ePlatform for Promoting Health in Schools

Condition(s) studied

Investigational drug(s) / intervention(s)

Physical activity and nutritional behavioural intervention: The ePro-Schools intervention includes two digital platforms designed to promote physical activity and healthy nutrition among adolescents: 1. The Intervention Platform, which provides interactive content for both students and PE teachers. 2. The Information Platform, which offers educational resources for students, teachers, and families. The intervention content-currently being refined through a co-creation process-will feature engaging modules focused on physical activity and healthy eating. Adolescents will have access to more than 15 interactive modules, while PE teachers will benefit from 8 targeted pedagogical modules aimed at enhancing their lessons and encouraging greater student participation in physical activity. Control group will have access to the information platform

Study summary

There are few public health and educational policies specifically aimed at promoting physical activity, healthy dietary habits, and reducing sedentary behaviour among adolescents from socially disadvantaged backgrounds. ePro-Schools will co-design, pilot and evaluate an evidence-based program, delivered via a modular eHealth platform, to promote physical activity and healthy eating, and reduce time in sedentary behaviours. A profound co-creation process involving adolescents, school staff, and policymakers-alongside the adaptation of previous interventions by consortium members-will support the program's development. The ePro-Schools platform will contain modules for adolescents and their parents, teachers and school administration. Although the platform will be implemented through schools, it will include content to be implemented outside the school setting. The intervention program will be evaluated through a randomised controlled trial conducted in six secondary schools in Central Catalonia that aims to include 1000 adolescents. Schools have been randomised (1:1) into an intervention and a waiting-list control group.

The evaluation of the program includes effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and process evaluation. Physical activity, sedentary behaviour and eating habits are the primary effectiveness outcomes of the trial. Secondary outcomes include fitness, water consumption, quality of life, depressive symptoms, social isolation and sleep quality. Using implementation science methodology, ePro-Schools will co-design transferable evidence-based practices and methodologies and guidance for scaling up the platform with policymakers and stakeholders, as well as informing specialists, policymakers and the general public.

Eligibility

Primary outcome measure(s)

• Physical activity level — Participants will be evaluated at baseline (pre-intervention), at the end of the school year (post-intervention) and at follow-up (nine months after post-intervention)
  The level of physical activity will be measured with the PAQ-A questionnaire. It consists of 10 questions that assess different aspects of physical activity levels, using a 5-point Likert scale, although only 9 questions are used to calculate the final score.
• Physical activity intensities — Participants will be evaluated at baseline (pre-intervention), at the end of the school year (post-intervention) and at follow-up (nine months after post-intervention)
  The intensity of physical activity will be measured with the IPAQ questionnaire. It consists of a series of questions that assess three different intensities of physical activity: light, moderate and vigorous.
• Sedentary behaviour — Participants will be evaluated at baseline (pre-intervention), at the end of the school year (post-intervention) and at follow-up (nine months after post-intervention)
  Sedentary behaviour will be measured with the IPAQ questionnaire using the question regarding sedentary behaviour (time spent in sedentary behaviours)
• Dietary habits — Participants will be evaluated at baseline (pre-intervention), at the end of the school year (post-intervention) and at follow-up (nine months after post-intervention)
  Dietary habits and food consumption that will be assessed by PREDIMED test. This test is based on Mediterranean Diet items regarding healthy eating habits. It is composed by 13 questions. The PREDIMED score will be calculated as follow: \<9 points (classified as low adherence) and \>9 (classified as high adherence). The higher the score, the healthier the adolescent food habits are.

Trial sites (1)

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