The effectiveness of a school-based health education intervention in changing screen-based and physical activities in young adolescents

Abstract

This study examines the extent to which a comprehensive, school-based, health-education programme, based on lectures and active student participation in discussions and related project activities, can produce desirable changes in adolescents' behaviour. A quasi-experimental design, with pre-and post-intervention testing, was used in a group of adolescents (N = 858). Our results show that the conducted programme had modest effects. There was no difference between the pre-and post-intervention reports of time spent on screen-based activities and physical exercise, and the time spent doing physical activities was not correlated with the time they spent on sedentary activities. In this paper, we discuss various possible reasons for the ineffectiveness of such programmes in producing desired behavioural changes in young adolescents.