title: What is known about school-based interventions for health promotion and their impact in developing countries? A scoping review of the literature.
abstract: Schools can play an important role in health promotion mainly by improving students' health literacy, behaviors and academic achievements. School-based health promotion can be particularly valuable in developing countries facing the challenges of low health literacy and high burden of disease. We conducted a scoping review of the published literature focusing on school-based interventions for health promotion and their impact in developing countries. We included 30 studies meeting specific criteria: (i) studies mainly targeted school going children or adolescents; (ii) admissible designs were randomized controlled trials, controlled before-after studies or interrupted time series; (iii) studies included at least one measure of impact and (iv) were primary studies or systematic reviews. We found that school-based interventions can be classified in two main categories: those targeting individual determinants of health such as knowledge, skills and health behaviors and those targeting environmental determinants such as the social and physical environment at the school, family and community level. Findings suggest that a comprehensive approach addressing both individual and environmental determinants can induce long-term behavior change and significantly improve health and educational outcomes. We highlight the need for further study of the long-term impact of school-based interventions on health outcomes in developing countries.
authors: Research Center of the Sainte-Justine University Hospital, Montréal, H3T 1C5, Canada olive.m.mana@gmail.com.
authors: O
authors: O
authors: Mukamana
authors: Unité de Santé Internationale, et Axe Risques, prévention et promotion de la santé, Centre de Recherche du Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal, Montréal, H2X 0A9, Canada Département d'administration de la santé, École de santé publique, Université de Montréal, Montréal, H3N 1X9, Canada.
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Johri
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D003906:Developing Countries; D004777:Environment; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D015397:Program Evaluation / Q000379:methods*; D012572:School Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*