【Purpose】This study aimed to survey teachers' awareness of preparation of junior high school health class, students' responses to the health classes, teaching methods used in the health classes, support systems for the teachers, and associations between the preparation and the support systems, with respect to each subunit of health learning.

【Methods】Participants were 255 junior high school health and physical education teachers in three prefectures. Survey items examined teachers' awareness of knowledge and understanding of teaching contents, teachers' reviewing of teaching material before class, students' interest in, and understanding and consideration of health class, support systems for teachers, teaching methods used in classes such as case studies, group work, etc, and teacher-training support systems. Data distribution and correlations were calculated for each subunit of health education. The level of statistical Significance was set at .05.

【Results】

1. The positive effects of preparation, student response, and support systems were smallest for the unit “waste disposal.”

2. The positive effects of preparation were 80-90% for the subunits “first aid,” “smoking, drinking and drug abuse,” and “reproductive maturation.” The effect size of teachers' knowledge and understanding of teaching contents was greater than 90%.

3. The positive effect of student response was greater than 90% for the subunits “first aid” and “smoking, drinking, and drug abuse,” although the effect was smaller for the unit“ health and environment.”

4. Types of teaching methods used were case study, group work, experimental or practical work, brainstorming, and use of specialists. The effect sizes of the latter three methods were significantly smaller.

5. Knowledge and understanding of teaching contents, and consideration of teaching materials, were significantly positively correlated with support system effectiveness.

【Objectives】The purpose of this study was to examine Yogo teacher self-evaluation for first aid with a focus on evaluation of difficulty in first aid processes.

【Methods】An anonymous self-administered questionnaire was given to 315 Yogo teachers.

【Results】The main results were as follows:

1)Yogo teacher confidence in first aid was high in limb injury, and low in chest and abdominal injury.

2)With experience, confidence rises in first aid for facial injury, but not chest and abdominal injury.

3)In first aid processes, Yogo teachers had the least confidence in physical assessment.

4)Yogo teachers who were also licensed nurses had greater skill as a result of their training.

【Conclusion】Increasing Yogo teacher confidence in first aid requires an appropriate program of in-service training that includes technique and experience. In particular, it is essential that Yogo teachers understand the requirements for first aid in chest and abdominal injury. The improvement of technique and a greater understanding of important points in first aid requires practical education and training that combines anatomy and symptomology.

【Objective】As primary prevention against the decline of mental health in college students, life skills education is considered to be effective. For the effective life skills education, it is required to implement programs according to personal characteristics of life skills and states of mental health. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the characteristics of life skills and states of mental health in college students to obtain the basic knowledge for the effective life skills education.

【Methods】Subjects were 561college students (233 males, 328 females, mean age:19.8 ± 1.3 years) at 3 colleges in metropolitan area. Daily Life Skills Scale for College Students (DLS: consisted of 8 factors, i.e., “planning”, “knowledge summarization”, “self-esteem”, “positive thinking”, “intimacy”, “leadership”, “empathy”, and “interpersonal manner”) and Japanese Version of General Health Questionnaire 12 (GHQ) were used to assess life skills and mental health respectively.

【Results】Cluster analysis based on DLS scores showed that the subjects could be classified into 4 clusters for males and females respectively (Male: M1-M4, Female: F1-F4). In addition, one way analysis of variance with the clusters as an independent variable and with GHQ scores as a dependent variable showed differences in states of mental health among these clusters. Approximate tendencies of the subjects in each cluster were shown as follows:

M1 & F1: all of life skills were low, mental health was poor in comparison with the other clusters.

M2: “planning”, “positive thinking” and “interpersonal manner” skills were high, “knowledge summarization”, “self-esteem”, “intimacy”, “leadership”, and “empathy” skills were low, mental health was not good in comparison with the other clusters.

F2: “planning”, “knowledge summarization”, “self-esteem”, “positive thinking”, “intimacy”, and “leadership” skills were high, “empathy” and “interpersonal manner” skills were low, mental health was not good in comparison with the other clusters.

M3 & F3: “empathy” and “interpersonal manner” skills were high, “self-esteem” and “positive thinking” skills were low, mental health was not good in comparison with other clusters.

M4 & F4: all of life skills were high, mental health was good in comparison with the other clusters.

【Conclusion】These results suggested that the considerations for both the characteristics of life skills and the state of mental health, which induced by each cluster, were effective to implement the life skills education.