Citation

Melnyk BM, Jacobson D, Kelly SA, Belyea MJ, Shaibi GQ, Small L, O'Haver JA, Marsiglia FF. J. Sch. Health 2015; 85(12): 861-870.

Affiliation

School of Social Work Director of the Southwest Interdisciplinary Research Center (SIRC), School of Social Work - College of Public Programs, Arizona State University, 411 N. Central Ave., Suite 720, Phoenix, AZ 85004. marsiglia@asu.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, American School Health Association, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/josh.12342

PMID

26522175

Abstract

BACKGROUND: We evaluated the 12-month effects of the COPE (Creating Opportunities for Personal Empowerment) Healthy Lifestyles TEEN (Thinking, Emotions, Exercise, Nutrition) program versus an attention control program (Healthy Teens) on overweight/obesity and depressive symptoms in high school adolescents.

METHODS: A cluster randomized controlled trial was conducted. Participants were 779 culturally diverse adolescents in the US Southwest. COPE is a cognitive-behavioral skills-building intervention with 20 min of physical activity integrated into a health course and taught by teachers once a week for 15 weeks. Outcome measures included body mass index (BMI) and depressive symptoms.

RESULTS: COPE teens had a significantly lower BMI at 12 months (F1,698  = 11.22, p = .001) than Healthy Teens (24.95 versus 25.48). There was a significant decrease in the proportion of overweight and obese COPE teens from baseline to 12 months (χ(2)  = 5.40, p = .02) as compared with Healthy Teens. For youth who began the study with extremely elevated depressive symptoms, COPE teens had significantly lower depression at 12 months compared with Healthy Teens (COPE M = 42.39; Healthy Teens M = 57.90); (F1 ,12  = 5.78, p = .03).

CONCLUSIONS: COPE can improve long-term physical and mental health outcomes in teens.

Language: en