna. Syftet med denna artikel är därför att synliggöra och diskutera elevers röster i förhållande till hur skolan kan bli den bästa platsen för lärande. Detta görs med utgångspunkt i forskningsprojektet ”Skolan suger” eller?, där drygt 200 elever i åldrarna 11–15 år deltog. Eleverna fick skriftligen reflektera över hur skolan ska bli en riktigt bra lärandemiljö. För att utveckla skolan till den bästa platsen för lärande uttryckte eleverna en önskan att kunna påverka sin lärandemiljö, att uppnå ömsesidighet och samspel, att kunna hantera tidsregleringen i skolan, samt att uppfylla behov för välbefinnande.

"Dammed taxi cab!" A twelve year old student wrote these words in the margins of a questionnaire in school concerning psychosocial well-being. Within this paper they will serve as a point of departure for the discussion. Can the messages found on the sides of the squares intended for an X in a questionnaire be considered non-messages? Or are these expressions indeed messages that are made silent and therefore can be considered silent messages? Then one might wonder what the meanings of the silent messages are that often occurs in questionnaires? Can, or maybe should, we take notice of these silent messages? According to Polanyi every human being has silent and unexpressed dimensions within themselves, which acknowledge situations where we recognise that we know more than we can explain. This is also stressed by Merleau-Ponty, who argued that something exists beyond what is said, and Bateson emphasised that a non-message is also a message - the silence tells us something. Within this paper we will highlight and discuss the significance of silent messages of communication in general, and especially in questionnaires.

'Dammed taxi cab' - a 12-year-old boy wrote these words in the margins of a questionnaire, and within this paper they will serve as a point of departure for the discussion of the use of questionnaires as a way to voice children's experiences. The overall aim of this paper is to enable understanding of and discuss the use of questionnaires as a way to voice children's experiences. An analysis in accordance with a life-world approach has provided the lens through which to explore messages that can occur in questionnaires. The key research questions that will be explored in an attempt to answer the overall aim are: (i) how can unanswered questions and notes in the margins of a questionnaire be understood? and (ii) why is a questionnaire not always completed, according to the intention of its creators? To develop an understanding of this we analysed a number of questionnaires with unanswered questions and notes in the margins using a life-world approach. During the analysis two themes emerged: silent messages and messages being silenced. Finally, we discuss the legitimacy of questionnaires in childhood research and possible implications for practice when using this method to give voice to children's experiences.

Managerial documents for the national school system in Sweden have emphasised taking students’ voices as a starting point in forming education, and several previous studies have indicated the benefits of giving students opportunities to participate in school. This study aimed to explore students’ reflections on what they would do if they were to decide how to make school the best place for learning. A total of 200 students aged 11 to 15 years from four schools (rural and urban) in two municipalities in the northern part of Sweden participated. The empirical data consisted of the students’ written reflections. The findings fall within four themes: (i) influencing educational settings; (ii) striving for reciprocity; (iii) managing time struggles; and (iv) satisfying well-being needs. Tensions between the students’ previous experiences and future visions appeared. The findings can offer direction regarding aspects of the learning environment in school that could be improved.

The aim of this study was to describe, reflect upon, and create a deeper understanding of aspects relevant for promoting a positive school environment from a student perspective. The data was analyzed by using an inductive phenomenological method and based on written responses from 200 Swedish students from grades 5–9. The results indicated that the students found aspects within, as well as beyond, the classroom relevant for a positive school environment. For instance, outings were considered relevant for building and maintaining friendships and for learning processes. Moreover, the students discussed formal and informal conditions and considered social as well as structural circumstances important for having a good time in school. The relation between learning and well-being was also emphasized by the students.

In the northern, sub-arctic, regions of the world the climate is cold a substantial part of the year which affecting people's health as low temperatures and darkness stress the body. At the same time the cold climate offers opportunities that can be utilized in an innovative manner, both technically and aesthetically, to develop the winter environment to be attractive and health promoting in outdoor activities.The aim of the study was to develop a methodology for giving voice to citizens to be used in the process of urban planning and design for good health in a cold climate. The qualitative investigations of citizen’s experiences of health promoting aspects included two workshops focused on the following questions; What are your experiences of health and well-being in a cold climate? How can this city be planned to promote health during the winter season? The 53 participants came from two cities in the northern part of Sweden. At Workshop 1 small groups of citizens (5-8) were asked to make a collective collage cutting and pasting images from magazines without talking to each other while soft music was playing in the background.When finished the silence was broken and the participants presented their contributions. At Workshop 2 small groups of citizens (5-8) were given maps of the city with different paths for walking tours aimed to pinpoint areas for improvement. After the walk the group presented their ideas for each other and a number of innovative ideas surfaced.Including citizens in the process of urban planning is not only a good source of ideas and information useful in the planning process but may be an opportunity to strengthen health literacy and healthy behavior. This study may serve as an example of an empowerment - based method including citizens in the process of urban planning and design.

In this paper we will explore and discuss possibilities to learn and research through an appreciative approach in order to enhance continuing professional development for teachers and leaders in school systems. Traditionally humans are used to define problems and trying to find solutions. This involves identification of the bad or threatening and preventing it from taking place, in other words prevention. What would happen if we choose to solve problems in a different way: identify what we appreciate and let this be the base for continued development and improvement? A promoting perspective and salutogenic focus has shown to be successful in helping humans increase their experience of health, which may also create opportunities for learning. How would it be if we changed our point of departure in learning and research processes from problems to appreciation?Our thoughts about Appreciative Based Learning (ABL) has evolved while working with Problem Based Learning (PBL) as teachers. When we came in contact with Participatory and Appreciative Action Research (PAAR) and Appreciative Inquiry we sensed an increased opportunity for positive change, a new way of working with education and research. PAAR can be seen both as a process of building and sustaining change in organizations (Participation, Appreciation, Action and Reflection) and also as a research methodology. PAAR has its roots in action research which is a problem based method aiming at developing and improving practice. Action research can be seen as participatory and collaborative research. A central question in this kind of research is how change of practice can be done, individually or collectively. The new aspect in PAAR is appreciation. An improvement process starts from for example acknowledging factors that work well in an organization or for an individual and the next step is to amplify these positive factors. PAAR research seeks for example to explore positive experiences of a phenomenon and how these experiences can be amplified and sustained in a practice.Central aspects of ABL are appreciation, participation, multimodalities, learning from each other and reflection. Just like PAAR, ABL can offer an opportunity to take positive questions and turn them into positive actions. We will give examples of how we as teachers and researchers have applied ABL in our own teaching and research. Finally we raise questions of how ABL can play a role in school improvement and educational research, building not only a better school but a better future as well.Methodology or methods/research instruments or sources used:We will focus on how to use ABL in the field of school improvement generally and specifically pertaining to educational research, through giving the theoretical background and examples of how we have applied ABL. We have been inspired by ABL in our own research, when teaching in higher education and when working with continuing professional development for teachers and leaders in school systems.Conclusions or expected outcomes or findings:This paper seeks to introduce and explore ABL as a method in school improvement processes and in educational research. We will share our process in developing ABL; how we have applied ABL in our teaching and research. We hope that our thoughts about the possibility to learn and research through an appreciative approach will inspire the participants to reflect on their own practice.

The aim of this paper is to describe and discuss Appreciative Inquiry (AI) as a research method to facilitate student voice in school research. The paper sets out a model for conducting AI in schools. The research questions identified are: What are the researcher’s reflections when using Appreciative Inquiry in school research? What challenges and opportunities can be found when using Appreciative Inquiry in research processes with students? An application of the model will be presented and problematised. The conclusions indicate the importance of inviting students to participate in the process of defining research topics, and of using multimodal methods for facilitating students’ exploration of school experiences. It is also vital that adults support students in imagining and articulating visions on how to improve the school, as well as plans designing for enacting visions. Finally, a ‘whole school approach’ is emphasised for contributing to sustainable appreciative student voice work in schools.

Below is a conversation based on development and research work in the international project ArctiChildren InNet. These are some reflections from two of the researchers in the “Swedish Team”. 

This article focuses on student participation in the research process as a contribution to school improvement. The specific aim of this article was to explore students' participation in different phases of a research process and discuss how their participation can contribute to school improvement. Based on a life-world phenomenological ontology, we used two research and development projects - Full of Value and Arctic Children - to shed light on participation in research. When doing research together with students, we have been inspired by Participatory Appreciative Action Research (PAAR). The methods used in the projects were open writing, group reflection, drawings, and exhibition discussions. This research showed that students were able to explore and express their lived experiences of behaviour and well-being in school, and how this was linked to positive change. We found students trustworthy, capable, and competent, enriching the process of school improvement.

The aim of this paper is to explore students’ positive experiences of their learning through the use of visual narratives, observation, and field notes in two secondary school classes in Sweden. Four themes were found: (1) knowing the needs of mind and body, (2) embracing each other in mutual support, (3) learning in a facilitating environment, and (4) using a variety of learning modalities. Students wished to have a voice in setting the curriculum, favored a variety of assignments, and sought to expand their learning environment beyond the classroom. Finally, challenges for teachers and school leaders are discussed.

This paper focuses on school situations students experienced as meaningful and how these experiences can guide educational improvement. Participants included 15 students in grade 3 from a Swedish school. In this qualitative study, the data consisted of drawings, multimodal productions, interviews, and field notes. The analysis resulted in four themes: Having the opportunity to learn in different spaces; Being free and able to participate; Experiencing caring and sharing, and Recognizing one’s own growth and achievement. The findings suggest that situations students find meaningful involve aspects of both learning and wellbeing. The practical implication for these results is that student-generated qualitative data can help indicate needs for educational improvement.

In this workshop we will present the background and the development of Participatory Appreciative Action Research (PAAR) as a research methodology and a school improvement process as well. This method has its roots in participatory action research which emphasizes the improvement of practice through involvement and participation. The new addition in PAAR is the appreciative aspect, this means for example working together and sharing the best practices and appreciating each other and our abilities. PAAR can be viewed as the opposite of problem-solving because it focuses on success and what works well instead of problems. Key concepts in PAAR are re-framing, positive questions, participation and positive present. These concepts will be discussed and explored. PAAR offers an opportunity to take positive questions and turn them into positive actions. This can be compared to Antonovsky's way of looking at health and development driven by the positive, in other words what is healthy not what is ill. This perspective can also be used when building an educational setting that encourages co-operation and sharing which make possible a positive psychosocial culture enhancing the learning process.We will give examples of how we as researchers have applied PAAR to our own research areas that include ethical perspectives on learning and health promotion with children in compulsory school in Sweden. Finally we raise questions of how educational research and school improvement relate to each other and if, in what way and when they can cooperate in building not only a better school but a better future.Methodology or methods/research instruments or sources used:We will focus on how to use PAAR methodology in the field of school improvement generally and specifically pertaining to educational research and health promotion, through giving the theoretical background and examples of how we have applied PAAR in our own research with students in compulsory school.Conclusions or expected outcomes or findings: This hour-long workshop seeks to introduce and explore PAAR as a method in educational research and in school improvement processes. After giving the background of PAAR, the participants in the workshop will have the opportunity to begin to explore how PAAR can be used in their own research and/or practice. This is done through interactive activities. We will present how we have used PAAR in our research and hope that this will inspire the participants to reflect on their own research and practice. We also want to address the issue of the relationship between research and improvement of a practice.

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore health from the perspective of young immigrants in Sweden.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 25 newly arrived young immigrants attending Swedish language classes in northern Sweden participated by drawing and writing open letters. They continued the open-ended sentence “Now I’ll draw and describe a day when I was feeling good, that was […].”

Findings

The phenomenological analysis resulted in three themes: longing to be in control for a better life, searching for power in the good and the bad, and striving for a sense of belonging in the new society. The findings illuminate young immigrants’ perspectives of a health-promoting everyday life consisting of agency, reflection and a sense of community. The findings also highlight the young immigrants’ experiences when health-promoting aspects are lacking, characterized by disillusionment, anxiety and loneliness. The findings are discussed with health promotion, health literacy and young immigrants in mind.

Practical implications

According to young immigrants, meeting basic needs such as food, sleep and housing is health promoting but easily taken for granted. Being able to have a say in matters concerning everyday life, social inclusion and finding power in memories – positive and negative – can promote health in young immigrants.

Originality/value

The young immigrants were able to communicate via drawings and words to overcome language barriers.

Background: Conversational user interfaces, or chatbots, are becoming more popular in the realm of digital health and well-being. While many studies focus on measuring the cause or effect of a digital intervention on people’s health and well-being (outcomes), there is a need to understand how users really engage and use a digital intervention in the real world.

Objective: In this study, we examine the user logs of a mental well-being chatbot called ChatPal, which is based on the concept of positive psychology. The aim of this research is to analyze the log data from the chatbot to provide insight into usage patterns, the different types of users using clustering, and associations between the usage of the app’s features.

Methods: Log data from ChatPal was analyzed to explore usage. A number of user characteristics including user tenure, unique days, mood logs recorded, conversations accessed, and total number of interactions were used with k-means clustering to identify user archetypes. Association rule mining was used to explore links between conversations.

Results: ChatPal log data revealed 579 individuals older than 18 years used the app with most users being female (n=387, 67%). User interactions peaked around breakfast, lunchtime, and early evening. Clustering revealed 3 groups including “abandoning users” (n=473), “sporadic users” (n=93), and “frequent transient users” (n=13). Each cluster had distinct usage characteristics, and the features were significantly different (P<.001) across each group. While all conversations within the chatbot were accessed at least once by users, the “treat yourself like a friend” conversation was the most popular, which was accessed by 29% (n=168) of users. However, only 11.7% (n=68) of users repeated this exercise more than once. Analysis of transitions between conversations revealed strong links between “treat yourself like a friend,” “soothing touch,” and “thoughts diary” among others. Association rule mining confirmed these 3 conversations as having the strongest linkages and suggested other associations between the co-use of chatbot features.

Conclusions: This study has provided insight into the types of people using the ChatPal chatbot, patterns of use, and associations between the usage of the app’s features, which can be used to further develop the app by considering the features most accessed by users.

Mental health chatbots are particularly useful for those who are isolated and may have difficulty attending services or for those who are reluctant to speak to a professional. In this study, the usability and trust of a chatbot known as ’ChatPal’ has been assessed. ChatPal has been developed by an interdisciplinary team encompassing health service providers, local authorities, charities and universities to promote positive mental wellbeing among individuals in rural areas across Europe. This study employed a usability test protocol to recruit representative users to complete a set of tasks using the ChatPal chatbot. Usability issues were assessed along with trust and users’ satisfaction on the System Usability Scale and the Chatbot Usability Questionnaire. The study shows the usability issues and trust with a mental health chatbot and highlights recommendations for improvement.

There is a need for more knowledge about positive health determinants in the school setting. The overall aim of this study was to analyse if positive self-reported health is associated with experiences of school among high-school students. Data originated from the health dialogue questionnaire answered by students in grade 1 of high school. A total of 5035 students participated from the academic years 2013 to 2016. Logistic regression with positive odds ratio (POR) was used to analyse associations between positive self-reported health and school experiences. There was an association between positive self-reported health and school experiences among students. Positive mental health was the strongest predictor for positive school experiences. To frequently participate in Physical Education, have a positive body image and satisfactory sleep nearly doubled the students' odds for positive school experiences. The results also revealed gender differences; boys more often reported positive experiences of school and positive health than girls. Positive self-reported health is associated with positive experiences of school, particularly mental health. Moreover, these findings have significant implications for how students experience school and demonstrate the importance of including health-promoting interventions in systemic school improvement, meeting both girls' and boys' needs.

The paper introduces a new approach to reflecting and acting called participatory and appreciative action and reflection (PAAR). It explores its potential to enable individuals and groups to move forward, to improve their working practices and lives in particular communities and contexts. The paper situates PAAR in the historical context of participatory and action methodologies and reflective learning. It suggests that using PAAR requires four strategic ‘turns'. By turn we mean a change in direction from one way of thinking and practising to another. The four turns are: (i) away from a preoccupation with changing behaviours in order to solve problems, with ‘fixing' things and an engagement in deficit-based discourses, towards the development of appreciative insight, understanding the root causes of success and sustaining strengths-based discourses in order to amplify those things that will help build a better future from the positive present; (ii) away from self-learning (individualism and isolation) and towards collective learning through interconnectedness, appreciative knowledge sharing and the use of new forms of communications technology which enable simultaneous action in dispersed geopolitical spaces; (iii) away from one way of knowing and one perspective on truth to an acceptance of more pluralistic view of ways of knowing, of understanding human experience and putting this knowing to good use; (iv) away from reflective cycles and spirals and towards the use of a reflective learning (r-learning) framework comprising four mutually supportive processes. They are those of developing an appreciative ‘gaze', of reframing experience, of building practical wisdom and of achieving and moving forward.

This article explores how the levels of participation in organized leisure activities relate to children’s psychosocial well-being. Data collection occurred in a school district with 7 schools in the northern part of Sweden. Children ages 12-14 were invited to complete the World Health Organizations’ Health Behavior in School-Aged Children self-completion questionnaire (n=391). An independent variable was constructed to measure children’s participation in organized leisure activities at three levels: low level (LL), medium level (ML), and high level (HL). Ten out of 13 correlations were significant at the p< .05 level). Results indicated that the ML group scored high on life satisfaction, had a lot of friends, and felt less pressure in school than the other two groups, while the LL and HL groups had fewer friends and felt more pressure. The conclusion drawn is that a medium level of participation in organized leisure activities was most favorable for children’s health and well-being. Discussions include possibilities for finding the right balance between organized leisure activities and children’s well-being

The Objectives: The European Commission has highlighted the use of sports as an important venue for engaging citizens in health-enhancing activities, physical activity, volunteerism and active citizenship. Coaching is a central component of sports for children and youth, but there is little research on the promotion of sports coaches' health. In the light of this gap, the aim of this paper was to elucidate youth soccer coaches' visions and thoughts regarding leadership support from clubs and soccer associations. Design and method: The study was based on an online questionnaire conducted with Swedish soccer coaches who coached children and young people between 6 and 18 years of age. In total, 1514 coaches received the online questionnaire via email and 764 coaches (50.5% of the sample) answered. Three hundred and seventy-five coaches answered the open question: 'How would you describe the support you, as a coach, would like to receive from clubs and associations?' Responses were analysed using method. Results: Four main themes emerged from the analysis: financial and other resources support, recognition of contribution, sense of belonging to a value-based association and positive coach development. Conclusion: We discuss the factors that support soccer coaches and how these can serve as health-promoting supports for coaches working with children and youth.

Good health has always been crucial to people’s life situation.Throughout the history of health care, cures for diseaseshave been discovered, and great strides have been made toallow humans to live longer and healthier lives. However, newchallenges arise, for example, mental ill-health in childrenand young adults, coping with an older population, and servicingsparsely populated areas, such as the Arctic regions.Moreover, increased migration brings unique challenges andliving in a digital world increase health risks. However, inevery challenge, there is an opportunity. At LTU, health is aprioritized area, with a focus on innovative interdisciplinaryresearch, for example, including the perspective of health inArctic living, widening educational research to include healthpromotion, and exploring technology within the e-health field.One possible approach is to support people to increase controlover and improve their health at individual and organizationallevels, as well as using social innovations to promotehealth with a “cool” northern perspective.

The interest for children's health is a global issue and concerns are voiced in areas of children's psycho-social health and well-being, in many countries including Sweden. There have been a number of research projects undertaken on children's health alerting us of the decrease in children's psycho-social health and well-being, although it seems as if children's perspectives are rare. Therefore the overall aim of this thesis is to describe and develop an understanding of schoolchildren's lived experiences of health and ill health, as well as health promotion activities through children's perspectives. The 128 children who participated were selected from one school district in northern Sweden. The studies included 10 children in a pilot study as well as 99 children age 10-12, all of them attending grades 4-6 in the smallest and largest schools in the school district, one suburban and one rural (I). Twenty- three of these children were invited to an interview (II, III). In addition all the 19 children in a 4th grade class, 11 boys and 8 girls, from a suburban school participated in a one year health promotion project (IV). Data was collected through narratives in search for the children's lived experiences, by using open letters (I,II,III), drawings (IV), individual interviews (II,III), and group discussions (I,IV). The data was analyzed using a hermeneutic phenomenological data analysis (I,III,IV), and a phenomenological-hermeneutical data analysis (II). The findings of the four different studies included in this thesis can be summarized under the headings; Being met as a "we" - relationships to others and to oneself, Being caught in life's challenges, Being relaxed and powerful, and Friendship is like an extra parachute. The children's lived experiences point at the importance of being trusted, respected, included, involved and met as a "we". From this thesis it can be understood that including children in health promotion is a matter of openness and humbleness, suggesting adults, be it parents, health care professionals, teachers or researchers, taking on an empowered child perspective.