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Long-term effects of comprehensive school health on health-related knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy, health behaviours and weight status of adolescents

BACKGROUND: APPLE Schools is a Comprehensive School Health (CSH) project, started in schools in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas where dietary habits are poor, physical activity (PA) levels are low, and obesity rates are high. Earlier research showed program effects whereby energy intake, PA an...

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Autores principales: Ofosu, Nicole Naadu, Ekwaru, John Paul, Bastian, Kerry Ann, Loehr, Sarah A., Storey, Kate, Spence, John C., Veugelers, Paul J.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5907458/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29669534
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-018-5427-4
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author Ofosu, Nicole Naadu
Ekwaru, John Paul
Bastian, Kerry Ann
Loehr, Sarah A.
Storey, Kate
Spence, John C.
Veugelers, Paul J.
author_facet Ofosu, Nicole Naadu
Ekwaru, John Paul
Bastian, Kerry Ann
Loehr, Sarah A.
Storey, Kate
Spence, John C.
Veugelers, Paul J.
author_sort Ofosu, Nicole Naadu
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: APPLE Schools is a Comprehensive School Health (CSH) project, started in schools in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas where dietary habits are poor, physical activity (PA) levels are low, and obesity rates are high. Earlier research showed program effects whereby energy intake, PA and weight status of students in APPLE Schools had reached similar levels as that of students in other schools. However, it is unknown whether the effects of CSH are sustained when children grow into adolescents. Effects of APPLE Schools on health-related knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy, diet, PA, and weight status, seven years after the start of the project, when students were in junior high and high school were assessed. We hypothesised that APPLE School graduates and comparison school graduates will remain at similar levels for these indicators. METHODS: In the 2015/16 school year, junior high and high school graduates (grades 7–12) in Northern Alberta, Canada participated in a Youth Health Survey. Participants included graduates from APPLE elementary schools (n = 202) and comparison elementary schools (n = 338). Health-related knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy, diet (24-h dietary recall), PA (pedometer step count) and weight status were assessed. Mixed effects regression was employed to assess differences in these outcomes between APPLE School graduates and comparison school graduates. Comparisons between elementary school (2008/09) and junior high/high school (2015/16) of self-efficacy, PA and weight status were also conducted. RESULTS: APPLE School graduates did not significantly differ from comparison school graduates on any outcomes (i.e. knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy, diet, PA, and weight status). Additionally, no significant differences existed in the comparisons between 2008/09 and 2015/16. CONCLUSION: Our findings of no difference between the APPLE School graduates and comparison school graduates suggest that the effects of APPLE Schools may continue into adolescence or the new school environment may have an equalizing effect on the students. Since lifestyle practices are adopted throughout childhood and adolescence, and the school environment has an important influence on development, an extension of CSH initiatives into junior high/high schools should be considered. This will help to consolidate and support the continuance of healthy lifestyle messages and practices throughout childhood and adolescence.
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spelling pubmed-59074582018-04-30 Long-term effects of comprehensive school health on health-related knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy, health behaviours and weight status of adolescents Ofosu, Nicole Naadu Ekwaru, John Paul Bastian, Kerry Ann Loehr, Sarah A. Storey, Kate Spence, John C. Veugelers, Paul J. BMC Public Health Research Article BACKGROUND: APPLE Schools is a Comprehensive School Health (CSH) project, started in schools in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas where dietary habits are poor, physical activity (PA) levels are low, and obesity rates are high. Earlier research showed program effects whereby energy intake, PA and weight status of students in APPLE Schools had reached similar levels as that of students in other schools. However, it is unknown whether the effects of CSH are sustained when children grow into adolescents. Effects of APPLE Schools on health-related knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy, diet, PA, and weight status, seven years after the start of the project, when students were in junior high and high school were assessed. We hypothesised that APPLE School graduates and comparison school graduates will remain at similar levels for these indicators. METHODS: In the 2015/16 school year, junior high and high school graduates (grades 7–12) in Northern Alberta, Canada participated in a Youth Health Survey. Participants included graduates from APPLE elementary schools (n = 202) and comparison elementary schools (n = 338). Health-related knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy, diet (24-h dietary recall), PA (pedometer step count) and weight status were assessed. Mixed effects regression was employed to assess differences in these outcomes between APPLE School graduates and comparison school graduates. Comparisons between elementary school (2008/09) and junior high/high school (2015/16) of self-efficacy, PA and weight status were also conducted. RESULTS: APPLE School graduates did not significantly differ from comparison school graduates on any outcomes (i.e. knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy, diet, PA, and weight status). Additionally, no significant differences existed in the comparisons between 2008/09 and 2015/16. CONCLUSION: Our findings of no difference between the APPLE School graduates and comparison school graduates suggest that the effects of APPLE Schools may continue into adolescence or the new school environment may have an equalizing effect on the students. Since lifestyle practices are adopted throughout childhood and adolescence, and the school environment has an important influence on development, an extension of CSH initiatives into junior high/high schools should be considered. This will help to consolidate and support the continuance of healthy lifestyle messages and practices throughout childhood and adolescence. BioMed Central 2018-04-18 /pmc/articles/PMC5907458/ /pubmed/29669534 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-018-5427-4 Text en © The Author(s). 2018 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
spellingShingle Research Article
Ofosu, Nicole Naadu
Ekwaru, John Paul
Bastian, Kerry Ann
Loehr, Sarah A.
Storey, Kate
Spence, John C.
Veugelers, Paul J.
Long-term effects of comprehensive school health on health-related knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy, health behaviours and weight status of adolescents
title Long-term effects of comprehensive school health on health-related knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy, health behaviours and weight status of adolescents
title_full Long-term effects of comprehensive school health on health-related knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy, health behaviours and weight status of adolescents
title_fullStr Long-term effects of comprehensive school health on health-related knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy, health behaviours and weight status of adolescents
title_full_unstemmed Long-term effects of comprehensive school health on health-related knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy, health behaviours and weight status of adolescents
title_short Long-term effects of comprehensive school health on health-related knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy, health behaviours and weight status of adolescents
title_sort long-term effects of comprehensive school health on health-related knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy, health behaviours and weight status of adolescents
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5907458/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29669534
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-018-5427-4
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