Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 May 16:14:457.
doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-14-457.

Evaluation of a real world intervention using professional football players to promote a healthy diet and physical activity in children and adolescents from a lower socio-economic background: a controlled pretest-posttest design

Veerle Dubuy  1 , Katrien De Cocker, Ilse De Bourdeaudhuij, Lea Maes, Jan Seghers, Johan Lefevre, Kristine De Martelaer, Hannah Brooke, Greet Cardon
Affiliations

Evaluation of a real world intervention using professional football players to promote a healthy diet and physical activity in children and adolescents from a lower socio-economic background: a controlled pretest-posttest design

Veerle Dubuy et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: The increasing rates of obesity among children and adolescents, especially in those from lower socio-economic backgrounds, emphasise the need for interventions promoting a healthy diet and physical activity. The present study aimed to examine the effectiveness of the 'Health Scores!' program, which combined professional football player role models with a school-based program to promote a healthy diet and physical activity to socially vulnerable children and adolescents.

Methods: The intervention was implemented in two settings: professional football clubs and schools. Socially vulnerable children and adolescents (n = 165 intervention group, n = 440 control group, aged 10-14 year) provided self-reported data on dietary habits and physical activity before and after the four-month intervention. Intervention effects were evaluated using repeated measures analysis of variance. In addition, a process evaluation was conducted.

Results: No intervention effects were found for several dietary behaviours, including consumption of breakfast, fruit, soft drinks or sweet and savoury snacks. Positive intervention effects were found for self-efficacy for having a daily breakfast (p < 0.01), positive attitude towards vegetables consumption (p < 0.01) and towards lower soft drink consumption (p < 0.001). A trend towards significance (p < 0.10) was found for self-efficacy for reaching the physical activity guidelines. For sports participation no significant intervention effect was found. In total, 92 pupils completed the process evaluation, the feedback was largely positive.

Conclusions: The 'Health Scores!' intervention was successful in increasing psychosocial correlates of a healthy diet and PA. The use of professional football players as a credible source for health promotion was appealing to socially vulnerable children and adolescents.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flowchart of the study participants of the ‘Health Scores!’ intervention.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Lobstein T, Frelut ML. Prevalence of overweight among children in Europe. Obes Rev. 2003;4:195–200. doi: 10.1046/j.1467-789X.2003.00116.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Wang Y, Lobstein T. Worldwide trends in childhood overweight and obesity. Int J Pediatr Obes. 2006;1:11–25. doi: 10.1080/17477160600586747. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Brug J, van Stralen MM, te Velde SJ, Chinapaw MJ, De Bourdeaudhuij I, Lien N, Bere E, Maskini V, Singh AS, Maes L, Moreno L, Jan N, Kovacs E, Lobstein T, Manios Y. Differences in weight status and energy-balance related behaviours among schoolchildren across Europe: The ENERGY-Project. PLoS One. 2012;7(4):e34742. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0034742. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wang Y, Zhang Q. Are American children and adolescents of low socioeconomic status at increased risk of obesity? Changes in the association between overweight and family income between 1971 and 2002. Am J Clin Nutr. 2006;84:707–716. - PubMed
    1. Must A, Strauss RS. Risks and consequences of childhood and adolescent obesity. Int J Obes. 1999;23(Suppl 2):2–11. - PubMed

Publication types