Building school-based cardiovascular health promotion capacity in youth: a mixed methods study

Abstract

BackgroundEssential to building cardiovascular health promotion capacity in youth, which extends into adulthood, are approaches that seek to empower, educate, and support. The Five Cs model of positive youth development (PYD) guided this study. This model represents the ability of youth to develop competence, confidence, connection, character, and caring when given the appropriate resources. The purpose of this two-year school-based feasibility study was to determine if providing a research intervention in the form of education, empowerment, and support build youth’s capacity for cardiovascular health promotion.MethodsA mixed methods case study design was used to evaluate the process, and outcome of a youth-led cardiovascular health promotion program. Twenty-six youth aged 12–13 years from a Canadian middle school took part in the study. Youth participating in this study planned, implemented, and monitored cardiovascular health promotion activities in four areas: smoking, physical inactivity, nutrition and obesity. Qualitative data was collected from the youth participants using three focus groups and individual reflective journals. Quantitative data was collected with the PYD.2, a self-report questionnaire that assesses positive youth development and consists of 5 subscales: character, competence, caring, connection, and confidence. The participants completed the PYD before and after the program to determine if there were any changes in PYD scores after the intervention. The quantitative data was analyzed using paired samples t-tests, and the qualitative data was analyzed using constant comparative analysis.ResultsWhile the PYD scores showed no significant changes, the qualitative findings confirmed that the youth acquired increased awareness and understanding of cardiovascular health promotion initiatives. Four themes emerged from the qualitative data, (1) doing the right thing, (2) wanting to make a change, but feeling constrained, (3) I get it, and (4) The project has changed me! The intervention was found to be acceptable and feasible for the youth participants and their school.ConclusionsThe contributions of this study were twofold. It generated evidence to support integrating positive youth development strategies into cardiovascular health promotion programs. Secondly, this study determined that the research intervention improved the participants’ knowledge and attitudes about cardiovascular health and were suitable for further implementation and testing.

The Unchartered Frontier: Preventive Cardiology Between the Ages of 15 and 35 Years

“…Family and school-based programs are important for younger teens. While data on school-based programs to mitigate CVD risk behaviors are mixed [81•, 82], recent studies utilizing a positive youth development framework [83] to promote cardiovascular health in the school context have shown some promise [84]. For college-bound youth, campus efforts to combat the emergence of sedentary behaviors [85, 86•], suboptimal nutrition patterns [87, 88], weight gain [85, 89], and tobacco dependence [90] may be particularly important.…”

Using Art for Health Promotion: Evaluating an In-School Program Through Student Perspectives

“…This article reports on an evaluation of a well-being program using creativity to promote health: the EYE BELONG program. This program builds on previous work that has highlighted the importance of general health, mental health, and well-being programs in the school curriculum (Newman, Powell, & Wittman, 2015; Woodgate & Sigurdson, 2015; Wyn et al, 2000). This work has identified the importance of early interventions to improve mental health outcomes and has shown schools to be a useful place for these interventions, consistent with a settings-based approach in health promotion.…”

Staying Young at Heart: Cardiovascular Disease Prevention in Adolescents and Young Adults

“…Recent small-scale interventions have begun to apply PYD strategies in promoting cardiovascular health awareness and action among adolescents in school settings although linkages to specific health behavior outcomes have not yet been characterized [23]. Clinicians primarily involved in direct patient care can contribute meaningfully to these broader efforts by elucidating key issues at the patient and family level and proactively supporting community- based and advocacy efforts to address upstream influences on health decisions and behaviors among youth.…”