Age and gender influence healthy eating and physical activity behaviours in South African adolescents and their caregivers: Transforming Adolescent Lives through Nutrition Initiative (TALENT).

Objective:To: (i) understand facilitators and barriers to healthy eating practices and physical activity in younger and older urban adolescent South African boys and girls; and (ii) understand how the views of caregivers interact with, and influence, adolescent behaviours.Design:Semi-structured focus group discussions (FGD) were conducted in July 2018. Data were analysed using thematic analysis.Setting:Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa.Participants:Seventy-five participants were stratified into eight FGD as follows: two for young boys and girls (10–12 years); two for older boys and girls (15–17 years); two for caregivers of young adolescents (boys and girls); and two for caregivers of older adolescents (boys and girls).Results:Unlike their caregivers, adolescents were not motivated to eat healthily and failed to appreciate the need to develop consistent patterns of both healthy eating and physical activity for their long-term health. Although adolescents gained independence with age, they commonly attributed unhealthy food choices to a lack of autonomy and, thereby, to the influence of their caregivers. Adolescents and caregivers perceived their engagement in physical activity according to distinct siloes of recreational and routine activity, respectively. Both similarities and differences in the drivers of healthy eating and physical activity exist in adolescents and caregivers, and should be targeted in future interventions.Conclusions:Our study identified a complex paradigm of eating practices and physical activity in South African adolescents and their caregivers. We also highlighted the need for a new narrative in addressing the multifaceted and interrelated determinants of adolescent health within urban poor settings

Implementation of healthy conversation skills to support behaviour change in the Bukhali trial in Soweto, South Africa: A process evaluation

BackgroundTo address the need for preconception health interventions in low- and middle-income countries, the Healthy Life Trajectories Initiative (HeLTI) was launched in Soweto, South Africa to optimise young women's physical and mental health to establish healthier trajectories for themselves and, where relevant, the next generation. As part of HeLTI trial, the Bukhali intervention utilises the Healthy Conversation Skills (HCS) approach to promote behaviour change with 18–28-year-old women. The aim of this article is to report on the process evaluation of implementing HCS, to identify implementation challenges, and make recommendations for HCS adaptations.MethodsData were collected from intervention session records (participants’ response to setting behaviour change goals, community health workers (CHWs) impression of their HCS use; n ​= ​7418), individual in-depth interviews with participants (n ​= ​35), focus groups (3) and debrief sessions (13) with CHWs who deliver the intervention.ResultsThe findings indicated that the HCS approach was not implemented as originally intended. Challenges were reported regarding participants' willingness to set behaviour change goals, and prioritise health and health behaviour change, as well as participants’ exposure to trauma, influencing their ability to prioritise health behaviour change. While CHWs were able to identify strengths of the HCS approach, there were challenges with contextual adaptation, especially using HCS in a multilingual setting such as Soweto. Recommendations for contextual adaptations of the HCS approach in Soweto, South Africa include simplification of certain HCS tools, language adaptions for a multilingual setting, adapting training to fit in with time constraints of a trial, and adopting a trauma-informed perspective to health behaviour change.ConclusionsThis article extends our understanding of challenges to health behaviour change for young women in a low-income setting, highlighting the role of trauma, and the need for a trauma-informed perspective to understand behaviour change in this context