Social-HEROES: Health and Education on Research Opportunities Empower Students and Tackle Inequalities

University of Minho

Status: Invitation-only

Conditions: Overweight; Obesity

Treatments: Behavioral: Social-HEROES Health-Promotion Program

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06993051

U. Minho

LCF/PR/SR24/57010020 (Other Grant/Funding Number)

Details and patient eligibility

About

Social-HEROES (Social Health and Education Research Opportunities: Empower Students and tackle inequities) is a cluster-randomised study that aims to improve the health of vulnerable preschool children (3 to 6 years old) attending Portuguese TEIP* schools.

Ten preschools (about 478 children) will be randomly assigned to one of two groups. Five preschools (≈ 239 children) will continue with their usual educational activities (control group). The other five preschools (≈ 239 children) will take part in a six-month "Social-HEROES" programme (intervention group).

The intervention is created in participatory innovation labs where children, educators, families, community members and policy-makers design activities together, guided by a systems-thinking approach. These activities encourage healthier eating, more balanced 24-hour movement (active play, less sitting, better sleep) and stronger socio-emotional skills.

The study pursues two main goals. First, it will develop this innovative, stakeholder-driven health-promotion programme. Second, it will test how well the programme works by measuring: (a) children's health-literacy levels, (b) their lifestyle habits (diet, physical activity, sedentary time and sleep), (c) rates of overweight and obesity, and (d) blood-pressure levels.

Researchers expect that, compared with the control group, children in the intervention group will show higher health-literacy scores, healthier lifestyle patterns and lower rates of excess weight and raised blood pressure. Data will be collected before the programme starts and again six months later, using short questionnaires, simple body measurements, blood-pressure readings and a wrist-worn activity tracker (accelerometer) worn for seven days. Participation is voluntary, can be stopped at any time without penalty, and all information is handled in accordance with GDPR.

Social-HEROES is funded by Fundación "la Caixa" (LCF/PR/SR24/57010020) and has ethical approval from the Life and Health Sciences Research Ethics Committee (CEICVS 189/2024). It addresses two pressing challenges at once: reducing early non-communicable-disease risks and narrowing social and educational health gaps among young children.

*TEIP: Priority Intervention Educational Territories in Portugal

Enrollment: 478 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 3 to 6 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Children from TEIP schools
• Ages between 3 to 6 years old

Exclusion criteria

• Children/families who don't speak/understand Portuguese

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Triple Blind

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478 participants in 2 patient groups

Usual Education Control

No Intervention group

Description:

Preschools (n = 5; \~ 239 children) continue their usual curriculum and health-education practices; no additional components are delivered. No intervention will occur.

Social-HEROES Intervention

Experimental group

Description:

Six-month, cluster-level programme co-created in participatory innovation labs. Includes classroom activities and family workshops to improve diet, 24-h movement (physical activity, sedentary time, sleep) and socio-emotional skills. Implemented in 5 preschools (\~ 239 children).

Treatment:

Behavioral: Social-HEROES Health-Promotion Program