Strong Teens for Healthy Schools Change Club: A Civic Engagement Approach to Improving Physical Activity and Healthy Eating Environments

Texas A&M University

Status: Enrolling

Conditions: Physical Activity; Nutrition; Cardiovascular Diseases

Treatments: Behavioral: Usual Care; Behavioral: STHS Intervention

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT05867433

IRB2022-1159D

R01MD018214 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Details and patient eligibility

About

Strong Teens for Healthy Schools (STHS) is a school-based, civic engagement program that empowers middle school students to improve their physical activity and healthy eating behaviors, improve their cardiovascular disease outcomes, and create positive change in their school health environments.

Full description

The investigators will conduct a cluster-randomized controlled trial to evaluate the impact of the Strong Teens for Healthy Schools (STHS) program on cardiovascular disease-related outcomes. STHS is a multi-level, theory-based civic engagement program to catalyze positive food and physical activity environmental change and improve cardiovascular disease-related health (CVD) outcomes among 6th and 7th-grade students.

Title 1 middle schools in Texas (n=20) with > 40% Hispanic and Black students will be randomized at baseline to the intervention condition (STHS program) or control condition (will continue with usual care, as they will not be asked to add or remove any of their current, physical activity, healthy eating, or positive youth development programming) (n=20-25 students per school).

The investigators hypothesize that students who participate in STHS will have reduced MetS risk, improved positive youth developmental outcomes, and improved social and environmental outcomes immediately post-intervention and one year after study completion compared to students in a control condition.

Enrollment: 500 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 8 to 15 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

School Inclusion Criteria:

• > 50 6th and 7th grade students
• > 40% economically disadvantaged students
• > 40% Black and Hispanic students

School Exclusion Criteria:

Student Inclusion Criteria:

• 6th or 7th grade student
• Attend a Title 1 middle school that is participating in the STHS intervention
• Read and understand English

Student Exclusion Criteria:

• Participation in a weight loss program in the past 3 months
• Presence of a condition that prevents participation in physical activity

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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500 participants in 2 patient groups

STHS Intervention

Experimental group

Description:

Participants in this group (10 schools) will participate in the STHS program.

Treatment:

Behavioral: STHS Intervention

Usual Care

Other group

Description:

Participants in this group (10 schools) will continue with usual care, as they will not be asked to add or remove any of their current, physical activity, healthy eating, or positive youth development programming.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Usual Care