#EntreViagenseAprendizagens: study protocol of a school-based intervention to promote well-being and healthy lifestyles among adolescents

Background: Adolescence is a critical period of development in which well-being usually decreases, mental health problems (e.g., depression, anxiety) increase, and lifestyles become less healthy. Schools are a primary setting for the promotion of the well-being and overall health of adolescents, and preventive actions should be a priority within the scope of health-promoting schools. #EntreViagenseAprendizagens is a school-based intervention aiming to promote well-being and healthy lifestyles among adolescents based on social and emotional learning, positive psychology, and health education approaches. Methods: This protocol describes a school-based intervention, #EntreViagenseAprendizagens, that will be implemented in several schools in Portugal. The program is aimed at 8th and 9th grade students (14–16 years old) and comprises 20 weekly sessions. One of the sessions is aimed at the students’ parents/guardians. The intervention content targets social and emotional skills, health literacy (physical and mental health), healthy lifestyles, character strengths, and well-being. An experimental design will be used in the intervention evaluation. Eighth grade classes will be randomly assigned to the intervention group or the control group. All students complete the same assessment protocol at baseline, post-intervention, and 9-month follow-up. The impact assessment protocol includes measures related to well-being, health literacy, health-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviors, relationships with others, social and emotional skills, and sociodemographic data. Process evaluation includes evaluation forms at the end of each session and at the end of the program and focus groups with students, parents, and teachers at the end of the program. Discussion: This school-based intervention may play an important role in promoting students’ well-being and in preventing unhealthy lifestyles and socio-emotional maladjustment, by focusing on the development of social and emotional skills and health literacy among adolescents, empowering them to face the changing future and grow up healthy. Furthermore, this project aims to provide relevant scientific findings that can contribute to the development of better health-promoting schools.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Relação entre clima familiar, regulação emocional e os problemas de externalização : o papel do consumo de substâncias e do florescimento

São inúmeros os desafios que os adolescentes enfrentam nesta etapa de vida, que irão refletir-se no seu bem-estar físico, mental e no envolvimento em comportamentos de risco. Os problemas de externalização na adolescência traduzem um sofrimento do sujeito, que muitas vezes o próprio não consegue explicar mas que se reflete noutras áreas de vida. Como tal, o presente estudo teve como objetivo compreender a relação entre os problemas de externalização, as dificuldades de regulação emocional, o clima familiar (conflito, coesão e apoio, hierarquia), o consumo de substâncias (tabaco, álcool e drogas) e o florescimento. Procurou-se perceber as diferenças entre os grupos de adolescentes com maior e menor risco de apresentarem problemas de externalização, e também testar o efeito mediador do florescimento e dos consumos de substâncias na relação entre as dificuldades de regulação emocional e o clima familiar e os problemas de externalização. Participaram no estudo 723 adolescentes com idades compreendidas entre 12 e 18 anos, estudantes no 3ºciclo do ensino básico e secundário, de nove escolas na zona da Grande Lisboa e da Ilha de S. Miguel (Açores). Os adolescentes completaram um protocolo com questionários de autorrelato direcionado às variáveis em estudo. Os resultados indicaram que os problemas de externalização se relacionam positivamente com as dificuldades de regulação emocional e com o clima familiar negativo (conflito e hierarquia) e com os consumos de substâncias; por outro lado, relacionam-se negativamente com o clima familiar positivo (coesão e apoio) e com o florescimento. O grupo com maior risco de apresentar problemas de externalização mostrou níveis mais elevados de dificuldades de regulação emocional, uma perceção mais negativa do clima familiar, maiores níveis de consumos de substâncias e menores níveis de florescimento. Confirmou-se também o efeito mediador do florescimento entre as dificuldades de regulação emocional e o clima familiar, e os problemas de externalização; confirmou-se também o efeito mediador dos consumos de substâncias entre o clima familiar e os problemas de externalização, mas não entre as dificuldades de regulação emocional e os problemas de externalização. Estes resultados fornecem resultados relevantes para o desenho de programas de promoção do bem-estar e prevenção do consumo de substâncias e de problemas de ajustamento socioemocional nos adolescentes, bem como para a prática clínica e para a investigação.There are numerous challenges that adolescents face in this life period, which will reflect on their physical, mental well-being and involvement in high risk behaviours. Externalising problems in adolescence reflect a subject's suffering, which he or she often cannot explain but is reflected in other life areas. As such, the present study aimed to understand the relationship between externalisation problems, emotional regulation difficulties, family atmosphere (conflict, cohesion and support, hierarchy), substance use (tobacco, alcohol and drugs) and flourishing. It was sought to understand the differences between the group of adolescents at higher and lower risk of presenting externalising problems, and to test the mediating effect of flourishing and substance use in the relationship between externalising problems and the difficulties of emotional regulation,the family atmosphere and the externalising problems The study included 723 adolescents aged 12 to 18 years, students of the middle school of primary and secondary education, from nine schools in Greater Lisbon and São Miguel Island (Azores). The adolescents completed a protocol with self-report questionnaires directed to the variables under study. The results indicated that externalisation problems are positively related to the difficulties of emotional regulation and the negative family atmosphere (conflict and hierarchy) and substance use; on the other hand, they relate negatively to the positive family atmosphere (cohesion and support) and flourishing. The group at higher risk of externalising problems showed higher levels of emotional regulation difficulties, and it was related a more negative perception of family atmosphere, higher levels of substance use and lower of flourishing levels. The mediating effect of the flourishing between the difficulties of emotional regulation and family atmosphere and externalisation problems was also confirmed; the mediating effect of substance use between the family atmosphere and externalising problems was also confirmed,and the mediating effect between the relationship of externalising problems and the emotional regulation difficulties was not confirmed. These results provide relevant data for the design of programs to promote well-being and prevention of substance use and socio-emotional adjustment problems in adolescents, as well as for clinical practice and researc

A promoção da saúde e do bem-estar dos adolescentes: uma via para o florescimento?

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio