Psychosocial and health factors associated with school children's perceived benefits of the health dialogue in Denmark

The study is the Danish contribution to the WHO collaborative study, Health Behaviour in Schoolchildren. A nationwide random sample of pupils, 11, 13 and 15 years old (N=4046), answered a standardised questionnaire in 1994 about perceived health, health behaviour, social factors and contact with the school nurse. In the bivariate analysis, significant predictors of a very good health dialogue were: a high degree of satisfaction with life, satisfaction with school, good social integration, high academic achievement, not being isolated from classmates, not feeling pressured due to school work, confidence, suitable body-image, a very good self-rated health, no weekly symptoms, high levels of physical activity and healthy diet. The final model of a multivariate analysis revealed five predictors of a very good health dialogue: students' choice of the content of the health dialogue, satisfaction with school, wellbeing at school, very good self-rated health and high academic achievement.