Strong Teens for Healthy Schools Change Club: A Civic Engagement Approach to Improving Physical Activity and Healthy Eating Environments
For patients and families
In plain language
An automatic summary of structured registry data. It is an orientation aid, not a substitute for the official protocol or a physician assessment.
- What is being studied
- The protocol lists: STHS Intervention, Usual Care.
- Who it may be relevant to
- Registry conditions: Cardiovascular Diseases, Nutrition, Physical Activity. Basic parameters: from 8 years · All.
- What needs checking
- Age, condition and sex are only basic indicators. Prior treatment, laboratory values and other mandatory requirements appear in the eligibility criteria below.
- Where it takes place
- United States
- Next step
- Save the trial, show it to the treating physician, and confirm current recruitment with the study center. Costs, documents and travel →
Unsure about the terms? Read our patient guide →
Overview
Strong Teens for Healthy Schools (STHS) is a school-based, civic engagement program that empowers middle school students to improve their physical activity and healthy eating behaviors, improve their cardiovascular disease outcomes, and create positive change in their school health environments.
Detailed description
The investigators will conduct a cluster-randomized controlled trial to evaluate the impact of the Strong Teens for Healthy Schools (STHS) program on cardiovascular disease-related outcomes. STHS is a multi-level, theory-based civic engagement program to catalyze positive food and physical activity environmental change and improve cardiovascular disease-related health (CVD) outcomes among 6th and 7th-grade students.
Title 1 middle schools in Texas (n=20) with \> 40% Hispanic and Black students will be randomized at baseline to the intervention condition (STHS program) or control condition (will continue with usual care, as they will not be asked to add or remove any of their current, physical activity, healthy eating, or positive youth development programming) (n=20-25 students per school).
The investigators hypothesize that students who participate in STHS will have reduced MetS risk, improved positive youth developmental outcomes, and improved social and environmental outcomes immediately post-intervention and one year after study completion compared to students in a control condition.
Interventions
- Behavioral STHS Intervention
STHS program The intervention group (10 schools) will participate in the STHS program. During the fall semester (September to December), the intervention group will receive 24 thirty-minute modules (or twelve 1-hour modules) that provide education on civic engagement, healthy eating, and physical activity. During the spring semester (February to May), the intervention group will receive 24 thirty-minute modules (or twelve 1-hour modules) that focus on implementing the school health environmenta - Behavioral Usual Care
No STHS program The usual care group will be offered the same activities as the intervention group after the conclusion of the research study.
Primary outcome measures
- Presence or absence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) [Time frame: Baseline, 9 months (immediate post intervention), 4 months and 12 months post intervention]
- Change in the number of MetS risk factors [Time frame: Baseline, 9 months (immediate post intervention), 4 months and 12 months post intervention]
- Positive Youth Development score [Time frame: Baseline, 9 months (immediate post intervention), 4 months and 12 months post intervention]
Secondary outcome measures (12)
- Blood pressure level [Time frame: Baseline, 9 months (immediate post intervention), 4 months and 12 months post intervention]
- Concentration of blood glucose [Time frame: Baseline, 9 months (immediate post intervention), 4 months and 12 months post intervention]
- Waist circumference [Time frame: Baseline, 9 months (immediate post intervention), 4 months and 12 months post intervention]
- Concentration of HDL cholesterol [Time frame: Baseline, 9 months (immediate post intervention), 4 months and 12 months post intervention]
- Concentration of serum triglycerides [Time frame: Baseline, 9 months (immediate post intervention), 4 months and 12 months post intervention]
- Height [Time frame: Baseline, 9 months (immediate post intervention), 4 months and 12 months post intervention]
- Weight [Time frame: Baseline, 9 months (immediate post intervention), 4 months and 12 months post intervention]
- Body mass index (BMI) [Time frame: Baseline, 9 months (immediate post intervention), 4 months and 12 months post intervention]
- Concentration of subdermal carotenoids [Time frame: Baseline, 9 months (immediate post intervention), 4 months and 12 months post intervention]
- Accelerometer-derived physical activity estimation [Time frame: Baseline to 9 months]
- Sedentary time [Time frame: Baseline to 9 months]
- Time spent sleeping [Time frame: Baseline to 9 months]
Eligibility criteria
School Inclusion Criteria:
- > 50 6th and 7th grade students
- > 40% economically disadvantaged students
- > 40% Black and Hispanic students
School Exclusion Criteria:
Student Inclusion Criteria:
- 6th or 7th grade student
- Attend a Title 1 middle school that is participating in the STHS intervention
- Read and understand English
Student Exclusion Criteria:
- Participation in a weight loss program in the past 3 months
- Presence of a condition that prevents participation in physical activity
Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.
Healthy volunteers: Yes
Study design
- Allocation
- Randomized
- Model
- Parallel assignment
- Masking
- Open label
- Primary purpose
- Prevention
Study locations
United States · 1 center
- Texas A&M AgriLife Dallas Center — Dallas
Publications
- MacMillan Uribe AL, George A, McNeely A, Xin L, Largacha Cevallos E, Rethorst C, Seguin Fowler RA, Szeszulski J. Strong Teens for Healthy Schools: Protocol for evaluating a youth nutrition, physical activity, and civic engagement protocol. Front Public Health. 2025 Sep 17;13:1654678. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1654678. eCollection 2025. PMID 41041380
Identifiers
NCT: NCT05867433 · IRB2022-1159D · R01MD018214