JavaScript is Disabled
Your browser's JavaScript functionality is disabled. It has to be enabled to use this function of ConfTool.
Here you can find information on how to enable JavaScript
If you have any problems, please contact the organisers at info@hepa2026.si.

Conference Agenda

Overview and details of the sessions of this conference. Please select a date or location to show only sessions at that day or location. Please select a single session for detailed view (with abstracts and downloads if available).

Daily Overview

Session

WR2_1_3: Abstract presentations: Active Schools, Healthy Children: Creating Environments for Physical Activity and Health
Location: White room 2
Session Chair: Josefine Björkqvist

Presentation 3

3:30pm - 3:40pm

Effects of a school-based activity and homework support intervention on mental health in adolescents: A cluster randomised trial

Karin Kjellenberg¹, Björg Helgadóttir¹, Örjan Ekblom^1,2, Frida Lindh¹, Patrick Bergman^3,4, Susanne Andermo^1,2, Gisela Nyberg^1,5

1: The Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences, Department of Health Sciences, Sweden; 2: Karolinska Institutet, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Division of Nursing, Sweden; 3: Linnaeus University, Department of Medicine and Optometry, eHealth Institute, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Sweden; 4: Linnaeus University Department of Computer Science and Media Technology, Data Intensive Sciences and Applications (DISA), Faculty of Technology, Sweden; 5: Karolinska Institutet, Department of Global Public Health, Sweden.

Purpose: Mental health problems are rising among adolescents, highlighting the need for preventive interventions. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a school-based intervention on mental health in adolescents.

Methods: This cluster-randomised trial comprised three weekly 60-minute sessions over 7 months: (1) varied physical activities, (2) homework support with activity breaks and (3) walking while listening to audiobooks. Self-reported anxiety, psychosomatic symptoms, depression and health-related quality of life were measured using validated questionnaires. Intervention fidelity was assessed via teacher-reported attendance. Multilevel linear mixed-effects models analysed group differences, adjusted for sex and parental education.

Results: In total, 1014 students from thirty-four schools (14 intervention, 20 control; mean age 14.3 years) participated. Results showed a significant difference in anxiety between groups after the intervention (–1.11; 95% CI –2.18 to –0.34; p = 0.02), with the largest improvements observed among students with high baseline anxiety. No overall intervention effects were observed for the other mental health outcomes. Participation in the intervention was high, with a mean student attendance of over 80% across all intervention components.

Conclusions: Integrating scheduled, structured physical activity and homework support into the school day can improve anxiety among adolescents, particularly among those with elevated mental health symptoms. This multi-component, school-based intervention demonstrates a promising strategy that can be feasibly integrated into existing school contexts for promoting mental health among adolescents.

Funding Sources: Knowledge Foundation, Skandia, Kamprad Foundation, Swedish ESF Council and SFO-V.