title: Health risk behaviours amongst school adolescents: protocol for a mixed methods study.
abstract: Determining risky behaviours of adolescents provides valuable information for designing appropriate intervention programmes for advancing adolescent's health. However, these behaviours are not fully addressed by researchers in a comprehensive approach. We report the protocol of a mixed methods study designed to investigate the health risk behaviours of Moroccan adolescents with the goal of identifying suitable strategies to address their health concerns.
  
  
  
  We used a sequential two-phase explanatory mixed method study design. The approach begins with the collection of quantitative data, followed by the collection of qualitative data to explain and enrich the quantitative findings. In the first phase, the global school-based student health survey (GSHS) was administered to 800 students who were between 14 and 19 years of age. The second phase engaged adolescents, parents and teachers in focus groups and assessed education documents to explore the level of coverage of health education in the programme learnt in the middle school. To obtain opinions about strategies to reduce Moroccan adolescents' health risk behaviours, a nominal group technique will be used.
  
  
  
  The findings of this mixed methods sequential explanatory study provide insights into the risk behaviours that need to be considered if intervention programmes and preventive strategies are to be designed to promote adolescent's health in the Moroccan school.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Epidemiology, Clinical Research and Community Health, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of Fez, B.P 1893, Km 2.2 Route Sidi Harazem, Fez, 30000, Morocco. youness_elachhab@yahoo.fr.|Regional Centre for Careers Education and Training of Taza, Taza, Morocco. youness_elachhab@yahoo.fr.
authors.forename: Youness
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: El Achhab
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Epidemiology, Clinical Research and Community Health, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of Fez, B.P 1893, Km 2.2 Route Sidi Harazem, Fez, 30000, Morocco.
authors.forename: Abdelghaffar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: El Ammari
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Epidemiology, Clinical Research and Community Health, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of Fez, B.P 1893, Km 2.2 Route Sidi Harazem, Fez, 30000, Morocco.
authors.forename: Hicham
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: El Kazdouh
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Epidemiology, Clinical Research and Community Health, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of Fez, B.P 1893, Km 2.2 Route Sidi Harazem, Fez, 30000, Morocco.
authors.forename: Adil
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Najdi
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Epidemiology, Clinical Research and Community Health, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of Fez, B.P 1893, Km 2.2 Route Sidi Harazem, Fez, 30000, Morocco.
authors.forename: Mohamed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Berraho
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Epidemiology, Clinical Research and Community Health, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of Fez, B.P 1893, Km 2.2 Route Sidi Harazem, Fez, 30000, Morocco.
authors.forename: Nabil
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tachfouti
authors.affiliation: Regional Centre for Careers Education and Training of Taza, Taza, Morocco.
authors.forename: Driss
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lamri
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Epidemiology, Clinical Research and Community Health, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of Fez, B.P 1893, Km 2.2 Route Sidi Harazem, Fez, 30000, Morocco.
authors.forename: Samira
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: El Fakir
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Epidemiology, Clinical Research and Community Health, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of Fez, B.P 1893, Km 2.2 Route Sidi Harazem, Fez, 30000, Morocco.|Mohammed VI University for Health Sciences, Casablanca, Morocco.
authors.forename: Chakib
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nejjari
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D016497:Adolescent Health Services; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009018:Morocco; D012107:Research Design; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012572:School Health Services; D012574:Schools; D013334:Students; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Adolescents; Health education; Health-risk behaviours; Morocco; Quantitative and qualitative methods; School