Examining the influence of an online health behaviour support tool for high school aged youth
It is well documented that the health behaviours and health status of Canadian youth are of increasing concern. This includes their inactive and sedentary lifestyle, less than recommended daily consumption of fruits and vegetables, and excessive intake of sugar sweetened beverages thought to contrib...
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| Language: | English en |
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2012
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1828/4368 |
| Summary: | It is well documented that the health behaviours and health status of Canadian youth are of increasing concern. This includes their inactive and sedentary lifestyle, less than recommended daily consumption of fruits and vegetables, and excessive intake of sugar sweetened beverages thought to contribute to the early development of metabolic syndrome, some cancers and certainly obesity. Strategies for reversing the declining health of Canadian youth have captured the interest of health promotion researchers. Health education in the school system has been identified as a potential vehicle of change since it is considered to be one of the last wide-scale and cost-free opportunities to motivate and educate students to be healthy and active. However, an increasing amount of research is suggesting that traditional curricula may be failing to adequately convey health information in high school youth. As a result of increasing technological literacy and exposure, a growing field of evidence suggests youth now prefer delivery of health information from electronic sources instead of traditional mediums. The majority of studies observing online health interventions show positive results, but research involving youth, and conducted in real world settings, is still in its infancy.
Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the utility of an online intervention tool as part of a health education curriculum, to motivate and support grade 10 students to make healthy decisions related to physical activity, screen time, fruit and vegetable consumption and intake of sugar sweetened beverages. Research questions included: (1) How do students use the online tool to support their health behaviour changes? (2) What were students’ experiences using the HPSS online tool? Are they satisfied with its function, features, look and content? (3) Was there any relationship between use of the online tool and students’ behaviour change? Students in Planning 10 and PE 10 courses (N = 44) in two high schools participated in the year-long study. Pre and post intervention data collection procedures included self-report survey of health behaviours, and anthropometric measures (BMI and waist and hip measures) to more objectively capture changes in health outcomes. Focus groups were conducted with students (n = 10) and teachers (n = 6) to gather their feedback about the website and its contribution within the curriculum. Finally, web metrics captured students’ use of and exposure to the online tool over the course of the intervention.
Despite evidence in the literature that youth strongly engage with electronic mediums, students’ use of the website in this study was infrequent and disappointing: 52% of students did not login once, and the remainder visited the site fleetingly. No significant relationships between students’ web use and behaviour change were found. Qualitative data revealed that students’ appreciated the interactive and reminder functions of the website, but teachers struggled to define its role within the curriculum as a pedagogical tool, so it failed to attract students’ time and attention. The study contributes to the literature through its investigation of an online health education tool, contextualized in the real life setting of the school classroom. === Graduate |
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