TY - JOUR
T1 - What characterizes schools and students participating in health promoting school-based intervention studies?
T2 - Findings from the healthy high school study
AU - Thørring Bonnesen, Camilla
AU - Aviaja Rosing, Johanne
AU - Pil Jensen, Marie
AU - Kjær Wehner, Stine
AU - Rich Madsen, Katrine
AU - Toftager, Mette
AU - Due, Pernille
AU - Fredenslund Krølner, Rikke
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors
PY - 2021/9
Y1 - 2021/9
N2 - The Healthy High School (HHS) intervention was developed to promote well-being among first-year high school students (~16 years of age) in Denmark by targeting stress, physical activity, meal habits, sleep, and sense of community. Thirty-one schools were randomly allocated to intervention (16 schools) or control (15 schools) groups in a cluster-randomized controlled trial. The purpose of this short communication was to compare characteristics of students and schools between 1) schools accepting to participate in the HHS study and non-participating schools using national survey data and 2) intervention and control schools using HHS baseline data. We included cross-sectional data from the Danish National Youth Study 2014 on 119 schools and 22,935 first-year students to characterize participating schools and students. At baseline (August 2016), students (n = 4577; 88.0%) and principals (n = 29; 96.7%) completed online questionnaires. Compared to non-participating schools, fewer HHS schools perceived their school as being popular and offered weekly sport activities outside school hours. More HHS schools had teachers engaged in health promotion activities and focused on stress prevention. The characteristics of HHS students did not differ markedly from non-participating high school students. There were no socio-demographic, outcome or contextual differences between the study arms. To ensure successful recruitment of schools it is important that the intervention meets the need of the schools and that the advantages of participation are explicit. This underlines the need for a thorough needs assessment prior to intervention development, co-creation of intervention activities with school staff, and a well-planned recruitment strategy.
AB - The Healthy High School (HHS) intervention was developed to promote well-being among first-year high school students (~16 years of age) in Denmark by targeting stress, physical activity, meal habits, sleep, and sense of community. Thirty-one schools were randomly allocated to intervention (16 schools) or control (15 schools) groups in a cluster-randomized controlled trial. The purpose of this short communication was to compare characteristics of students and schools between 1) schools accepting to participate in the HHS study and non-participating schools using national survey data and 2) intervention and control schools using HHS baseline data. We included cross-sectional data from the Danish National Youth Study 2014 on 119 schools and 22,935 first-year students to characterize participating schools and students. At baseline (August 2016), students (n = 4577; 88.0%) and principals (n = 29; 96.7%) completed online questionnaires. Compared to non-participating schools, fewer HHS schools perceived their school as being popular and offered weekly sport activities outside school hours. More HHS schools had teachers engaged in health promotion activities and focused on stress prevention. The characteristics of HHS students did not differ markedly from non-participating high school students. There were no socio-demographic, outcome or contextual differences between the study arms. To ensure successful recruitment of schools it is important that the intervention meets the need of the schools and that the advantages of participation are explicit. This underlines the need for a thorough needs assessment prior to intervention development, co-creation of intervention activities with school staff, and a well-planned recruitment strategy.
KW - Baseline findings
KW - Cluster randomized controlled trial
KW - Recruitment
KW - Representativeness
KW - School-based intervention
KW - Students
KW - Well-being
U2 - 10.1016/j.pmedr.2021.101491
DO - 10.1016/j.pmedr.2021.101491
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 34354905
AN - SCOPUS:85110573543
SN - 2211-3355
VL - 23
JO - Preventive Medicine Reports
JF - Preventive Medicine Reports
M1 - 101491
ER -