Intervention: Health4Life: a school-based eHealth intervention targeting multiple health behaviour change (MHBC).
Research Question: Does Health4Life impact secondary outcomes of self-reported intentions regarding six lifestyle behaviours in adolescents (alcohol use, tobacco smoking, screentime, physical activity, discretionary beverage consumption, and sleep)?
Methods: We implemented a cluster randomized controlled trial within secondary schools across three Australian states. Schools were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive either the Health4Life intervention, which consisted of a six-module, web-based program and accompanying smartphone app, or an active control (standard health education).
Background: Digital, or eHealth, interventions are highly promising approaches to help adolescents improve their health behaviours and reduce their risk of chronic disease. However, they often have low uptake and retention. There is also a paucity of high-quality research into the predictors of eHealth engagement, and a lack of studies that have systematically evaluated existing engagement strategies in adolescent populations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To investigate the effectiveness of a school-based multiple health behaviour change e-health intervention for modifying risk factors for chronic disease (secondary outcomes).
Study Design: Cluster randomised controlled trial.
Setting, Participants: Students (at baseline [2019]: year 7, 11-14 years old) at 71 Australian public, independent, and Catholic schools.
Parenting practices such as parental monitoring are known to positively impact dietary behaviours in offspring. However, links between adolescent-perceived parental monitoring and dietary outcomes have rarely been examined and never in an Australian context. This study investigated whether adolescent-perceived parental monitoring is associated with more fruit and vegetable, and less sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) and junk food consumption in Australian adolescents.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Research shows highly palatable foods can elicit addictive eating behaviours or 'food addiction'. Early adolescence is theorised to be a vulnerable period for the onset of addictive eating behaviours, yet minimal research has examined this. This study explored the prevalence and correlates of addictive eating behaviours in a large early adolescent sample.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Lifestyle risk behaviours are prevalent among adolescents and commonly co-occur, but current intervention approaches tend to focus on single risk behaviours. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of the eHealth intervention Health4Life in modifying six key lifestyle risk behaviours (ie, alcohol use, tobacco smoking, recreational screen time, physical inactivity, poor diet, and poor sleep, known as the Big 6) among adolescents.
Methods: We conducted a cluster-randomised controlled trial in secondary schools that had a minimum of 30 year 7 students, in three Australian states.
Adolescence is considered an important period of neurodevelopment. It is a time for the emergence of psychosocial vulnerabilities, including symptoms of depression, eating disorders, and increased engagement in unhealthy eating behaviours. Food addiction (FA) in adolescents is an area of study where there has been substantial growth.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Physical inactivity is a preventable risk factor for several chronic diseases and one of the driving forces behind the growing global burden of disease. Recent evidence has shown that interventions using mobile smartphone apps can promote a significant increase in physical activity (PA) levels. However, the accuracy and reliability of using apps is unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To examine changes in the prevalence of six key chronic disease risk factors (the "Big 6"), from before (2019) to during (2021) the COVID-19 pandemic, among a large and geographically diverse sample of adolescents, and whether differences over time are associated with lockdown status and gender.
Design: Prospective cohort study.
Setting: Three Australian states (New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia) spanning over 3000 km.
Background: The link between chronic diseases and the Big 6 lifestyle risk behaviors (ie, poor diet, physical inactivity, smoking, alcohol use, sedentary recreational screen time, and poor sleep) is well established. It is critical to target these lifestyle risk behaviors, as they often co-occur and emerge in adolescence. Smartphones have become an integral part of everyday life, and many adolescents already use mobile apps to monitor their lifestyle behaviors and improve their health.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Lifestyle risk behaviours, including alcohol use, smoking, poor diet, physical inactivity, poor sleep (duration and/or quality) and sedentary recreational screen time ('the Big 6'), are strong determinants of chronic disease. These behaviours often emerge during adolescence and co-occur. School-based interventions have the potential to address risk factors prior to the onset of disease, yet few eHealth school-based interventions target multiple behaviours concurrently.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Six core behavioural risk factors (poor diet, physical activity, sedentary behaviour, alcohol misuse, smoking and unhealthy sleep patterns) have been identified as strong determinants of chronic disease, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancers. Smartphones have the potential to provide a real-time, pervasive, unobtrusive and cost-effective way to measure health behaviours and deliver instant feedback to users. Despite this, validity of using smartphones to measure these six key behaviours is largely unknown.
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