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Lessons from a peer-led obesity prevention programme in English schools

Obesity in young people is a major public health concern. Energy balance, the interrelationship between diet and physical activity, is known to be a key determinant. Evidence supports the development of school-based approaches to obesity prevention. ASSIST (A Stop Smoking in Schools Trial) is an eff...

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Autores principales: Bell, Sarah L., Audrey, Suzanne, Cooper, Ashley R., Noble, Sian, Campbell, Rona
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Oxford University Press 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5914335/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24711350
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/heapro/dau008
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author Bell, Sarah L.
Audrey, Suzanne
Cooper, Ashley R.
Noble, Sian
Campbell, Rona
author_facet Bell, Sarah L.
Audrey, Suzanne
Cooper, Ashley R.
Noble, Sian
Campbell, Rona
author_sort Bell, Sarah L.
collection PubMed
description Obesity in young people is a major public health concern. Energy balance, the interrelationship between diet and physical activity, is known to be a key determinant. Evidence supports the development of school-based approaches to obesity prevention. ASSIST (A Stop Smoking in Schools Trial) is an effective school-based, peer-led smoking prevention programme for 12–13-year-old students, based on diffusion of innovations theory. The AHEAD (Activity and Healthy Eating in ADolescence) study tested the feasibility of adapting ASSIST to an obesity prevention intervention. The AHEAD intervention was tested and refined during a pilot study in one school, followed by an exploratory trial in six schools. Quantitative (self-report behavioural questionnaires and evaluation forms) and qualitative (structured observations, focus groups and interviews) research methods were used to examine the implementation and acceptability of the intervention. The potential effectiveness of the intervention in increasing healthy eating was measured using self-report behavioural questionnaires. Activity monitors (accelerometers) were used to measure physical activity. Results show it was feasible to implement the AHEAD intervention, which was well received. However, implementation was resource and labour intensive and relatively expensive. Furthermore, there was no evidence of promise that the intervention would increase physical activity or healthy eating in adolescents. Although diet and physical activity are both relevant for obesity prevention, the focus on two behaviours appeared too complex for informal diffusion through peer networks. This identifies a tension, particularly for adolescent peer-led health promotion, between the desire not to isolate or oversimplify health behaviours and the need to present clear, succinct health promotion messages.
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spelling pubmed-59143352018-05-04 Lessons from a peer-led obesity prevention programme in English schools Bell, Sarah L. Audrey, Suzanne Cooper, Ashley R. Noble, Sian Campbell, Rona Health Promot Int Original Articles Obesity in young people is a major public health concern. Energy balance, the interrelationship between diet and physical activity, is known to be a key determinant. Evidence supports the development of school-based approaches to obesity prevention. ASSIST (A Stop Smoking in Schools Trial) is an effective school-based, peer-led smoking prevention programme for 12–13-year-old students, based on diffusion of innovations theory. The AHEAD (Activity and Healthy Eating in ADolescence) study tested the feasibility of adapting ASSIST to an obesity prevention intervention. The AHEAD intervention was tested and refined during a pilot study in one school, followed by an exploratory trial in six schools. Quantitative (self-report behavioural questionnaires and evaluation forms) and qualitative (structured observations, focus groups and interviews) research methods were used to examine the implementation and acceptability of the intervention. The potential effectiveness of the intervention in increasing healthy eating was measured using self-report behavioural questionnaires. Activity monitors (accelerometers) were used to measure physical activity. Results show it was feasible to implement the AHEAD intervention, which was well received. However, implementation was resource and labour intensive and relatively expensive. Furthermore, there was no evidence of promise that the intervention would increase physical activity or healthy eating in adolescents. Although diet and physical activity are both relevant for obesity prevention, the focus on two behaviours appeared too complex for informal diffusion through peer networks. This identifies a tension, particularly for adolescent peer-led health promotion, between the desire not to isolate or oversimplify health behaviours and the need to present clear, succinct health promotion messages. Oxford University Press 2017-04 2014-04-05 /pmc/articles/PMC5914335/ /pubmed/24711350 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/heapro/dau008 Text en © The Author (2014). Published by Oxford University Press. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Original Articles
Bell, Sarah L.
Audrey, Suzanne
Cooper, Ashley R.
Noble, Sian
Campbell, Rona
Lessons from a peer-led obesity prevention programme in English schools
title Lessons from a peer-led obesity prevention programme in English schools
title_full Lessons from a peer-led obesity prevention programme in English schools
title_fullStr Lessons from a peer-led obesity prevention programme in English schools
title_full_unstemmed Lessons from a peer-led obesity prevention programme in English schools
title_short Lessons from a peer-led obesity prevention programme in English schools
title_sort lessons from a peer-led obesity prevention programme in english schools
topic Original Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5914335/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24711350
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/heapro/dau008
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