In this project we wish to promote health and wellbeing amongst the young. This is a current topic as social exclusion and youth well-being have deteriorated in Europe. Traditionally prevention of diseases and problems has been used and such approach is somewhat out-of-date and has a negative tone in regards to modern health education. We wish to emphasise the positive approach to wellbeing and want to promote health instead of merely preventing the problems from occuring. In this approach adolescents would have a more active role as subjects instead of passive objects, and therefore the current project would offer something new to the topic. Through positive approach the aim is to encourage students to take more responsibility of their own wellbeing and those around them. Promotion of health is a welcome addition to the traditional prevention of problems. In addition to working on the topic of youth health promotion we also wish to enforce positive inter-cultural attitudes by working in multicultural groups. Through working in partnership we wish to provide opportunities for both participating schools and our students to raise awareness of cultural differences and similarities and to develop empathy and understanding through collaboration. Along with our main objective, promotion of health amongst the young, the project also adds to international interaction, participation in multiple events, self-confidence and self-expression. All this enables project participants to be better EU citizens. We have chosen main themes that affect the wellbeing of the youth, and we wish to tackle these topics in various ways. These very topics will be discussed as they not only play a great role in the health of the young but are also a relevant part of their everyday lives. The main topics of discussion are as follows: - social life (social exclusion, bullying, hobbies and friends) - computers and smart phones (gaming and the Internet) - substances (alcohol, drugs) - physical activity The topics for the research groups and the annual division are as follows: 1st year, 1) social life: social exclusion 2) computers and smart phones: gaming 3) substances: alcohol 2nd year, 1) social life: hobbies and friends 2) computers and smart phones: the Internet 3) substances: drugs Students will familiarize themselves with the given topic in small intercultural groups. Deeper familiarization takes place in small groups and in the end of the project each group will assemble the final product e.g. teaching material, drama, poster, newspaper, video, website. Furthermore all groups will explore other topics of the project on a more general level with other students in mutual meetings. Main methodology is to conduct health surveys for fundamental data collection in Italy and in Finland. Results of the surveys will be discussed in greater detail in various ways. Other methods are workshops, debates, reflection in small groups and visits and cooperation with project partners. Hundred Finnish and Italian upper secondary school students + ten teachers will be involved during two years. Each group will work for one year and after that new students will enter the project and continue working on the same theme. The first (Finland autumn 2015) and third (Italy autumn 2016) visits will include more familiarization and data collection whereas the second (Italy spring 2016) and fourth (Finland spring 2017) visits will contain more working on the own topic and preparation of the final products. The main aim of the current project is to promote youth health and wellbeing. We wish to raise awareness in health-related issues and we encourage students to take responsibilty in health-concerning decision-making in their own lives and of those around them. We hope that this will result in improved well-being. Through intercultural group working the awareness and understanding of different cultures will rise and, therefore, the students will learn to emphatise and develop their cross-cultural attitudes. Further, their self-expression skills and self-confidence will improve. In the long run, we aim at these participating students becoming healthier, more responsible, more self-confident and more international Europeans who would have a fluent output - better EU citizens, that is.
BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT In this project we wished to promote health and wellbeing amongst the young. We emphasized the positive approach to wellbeing and aimed to promote health instead of merely preventing the problems from occurring. In this approach we wanted the adolescents to have a more active role as subjects instead of passive objects. In addition to working on the topic of youth health promotion we also wished to enforce positive inter-cultural attitudes by working in multicultural groups. Through working in partnership we wished to provide opportunities for both participating schools and our students to raise awareness of cultural differences and similarities and to develop empathy and understanding through collaboration. OBJECTIVES Our main objective was to promote health and wellbeing amongst the young. Along with our main objective the project also intended to add international interaction, participation in multiple events, self-confidence and self-expression. Through raising awareness of cultural differences and similarities we aimed to increase empathy and understanding. We wanted that all this had enabled the project participants to become better EU citizens with positive intercultural attitudes and to take more responsibility of their own wellbeing and those around them. NUMBER AND PROFILE OF PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS IN FINLAND (1) Aseman lapset, pre-emptive organisation which helps young in risk to get socially excluded (2) SIEIDI, local game company (3) Saapas organisation, based on voluntary work which concentrates on alcohol and drug-related problems (4) Alvar Aalto Museum, museum dedicated to Alvar Aalto's architecture (5) The Natural History Museum of Central Finland (6) Tähtipalvelut, local bus company (7) City of Jyväskylä (8) University of Jyväskylä (9) J-Nappi, service centre for young adults (10) Veturitallit, culture and youth centre (11) Toivolan vanha piha, historical Finnish milieu with handicraft shops and museum NUMBER AND PROFILE OF PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS IN ITALY (1) Rehab center in Amelia, Tuscany (2) Vatican museum (3) Colosseum and Forum Romanum (4) Major sights in the centre of historical Rome e.g. Pantheon, Fontana di Trevi and Spanish steps (5) Italian YouTuber (6) Piccola orchestra di Torpignattara, a band formed of immigrants DESCRIPTION OF UNDERTAKEN MAIN ACTIVITIES - Attending project ceremonies and parties - Grouping with the participants - Attending lessons in Jyväskylä and Rome - Attending PE - Brainstorming - Analyzing and comparing results of surveys - Visiting project partners - Debating on project's themes - Arranging tasks and fields of responsibilities concerning project's final products - Lectures given by project partners - Gathering information - Workshops - Preparing and presenting the final products - City tours and sightseeing - Local museums and sights - Living local family life with the host families RESULTS AND IMPACTS ATTAINED - Promotion of health and wellbeing amongst the young - Taking more responsibility of oneself's wellbeing and those in immediate surrounding - Helping, understanding and empathising more with fellow citizens - Increased positive attitudes towards another culture - Increased self-confidence and self-expression through international collaboration - Improved language and ICT skills in an international setting - Collaboration with project partners, schools (educational staff and managerial staff) and host families LONGER-TERM BENEFITS According to our questionnaires, the participating students felt that HPIME project will have a positive effect on their health and wellbeing in the future and those around them. In addition, they showed more international mindedness and interest in multiculturalism. This implies that the project will have long-lasting benefits on the participants.