NCT05867433

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

• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 500 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Texas A&M University · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 8 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

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.

Detailed 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.

Conditions

• Cardiovascular Diseases
• Nutrition
• Physical Activity

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	STHS Intervention	STHS program The intervention group (10 schools) will participate in the STHS program. During the fall semester (September to December), the intervention group will receive 24 thirty-minute modules (or twelve 1-hour modules) that provide education on civic engagement, healthy eating, and physical activity. During the spring semester (February to May), the intervention group will receive 24 thirty-minute modules (or twelve 1-hour modules) that focus on implementing the school health environmental change project and receive support for maintaining individual-level healthy eating and physical activity behaviors.
BEHAVIORAL	Usual Care	No STHS program The usual care group will be offered the same activities as the intervention group after the conclusion of the research study.

Timeline

• Start date: 2023-09-27
• Primary completion: 2027-04-15
• Completion: 2027-04-15
• First posted: 2023-05-22
• Last updated: 2025-09-12

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States