Leadership skills are associated with health behaviours among Canadian children

Abstract

Life skills development is a core area for action in the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion. The role of life skills in influencing health behaviours among children has received little attention in research. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to investigate the relationship between self-leadership, as a model of life skills, and diet quality, physical activity, sleep duration and body weight. A provincially representative sample of 2328 grade 5 students (aged 10-11 years) was surveyed in Alberta, Canada. Self-leadership skills were assessed based on student responses indicating frequency of performing various leadership traits. Diet quality was based on responses to the Harvard Youth/Adolescent Food Frequency Questionnaire and physical activity on responses to the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Children. Sleep duration was assessed based on parent survey responses, and body mass index determined based on measured height and weight. Random effects regression models with children nested within schools were used to determine the associations. Higher self-leadership was associated with better diet quality (P < 0.01) and more physical activity (P < 0.01). Although not statistically significant, higher self-leadership was suggestive of healthier body weight status (OR = 0.91, 95% CI = 0.66, 1.27). No association of self-leadership with sleep duration was found. The incorporation of leadership skill development may enhance the effectiveness of school-based health promotion programs. This study reinforces the importance of leadership skill promotion in the promotion of healthy eating and active living, which may help curb the obesity epidemic in the short term, and prevention of chronic diseases and mounting healthcare costs in the long term.

Diet quality as measured by the Diet Quality Index–International is associated with prospective changes in body fat among Canadian children

“…With an average DQII score of 58, the dietary quality of the children participating in the QUALITY study appeared slightly lower than that reported in prior studies that have used this measure. The DQII scores of 61 and 62 were observed for grade 5 students in the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia ( 26 ) and Alberta ( 27 ) , respectively. Further, average DQII scores of 67, 60 and 59 have been reported for elementary students in Korea ( 28 ) and for nationally representative samples of children in China and the USA ( 17 ) , respectively.…”

“…Age-and sex-specific dietary recommendations were used to calculate the DQII score (17,25) . The DQII has been used previously as a measure of dietary quality for children in Canada (26)(27)(28) , the USA (17) , China (17) and Korea (28) . It is a summary measure of dietary quality representing four categories of the diet, including variety, adequacy, moderation and overall balance.…”

Cost-effectiveness of a school-based health promotion program in Canada: A life-course modeling approach

“…Furthermore, we also miss the health benefits that may arise from improvements in knowledge of health, attitudes, self-efficacy and leadership that are also targeted by the APPLE Schools [53–55]. Therefore, our estimates for the cost effectiveness ratio per QALY gained may be conservative.…”

Nivel de actividad física autoinformado en escolares que realizan educación física: una revisión sistemática

“…Regarding America, studies found in Canada and Nicaragua indicated that schoolchildren from 6 to 12 years old are physically active (Ferland et al, 2015;Khan et al, 2015;Reyes Ortiz et al, 2018;Voss et al, 2014). Nicaragua has been listed as one of the countries with the lowest human development index in the world (Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo, 2019), so these high levels could also be related to the aspects discussed in the paragraph above by the economic and human development factors.…”

“…Table 3 shows the characteristics of the studies found during the searching, including author/s, year of publication, sample size and age, and the results on the level of selfreported PA; both globally, and stratified by gender or body status, whenever possible. In total, we included 23 studies in the review: eight in Europe (four from Spain, three from England and one from Switzerland) (Arriscado et al, 2015;Benítez-Porres et al, 2016a, 2016bGarcía-Cervantes et al, 2016;Sandercock & Cohen, 2019;Schmidt et al, 2017;Voss et al, 2014); eight in Asia (three in Iran, three in Malaysia and two in China) (Chan et al, 2019;Firouzi et al, 2014;Guo & Wang, 2017;Jan Mohamed et al, 2015;Keykhaei et al, 2016;Khodaverdi & Bahram, 2015;Rostami-Moez et al, 2017;Thien et al, 2015); six in America (three in Canada, one in the US, one in Brazil and one in Nicaragua) (Brown et al, 2018;Silva & Cavalcante Neto, 2017;Ferland et al, 2015;Khan et al, 2015;Reyes Ortiz et al, 2018;Voss et al, 2014); and one in Africa (Mauritius) (Bundhun et al, 2018). However, the cross-cultural study by Voss et al (2014) was carried out in both America (Canada) and Europe (England); including the results of two samples in the same research work.…”