School-based e-Health Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) Prevention Program to Improve Awareness in Adolescents From Urban Pakistan
The goal of this sequential mixed method study is to assess the feasibility and effectiveness of a school-based eHealth-NCD prevention program intervention to improve adolescents' knowledge, attitude, and practices regarding NCDs and associated risk factors. It aims : 1. To identify barriers and facilitators associated with implementing a school-based eHealth intervention to improve the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of secondary and higher secondary school students in Pakistan regarding NCDs and their associated risk factors. 2. To explore the stakeholders' perceptions regarding the design and content of the School based eHealth NCD prevention Program to improve the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of secondary and higher secondary school students in Pakistan regarding NCDs and their associated risk factors. 3. To assess the feasibility and effectiveness of the School-based eHealth NCD prevention program in secondary and higher secondary school in Karachi. 4. To evaluate the effectiveness of the school-based eHealth NCD prevention program in significantly improving the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of secondary and higher secondary school students in Karachi, Pakistan, regarding NCDs and their associated risk factors, as compared to a control group not receiving the intervention. 5. To explore the perceptions of students regarding the usefulness acceptability and task technology fit of the School-based eHealth NCD prevention Program in improving the knowledge, attitude, and practices of Pakistani Higher Secondary School students regarding NCDs and their associated risk factors. Researcher aim to evaluate the effectiveness of the school-based eHealth NCD prevention program in significantly improving the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of secondary and higher secondary school students in Karachi, Pakistan, regarding NCDs and their associated risk factors, as compared to a control group not receiving the intervention. Participants of intervention group will attend health-promoting sessions delivered by trained facilitators, with each session lasting 30 to 40 minutes. There will be a total of six health-promoting sessions be focused on the leading risk factors associated with NCDs as reported by different studies such as physical inactivity, unhealthy diet and overweight, obesity, harmful alcohol consumption and tobacco use will be conducted in the classroom for the intervention group.
⁃ Phase 1 (FGDs and Interviews)
• Students currently enrolled in secondary and higher secondary schools in Karachi and are in grades 9 to 12.
• Teachers who have been employed in secondary and higher secondary schools in Karachi for a minimum duration of 6 months.
• Parents or legal guardians of students who are currently enrolled in secondary and higher secondary schools in Karachi.
• Principals and vice principals of secondary and higher secondary schools in Karachi, District Education Officers, and decision-makers at Provincial Department of Education.
⁃ Phase 2 (Intervention)
⁃ \- Both study and control group would be selected from secondary schools (students in grades 9-10) and Higher Secondary Schools (students in grades 11-12) located in Karachi, Pakistan
⁃ Phase 3 (FGDs) - Participants from grades 9 to 12 of the secondary and higher secondary schools who actively participated in the intervention and attended all the health-promoting sessions (equal representation of male and female)