Nutrition education at school can contribute to developing healthy nutritional behaviours in schoolchildren. This paper critically reflects on how participatory action research (PAR) empowered university researchers and a school community to co-develop a school-based nutrition education programme (SBNEP) that promotes healthy nutritional…

This study explored the issues surrounding adolescent sleep (middle school students in grades 7-8) in a suburban school district in Columbus, Ohio. This study assessed the effects of a KidsHealth.org sleep education program through middle school physical education class to potentially improve daytime sleepiness as measured by the Epworth…

Background: Adolescent girls are at an increased risk of low physical activity and the associated health consequences. Girls Can Move!, an after-school intervention guided by social cognitive theory, was designed to increase physical activity. Purpose: To examine the feasibility and initial effectiveness of Girls Can Move! Methods The 8-week…

In line with international trends, the new Norwegian curricula for education have a stronger focus on life mastery, democracy and sustainability compared with previous requirements. Students are to develop competence that promotes health and responsible decision-making. The current study presents a programme implemented in lower secondary school…

Purpose: Physical education (PE) is an important context for promoting health-related cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) in youth. Within PE, the lesson context and teacher behavior may be relevant for the promotion CRF; however, evidence is scarce. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess whether students' CRF improvement in a school year…

Objective: The ability of schools, school leaders and teachers to promote critical health literacy in teaching and learning is central to the development of health literacy in schools. However, research focusing on teachers and planning for health literacy through health programmes in school is minimal. This paper describes how one school Health…

Media Aware Parent is an interactive, web-based program designed to equip parents to communicate with their adolescent child about sexual health and media by enhancing parental communication and media mediation skills, as well as provide them with medically-accurate sexual health knowledge. In a small feasibility study, 56 parents of 7th and 8th…

Adolescence is a sensitive period in life and a time to redefine and learn new skills. In Norway, school health services provide individual health-promoting consultations with all eighth-grade students. As an aid to support these consultations, a dialogue tool called SchoolHealth was developed using a co-creation approach. SchoolHealth consists of…

This study explored the effects of a middle school physical activity intervention for adolescent girls on the executive functioning involved in science learning. The girls, ages 11 to 14, were at risk for low self-esteem, sedentary lifestyle, and poor health outcomes. Executive function stems from interdependent cognitive control processes that…

Objective: Low socioeconomic status young people in low- and middle-income countries use tobacco at higher rates than their wealthier peers. School-based tobacco use prevention interventions that employ a life skills approach are effective at preventing tobacco use. In India, the Salaam Bombay Foundation (SBF) has implemented a multiyear,…

Background: Highly processed foods are inexpensive and abundant in our food supply, nutritionally poor, and disproportionately marketed to minority youth. This study is part of a curriculum development project to develop, implement, and evaluate the "In Defense of Food" (IDOF) curriculum designed to increase intake of whole/minimally…

Health promotion and education researchers and practitioners advocate for more democratic approaches to school-based health education, including participatory teaching methods and the promotion of a broad and positive concept of health and health knowledge, including aspects of the German educational concept of "bildung." Although…

Background: Many studies document associations between low health literacy (HL) and poor health behaviors and outcomes. Yet, HL is understudied among adolescents, particularly from underserved, rural communities. We targeted rural adolescents in this cross-sectional study and explored relationships between HL and (1) energy-balance-related health…

Background: Youth of color from low-income urban communities are crucial participants in research, as their involvement can shape effective, culturally responsive interventions and policy to promote youth health and well-being. These young people, however, are an often-neglected research population, due in part to perceived challenges associated…

Background: Knowledge about the beneficial role of physical activity (PA) for health and school performance is growing. Studies investigating the link between PA and school absenteeism due to illness are lacking. Therefore, we investigated associations between habitual PA and school absenteeism due to illness in adolescents and explored whether…