The “Planning Health in School” Programme (PHS-pro) to Improve Healthy Eating and Physical Activity: Design, Methodology, and Process Evaluation

Few interventions have successfully promoted healthy eating and active living among children with effective changes in anthropometric health outcomes. Well-designed interventions involving multiple strategies to convert the knowledge already available into action are needed for preventing childhood...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nutrients 2023-10, Vol.15 (21), p.4543
Main Authors: Vieira, Margarida, Carvalho, Graça S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Children
COVID-19
Diabetes
Eating behavior
Exercise
Forecasts and trends
Health aspects
Health care
health promotion
Intervention
Knowledge
Lifestyles
Methods
Mortality
Nutrition
Nutritional status
Obesity
Obesity in children
obesity prevention
Overweight
participatory method approach
Physical fitness
Prevention
Research design
school-based intervention
transtheoretical model
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Summary:Few interventions have successfully promoted healthy eating and active living among children with effective changes in anthropometric health outcomes. Well-designed interventions involving multiple strategies to convert the knowledge already available into action are needed for preventing childhood obesity. In this study, an educational programme called “Planning Health in School” (PHS-pro) was designed, implemented and evaluated to contribute to the prevention of obesity in childhood. The PHS-pro aimed at improving the eating behaviours and lifestyles of Portuguese grade-6 children towards healthier nutritional status. This paper describes and evaluates the PHS-pro concerning: (i) the research design within the theoretical framework grounded on “The Transtheoretical Model” and the stages of change; (ii) the educational components and the application of the participatory methodology to engage children to meet their needs, as active participants in their change process; and (iii) the process evaluation of the intervention. The implementation of the PHS-pro took into account the views and inputs of the participants for evaluating the educational components that should be considered in the designing of interventions aiming to be effective strategies. From the health promotion perspective, this study is important because it examines new approaches and pathways to effectively prevent overweight and obesity in children.
ISSN:2072-6643
2072-6643
DOI:10.3390/nu15214543