Unique personal experience was provided by invited key speakers from Umeå University (Sweden), Psychological Institute of Russian Academy of Education, the Administration of Helsinki (Finland) and UiT The Arctic University of Norway.
A number of practical problems, such as conducting complex studies of students’ psycho-social well-being, dialogue development between students, their parents and teachers, and IT environment for the school e-health system development, were discussed by specialists in the frames of this project. The result of the three-year work is a number of publications including articles based on research made by partners, and the website www.arctichildren.com, serving as an interesting and effective channel for the distribution of health information among pupils in the Barents region.
In addition to the main English-language site of the project, experts from the Northern (Arctic) Federal University created a Russian-language information web resource www.narfu.ru/arctichildren, the purpose of which is to provide users with access to unique information collected by NArFU through many years of research, scientific publications, participation in international and Russian conferences and seminars. This information resource contains data on health-adapted technologies, and it is one of the effective tools to prevent psychosocial distress in the school environment.
Up to the end of the project (March 2015) the Working Group will summarize its results and give the base for sustainability of the project after its completion. Moreover, opening of the intellectual centers (NArFU Scientific Library and the Resource Center of Inclusive Education) will give more opportunities for the development of the e-health subject.
To disseminate the project results, NArFU representatives will participate in the XVI International Congress on Circumpolar Health "Focus on health and well-being", which will be held in June 2015 in Oulu, Finland.
Project partners:
University of Lapland, Finland
Northern (Arctic) Federal University named after M.V. Lomonosov, Russia
Murmansk State Humanities University, Russia
Gymnasium №5, Murmansk, Russia
Lovozerskaya boarding school, Murmansk region, Russia
Lapland University of Applied Sciences, Finland
Luleå University of Technology, Sweden
UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Norway
University of Manitoba, Canada (associated partner)
The Municipality of Inari, Finland
The Municipality of Salla, Finland
The Municipality of Kemi, Finland