Healthy Living: when engaging people makes a difference. Evidences from an experiment with teenagers in Tuscany (original) (raw)
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Student‐driven health promotion activities
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The ATLAS school-based health promotion programme
European Physical Education Review, 2017
Adolescent boys living in disadvantaged communities are considered a vulnerable group at risk for developing obesity and associated health problems, such as cardiovascular disease, hypertension and type-2 diabetes. While short-term health promotion programmes often produce effective results during the implementation of the intervention, according to self-determination theory (SDT), changes in autonomous motivation are required if programmes are to have sustained effects on health behaviours. This article describes the ATLAS (Active Teen Leaders Avoiding Screen-time) programme, based on SDT, which was developed to engage adolescent boys from low socio-economic backgrounds in physical activity, reduce their consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and limit recreational screen-time. The article reports a post-hoc analysis of the perceptions and experiences of a representative group of ATLAS participants to investigate whether the boys’ general impressions of the programme reflected th...
Engaging adolescents in developing health education interventions: a multidisciplinary pilot project
European Journal of Public Health, 2020
Adolescents engagement is fundamental to develop dedicated educational interventions. We piloted non-standard sociological methodology to assess risk perception, information sources and perceived educational needs of a group of Italian adolescents focusing on three infectious diseases. Three high-school classes students participated in a World Café event. A thematic analysis was performed. Participants showed lack of knowledge on diseases prevention. Family and school were key health information sources and social media considered unreliable. Future interventions preferences included interactive and informal sessions. We showed the utility of non-standard sociological methods to assess health knowledge among adolescents and enhance the design of dedicated interventions.
Health Expectations, 2021
Background: Adolescents who participate as peer leaders can benefit and acquire competencies from their peer leadership experience. Objectives: To identify the competencies gained by adolescents who participated as peer leaders in a healthy lifestyle study and to determine whether the training characteristics were related to improvement in competencies. Design: The present study was part of the European Youth Tackling Obesity (EYTO) project, a multicentre social marketing intervention involving four European countries. Setting and Participants: Eighteen peer leaders (aged 13-15 years, three or five leaders per country) from disadvantaged neighbourhoods received training in designing and implementing activities for their peers. Measures: The peer leaders' confidence, experience and interest in 11 tasks related to lifelong learning competencies were assessed with questions rated on a colour scale at baseline and at the end of the study. Results: The peer leaders demonstrated improvements in experience, confidence and interest in different tasks, such as research, website or logo design, oral presentations, social media use and collaboration with people from other countries. They increased their confidence in management tasks (p = 0.03) and their confidence and experience in communication tasks (p = 0.01). The peer leaders from Spain and Portugal had greater improvements than those from the other countries.
Youth Have A Voice - Qualitative Exploration Of A Participatory Action-Research Program
Acta Psychopathologica
Although the participatory action-research programs with young people are increasingly common around the world, their inclusion in the evaluation of intervention programs in the area of health promotion is still not a rule. This study presents youths' assessment of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the Dream Teens project, along with its impact on their development as a person, the development of their individual action and their social support (family, school and community). Two studies are presented: study 1, referring to individual interviews, including a total of 12 young people, with a mean age of 18.5 years (± 1.62), mostly girls (83.3%) attending secondary school (41.67%), higher education (33.33%) and third grade (25%); and study 2, referring to a focus group that involved 8 young people, mostly girls (75%), age 18.5 years (± 2) attending higher education (37.5%), secondary school (37.5%) and third grade (25%). The NVivo software was used for the analysis and processing of data. This work is expected to contribute to an increase in the number of research-action programs with the participation of young people, enhancing their effectiveness as a way to promote their health and wellbeing.
BMC public health, 2015
The encouragement of healthy lifestyles for obesity prevention in young people is a public health priority. The European Youth Tackling Obesity (EYTO) project is a multicentric intervention project with participation from the United Kingdom, Portugal, the Czech Republic and Spain. The general aim of the EYTO project is to improve lifestyles, including nutritional habits and physical activity practice, and to prevent obesity in socioeconomically disadvantaged and vulnerable adolescents. The EYTO project works through a peer-led social marketing intervention that is designed and implemented by the adolescents of each participating country. Each country involved in the project acts independently. This paper describes the "Som la Pera" intervention Spanish study that is part of the EYTO project. In Spain, the research team performed a cluster randomised controlled intervention over 2 academic years (2013-2015) in which 2 high-schools were designated as the control group and 2 ...
A partnership for health - working with schools to promote healthy lifestyle
Australian family physician, 2011
BACKGROUND Childhood obesity is increasing in prevalence. Effective interventions are needed, including those promoting healthy lifestyle habits in children and adolescents. OBJECTIVE This article describes the development and feasibility of a peer led health promotion program in a New South Wales high school and the role GPs can play in community based health promotion activities. DISCUSSION The Students As Lifestyle Activists (SALSA) program was developed by general practitioners, a local community health organisation and a local high school. Preliminary evaluation suggests that a peer led approach is feasible, acceptable and valued by both students and staff.
Journal of Personalized Medicine
Amid obesity problems in the young population and apparent trends of spending a significant amount of time in a stationary position, promoting healthy nutrition and physical activities to teenagers is becoming increasingly important. It can rely on different methodologies, including a paper diary and mobile applications. However, the widespread use of mobile applications by teenagers suggests that they could be a more suitable tool for this purpose. This paper reviews the methodologies for promoting physical activities to healthy teenagers explored in different studies, excluding the analysis of different diseases. We found only nine studies working with teenagers and mobile applications to promote active lifestyles, including the focus on nutrition and physical activity. Studies report using different techniques to captivate the teenagers, including questionnaires and gamification techniques. We identified the common features used in different studies, which are: paper diary, diet ...
Health promotion actions geared to teens and the interface with the school – integrative review
Journal of Nursing Ufpe Online, 2013
Objective: to identify in the scientific literature of health promotion actions geared to teens and to interface with the school. Method: integrative review, conducted from March to April 2013, in databases Science Direct (Elsevier), SCOPUS, VHL and SciELO virtual library, with employment of keywords: nursing, adolescent, health promotion, school health. To guide this research this question was formulated < < Which are the health promotion actions geared to teens and their interface with school? > > The results were presented in figure and the discussion centered on the most relevant aspects of the studies. Results: we observed aspects related to the promotion of sexual and reproductive health, with emphasis on teenage pregnancy, and the absence of other important factors. In one of the articles, it was emphasized school violence. Conclusion: the results found allow inferring that: the number of articles published is scarce on the relevance of health promotion studies with a focus on adolescents. Descriptors: Nursing; Adolescence, Health Promotion; School Health. RESUMO Objetivo: identificar na literatura científica as ações de promoção da saúde voltadas aos adolescentes e à interface com a escola. Método: revisão integrativa, realizada de março a abril de 2013, nas bases de dados Science Direct (Elsevier), SCOPUS, BVS e biblioteca virtual SciELO, com o emprego dos descritores: enfermagem, adolescente, promoção da saúde, saúde escolar. Para nortear esta pesquisa formulou-se a questão << Quais as ações de promoção da saúde voltadas aos adolescentes e a sua interface com a escola? >> Os resultados foram apresentados em figura e a discussão centrada nos aspectos mais relevantes dos estudos. Resultados: observamos aspectos relacionados com a promoção da saúde sexual e reprodutiva, enfatizando a gravidez na adolescência, e ausência de outros fatores importantes. Em um dos artigos, foi enfatizada a violência escolar. Conclusão: os resultados encontrados permitem inferir que: o quantitativo de artigos publicados é escasso diante da relevância de estudos de promoção da saúde com foco nos adolescentes. Descritores: Enfermagem; Adolescente, Promoção da saúde; Saúde Escolar. RESUMEN Objetivo: identificar en la literatura científica las acciones de promoción de la salud dirigida a los adolescentes y a la interface con la escuela. Método: revisión integrativa, realizada de marzo a abril de 2013, en las bases de datos Science Direct (Elsevier), SCOPUS, BVS y biblioteca virtual SciELO, con el empleo de las palabras clave: enfermería, adolescente, promoción de la salud, salud escolar. Para guiar esta investigación se formuló la pregunta << ¿Cuáles son las acciones de promoción de la salud dirigidas a los adolescentes e a su interface con la escuela? >> Los resultados fueron presentados en figura y la discusión centrada en los aspectos más relevantes de los estudios. Resultados: observamos aspectos relacionados con la promoción de la salud sexual y reproductiva, enfatizando el embarazo en la adolescencia, y ausencia de otros factores importantes. En uno de los artículos, fue enfatizada la violencia escolar. Conclusión: los resultados encontrados permite inferir que: la cantidad de artículos publicados es escaso frente a la relevancia de estudios de promoción de la salud con foco en los adolescentes.