Abstract
BACKGROUND: We evaluated the 12-month effects of the COPE (Creating Opportunities for Personal Empowerment) Healthy Lifestyles TEEN (Thinking, Emotions, Exercise, Nutrition) program versus an attention control program (Healthy Teens) on overweight/obesity and depressive symptoms in high school adolescents. METHODS: A cluster randomized controlled trial was conducted. Participants were 779 culturally diverse adolescents in the US Southwest. COPE is a cognitive-behavioral skills-building intervention with 20min of physical activity integrated into a health course and taught by teachers once a week for 15 weeks. Outcome measures included body mass index (BMI) and depressive symptoms. RESULTS: COPE teens had a significantly lower BMI at 12months (F1,698=11.22, p=.001) than Healthy Teens (24.95 versus 25.48). There was a significant decrease in the proportion of overweight and obese COPE teens from baseline to 12 months (χ2=5.40, p=.02) as compared with Healthy Teens. For youth who began the study with extremely elevated depressive symptoms, COPE teens had significantly lower depression at 12 months compared with Healthy Teens (COPE M=42.39; Healthy Teens M=57.90); (F1 ,12=5.78, p=.03). CONCLUSIONS: COPE can improve long-term physical and mental health outcomes in teens.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 861-870 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Journal of School Health |
Volume | 85 |
Issue number | 12 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 2015 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Depression
- Health behavior
- Health beliefs
- Mental health outcomes
- Obesity
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Education
- Philosophy
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health