Initiative Description: A health-promoting intervention that uses empowerment and information and communication technology. The intervention was created by the students, the researchers, and the teachers using an empowerment-based approach. The adolescents were divided into pairs by the teachers and were asked to make a mutual written contract. The contracts included a goal for PA and a promise to support each other’s PA by sending one text message to each other once each day for 1 month, to encourage PA during school hours and during leisure time. The parental brochure contained several headlines, for example: “Why is it good to be physically active?” “The relationship between PA and school performance,” and “How can parents support PA?” The brochure was sent home to the parents; however, the parents had no obligation to be active in the intervention any further.

Study Results: Parents observed that the intervention positively affected their adolescents’ PA, parents felt that school was the right context for a PA intervention, because it reached every adolescent regardless of their other life circumstances, and they stated that the adolescents might listen more to an “outsider”; additionally they considered it benefitted the parents’ own PA.

Reference: Lindqvist, A. K., Kostenius, C., Gard, G., & Rutberg, S. (2015). Parent participation plays an important part in promoting physical activity. International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being, 10(1). doi: 10.3402/qhw.v10.27397

Level of Evidence: Good