School-Based Pediatric Health Promotion Programs Encouraging Physical Activity AND Preventive Lifestyle Education AMONG Adolescents Effectively Today

Abstract

The problem of physical inactivity and unhealthy lifestyle habits in adolescents is a major public health issue, which can predispose them to obesity, cardiovascular, mental disorders, among other chronic diseases in the future. The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of school-based pediatric health promotion program in promoting physical activities and preventive lifestyle teaching among adolescents. An analytical study was carried out in a cross-sectional basis in a sample of 200 adolescents in the age group of 13-18 years selected through stratified random sampling in selected secondary schools. Structured questionnaires that evaluated physical activity participation, nutrition awareness, sleep hygiene, management of screen-time, preventive knowledge of health and healthy lifestyle practices were used to capture data. The SPSS version 27.0 was used to perform the descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and multiple regression analyses. The findings indicated a higher percentage of respondents are involved in moderate-vigorous physical activity regularly since involvement in health promotion activities at school, 68.5 percent versus 42.0 percent who stated that they were at adequate activity levels prior to program exposure. Mean score of preventive lifestyle knowledge has risen to 4.18/0.61 higher than the former score (2.94/0.73) on a five-point scale, and the healthy nutrition awareness has risen (58.0 to 84.5). The results showed significant positive relationships between the program participation and the level of physical activity (r = 0.62, p < 0.001) and preventive lifestyle knowledge (r = 0.67, p < 0.001). In the multiple regression analysis, health education exposure (β = 0.39, p < 0.001), student engagement (β = 0.31, p = 0.002), and school support (β = 0.28, p = 0.005) were found to be important predictors of healthy lifestyle adoption. The findings suggest that school-oriented pediatric health promotion interventions can be effectively used to increase physical activity engagement and preventive lifestyle education habits of adolescents, which leads to improved health-awareness, healthier lifestyle-improving behavioral decisions and disease prevention in the long-term. Investing in holistic health promotion efforts in schools can help in sustainable youth health and wellbeing.