A Health Promoting School Intervention in 10th Grade ("My Life - I Decide"): Protocol for a Pragmatic Controlled...

Area of Science:

• Adolescent Health Promotion
• School-Based Interventions
• Public Health Research

Background:

• Limited evidence exists on the implementation and system-level impact of Health Promoting School (HPS) interventions in real-world settings.
• The "My Life - I Decide" (My Life) intervention is a systems-oriented HPS program for Danish 10th graders, aiming to improve mental and physical health, school well-being, and health practices.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the intervention, study design, and evaluation framework of the "My Life" pragmatic controlled trial.
• To assess the effectiveness, process, and system-level impacts of the "My Life" intervention.

Main Methods:

• A pragmatic controlled waiting-list trial involving 4 intervention and 4 control schools (approx. 416 students aged 15-17).
• Mixed-methods approach including student surveys, school staff surveys, stakeholder interviews, and student focus groups.
• Realist-informed multimethod process evaluation examining implementation fidelity, acceptability, context, and mechanisms of impact.

Main Results:

• Quantitative and qualitative data on student outcomes, implementation processes, intersectoral collaboration, and health-promoting practices are being generated.
• Recruitment and baseline data collection are complete; follow-up assessments and qualitative data collection are ongoing according to the study timeline.
• Findings will be triangulated to test and refine the intervention's program theory.

Conclusions:

• The "My Life" study will contribute valuable knowledge on implementing and evaluating complex HPS interventions in educational settings.
• The findings are expected to inform future HPS initiatives and provide methodological insights for adolescent health promotion research.