Behaviors and Knowledge of HealthCorps New York City High School Students: Nutrition, Mental Health, and Physical Activity

Abstract

BACKGROUND HealthCorps provides school wellness programming using curricula to promote changes in nutrition, mental health and physical activity behaviors. The research objective was to evaluate effects of implementing its curricula on nutrition, mental health and physical activity knowledge and behavior. METHODS Pre- and post-survey data were collected (N = 2255) during the 2012-13 academic year from 14 New York City public high schools. An 18-item knowledge questionnaire addressed 3 domains; 26 behavioral items were analyzed by factor analysis to identify 6 behavior domains, breakfast being a seventh one-item domain. We examined the effects stratified by sex, applying mixed-effects models to take into account clustering effects of schools and participants adjusted for age. RESULTS The HealthCorps program significantly increased all 3 knowledge domains (p < .05), and significantly changed several key behavioral domains. Boys significantly increased fruits/vegetables intake (p = .03). Girls increased acceptance of new fruits/vegetables (p = .03) and breakfast consumption (p = .04), and decreased sugar-sweetened beverages and energy dense food intake (p = .03). The associations between knowledge and behavior were stronger in boys than girls. CONCLUSION The HealthCorps program significantly increased participants’ knowledge on nutrition, mental health and physical activity. It also improved several key behavioral domains, which are targets of the 2010 Dietary Guidelines to address obesity in youth.

Effective nationwide school-based participatory extramural program on adolescent body mass index, health knowledge and behaviors

“…Furthermore, as noted earlier, the HealthCorps school environments are in general inadequate for promoting physical activities and health behaviors. Findings concerning the effect of HealthCorps on the knowledge and behaviors are consistent with our earlier report based on a different sample of students, [ 21 ] Specifically, for both our prior and present studies, almost all knowledge domains and overall knowledge levels increased among HealthCorps students, as did F&V intakes. The significant increased knowledge levels, overall or in all domains, albeit somewhat small, were to some extent a byproduct of the program since the program focused on promoting healthier dietary choices and increasing physical activities rather than solely on increasing knowledge.…”

“…The present study focused on implementation of the HealthCorps programming in selected NYC high schools. The selection criteria for the NYC HealthCorps schools were as follows: [ 21 ] (1) must be a public high school; (2) must have 50% or more students eligible for free or reduced-price meals; and (3) must lack any existing programs aimed at improving nutrition, physical activity and mental resilience behavior. Although a total of 15 schools were selected, survey data were not available from 1 school.…”

“…The survey items were selected from well-established questionnaire items such as the biannual Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) conducted by the CDC, reliabilities of whose items are well supported. [ 26 ] Reliabilities of HealthCorps survey items were assessed in our prior study [ 21 ].…”

“…Our recent program evaluation suggested that the HealthCorps programming during 2012-2013 academic year was generally effective for enhancing knowledge and behaviors among students in NYC public high schools. [ 21 ] However, data collection did not include height and weight and thus did not permit assessing the effects of the program on weight improvement. To address this, HealthCorps collected self-reported weight and height data during the 2013-2014 academic year in NYC high schools with HealthCorps programming.…”

Developing and Verifying the Efficacy of “Educational Program for Promoting Appropriate Self-medication <i>via</i> Pharmacies and Pharmacists”: A Randomized Controlled Trial

“…19) To transform appropriate self-medication into an established method, self-medication education is crucial. Although education related to self-medication is provided at schools, [20][21][22][23] in reality, self-medication itself is not widely disseminated to the public, and appropriate self-medication is not being conducted. 9,[24][25][26][27] Therefore, it seems clear that continuous, effective education regarding appropriate self-medication is necessary for adults.…”