Adolescents' Health Literacy, Physical Activity and Healthy Eating Self-efficacy Levels

April 13, 2025 updated by: Adem SÜMEN

Nutrition and Exercise Education Given to Middle School Students on Adolescents' Health Literacy, Physical Activity and Healthy Eating Self-efficacy Levels: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Adolescence is a critical transitional period characterized by rapid and multifaceted changes in physical, psychological, and social dimensions. According to the World Health Organization, adolescence encompasses the age range of 10 to 19 years. Alongside physical changes, this period involves significant developments and transformations in knowledge, skills, and behaviors, driven by the individual's identity formation process. Health behaviors such as nutrition and physical activity play a pivotal role in protecting and promoting adolescent health. However, unhealthy eating habits and insufficient physical activity are highly prevalent among adolescents.

These behaviors are associated with physical problems, including obesity, diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, delayed growth and development, and psychological issues such as susceptibility to stress, low self-esteem, and lack of confidence. Consequently, fostering healthy eating and physical activity behaviors in adolescents is essential.

Given that adolescents spend a considerable portion of their time in school, implementing school-based interventions to promote these behaviors represents an effective approach to preventing lifestyle-related health issues in adulthood. The literature indicates that various interventions aimed at improving nutrition and physical activity behaviors in adolescents are generally effective. Nevertheless, sustaining these behaviors in the long term remains a challenge, as studies have shown that increases in knowledge do not always translate into behavioral changes.

One of the most effective strategies for instilling healthy behaviors in adolescents is health education. School-based health education not only facilitates the acquisition of functional health literacy but also strengthens the attitudes, beliefs, and practical skills necessary for adopting and maintaining healthy behaviors. Moreover, health education is a powerful tool for enhancing health literacy components such as accessing, understanding, evaluating, and utilizing accurate health information, enabling adolescents to take responsibility for their health and make informed decisions.

This study aims to contribute to fostering healthy eating and physical activity behaviors in adolescents, supporting their transformation into lifelong habits. Additionally, the findings are expected to guide school health professionals, particularly school nurses, in expanding interventions within the scope of school health services.

Study Overview

Status

Active, not recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

150

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Turkey
    • Antalya
      • Kumluca, Antalya, Turkey, 07350
        • Akdeniz Universty

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • - Volunteering to participate in the research
  • Being allowed to participate in the study by their parents
  • No physical or mental disabilities and chronic diseases (diabetes, metabolic syndrome, heart disease, etc.)

Exclusion Criteria:

  • - Incomplete completion of research data collection forms
  • Declining to participate in the research
  • Failure to complete at least 5 health education sessions

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Control group
Experimental: Experimental group
Behavioral: Nutrition and exercise education
Nutrition and exercise training was created as a result of literature review, and expert opinions (Public Health Nursing, Pediatric Nursing, Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation, Nutrition and Dietetics) were taken for the training content and finalized. The training program consists of six sessions. It is planned to have one session per week and each session will last 30-45 minutes on average. The times when the students are available will be determined by discussing with the school administration in advance. Computers and barcovisions in schools will be utilized for the training of students. Trainings will be conducted through verbal expression, power point presentations, brainstorming, exercises, games, written and visual materials, video screenings and question-answer methods. Adolescents will be given bookmarks, magnets and brochures prepared to prevent obesity.
No Intervention: Control group 2
At the end of the research, the data of control group I and control group II will be compared to evaluate whether there is an interaction.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Health Literacy Scale for School-Age Children
Time Frame: 5-6 month
The health literacy scale for school-age children was developed to assess the health literacy of school-age children. The scale consists of 10 items and one dimension. The total score is between 10 and 40. The total score obtained from the scale (10-25 points) defines low health literacy, (26-35 points) medium health literacy, (36-40 points) high health literacy.
5-6 month
Physical Activity Self-Efficacy Scale for Children
Time Frame: 5-6 month
It will be used to measure physical activity self-efficacy. The scale consists of 9 items. The score that can be obtained from the scale varies between 9-27, and the higher the score, the lower the strength of physical activity self-efficacy.
5-6 month
Healthy Eating Self-Efficacy Scale for Children
Time Frame: 5-6 month
It was studied to be used in the assessment of children's self-efficacy for healthy eating. The scale consists of 9 items and one dimension. Participants can score between 0 and 18 points on the scale. The higher the scale score, the higher the self-efficacy for healthy eating.
5-6 month

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Adolescent Health Promotion Scale - Nutrition and Exercise Subscale
Time Frame: 5-6 month
The scale was developed to assess the level of health promotion behavior of adolescents. The total score that can be obtained from the scale varies between 6-30 for the nutrition sub-dimension and between 4-20 for the exercise sub-dimension. A high total score in the nutrition subscale indicates that adolescents have positive nutrition behaviors, and a high total score in the exercise subscale indicates that adolescents have positive exercise behaviors.
5-6 month
Nutrition-Exercise Attitude Scale
Time Frame: 5-6 month
The nutrition-exercise attitude scale was developed to evaluate the nutrition-exercise attitudes of adolescents. The total score that can be obtained from the scale varies between 13 and 65. A high total score indicates a positive attitude towards nutrition-exercise, while a low score indicates negative attitudes towards nutrition-exercise.
5-6 month

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Adem SÜMEN

Collaborators

Ministry of National Education, Turkey

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

March 1, 2025

Primary Completion (Actual)

March 15, 2025

Study Completion (Estimated)

June 15, 2025

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

January 27, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 30, 2025

First Posted (Actual)

January 31, 2025

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

April 16, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 13, 2025

Last Verified

April 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • TBAEK-591

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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