Focusing on mental health promotion for children and young people: post modern analysis of schools as key health enhancing institutions for children

Much of the traditional work to improve the health of children has either focused on physical conditions in the child or on the physical environment. It must be said that it is within this field that some of the greatest successes have also been achieved. However, there is a need not only to include the social, psychological or spiritual aspects of health but also to be able to analyse how the macro trends of our times influence all these fields jointly. Since most of this report concentrates on the physical environment this presentation will mainly use a settings approach to child health addressing the family, the learning environment of schools and society and the market. This is an effort to describe how the living environment of children is affected by the major trends of contemporary society. Only recently has scientific literature been enriched by contextual analyses of public health in post-modern terms. A recent contribution (1), presents a socio-cultural analysis and critique of the core ideas in the contemporary public health movement. However, the post-modern analysis of what the post-modern public health consists of and its effect on the population health is still lacking. This chapter attempts to highlight child health in Europe in a post-modern analysis.