Conducting multiple health behavior interventions is essential to improving adolescents' healthy lifestyles, according to a study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health (2019).
The main aim of the study was to examine the effects of a school-based intervention on multiple health behaviors in adolescents, such as 24-hour movement behaviors (i.e., physical activity, sedentary time, and sleep duration), diet, and substance consumption (i.e., alcohol and tobacco).
Results indicated that experimental school students showed a significant improvement in meeting specific and general combinations of 24-hour movement guidelines, sedentary screen time levels, nap duration, (un)healthy diet scores, breakfast intake, and soft drink consumption compared to both control school students and their baseline values.
Active commuting and substance consumption rates showed a significant improvement compared to control school students.
Although the intervention program was effective in improving health-related behaviors in both genders, a large effect size was observed in boys.
These results support previous studies evaluating multi-health behavior interventions such as the SPORT and InShape Prevention Plus Wellness programs which were found to improve healthy behaviors and prevent substance use among adolescents and young adults: https://preventionpluswellness.com/pages/research-evaluating-ppw-programs
Multiple health behavior interventions hold promise for cost-effectively improving various health habits enhancing both the mental and physical wellbeing of young people.
Read the extended study abstract: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1054139X18304427