Abstract P257: Efficacy of Teen Battle Chef Program to Shift the Academic Performance and Health Behaviors in NYC High School Students

Circulation ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 131 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyunwoo Park ◽  
Lynn Fredericks ◽  
Nicole M Sliva ◽  
Jun Wang ◽  
Erica D Irvin ◽  
...  

Introduction: Adolescent obesity is one of the leading public health concerns in the United States. Children who are overweight as adolescents are much more likely to become obese adults. Providing nutrition education is a powerful resource for dietary behavioral change among adolescents and children. Teen Battle Chef (TBC), a component of the HealthCorps Living Labs program, uses culinary and nutrition education to promote behavioral change by empowering youth on multiple levels. This study examines impact of the TBC component of HealthCorps on NYC high school students’ food behaviors, leadership skills, attendance and academic performance. Hypothesis: That participation in Teen Battle Chef will increase attendance, academic and food behavior indicators Methods: We examined several food behaviors, leadership traits, attendance and academic performance of TBC students in the 14 NYC HealthCorps high schools. The TBC curriculum was implemented all 14 schools and a total of 176 students participated in the intervention and 40 students in the comparison group. Pre and Post surveys were conducted. Students from both interventional and comparison groups completed the same survey. Additionally, school performance data in a subset of students from the previous school year in the same schools were examined to determine whether participation affected school performance. Academic data (2012-13) from a total of 88 TBC from 2012-13 were compared to the entire school population. These included attendance, SAT scores, and graduation. Results: The TBC intervention group had significantly greater improvements in key food behavior indicators. Students reported an increased “energy level” [t=+2.90; p<0.01]; more likely to consume fruit [t=-2.17; p<0.05], carrots [t=-2.56; p<0.05], and less likely to drink soda [t=2.30; p<0.05]. The TBC group significantly increased their overall dietary quality (0.114; p=0.03) compared with the control group (0.006; p=0.90). An indication of leadership development, participants had significantly greater improvement in discussing the value of local foods with others (t=-3.31; p<0.01). Compared with previous year’s cohort, the mean SAT scores for TBC participants were significantly higher than overall school scores. Additionally, TBC participants attendance rate was 95%, compared to the school attendance rate of 86%. Conclusion: This study provides strong evidence that TBC helps develop leadership, teamwork, culinary skills, nutrition knowledge, food systems and self-efficacy for high school students. In addition, our study explicitly shows that TBC students improve their academic performance and attendance and are motivated to succeed in school as a result of their participation in the TBC/HealthCorps programs.

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maike Wehrens ◽  
Bram Buunk ◽  
Miranda Lubbers ◽  
Hans Kuyper ◽  
Greetje van der Werf

Author(s):  
Diego Boerchi ◽  
Paola Magnano ◽  
Ernesto Lodi

Researchers widely explored non-intellective study factors because they play a central role in academic performance and are potentially more modifiable than intellective ones. The scientific literature suggests that the non-intellective factors can be classified into three main areas: self-concept, which refers to self-esteem and efficacy, motivation and emotional reactions; the area of study, related to study dedication and operative skills; and the area of relationships, comprising those with family, fellow students and teachers. Basing on these findings, the C-Comp Scale has been developed and tested in the past, addressed to college students. This study aimed to adapt and test a new version of this questionnaire on high school students. Methods. A pilot study was conducted on 364 Italian high school students to adapt and test the new version of the questionnaire, called the H-Comp Scale. The following study, conducted on 792 Italian high school students, provided further evidence of its reliability, structural validity, and concurrent validity with general self-efficacy, academic self-efficacy, social self-efficacy, and academic performance. Results. The H-Comp Scale showed to possess excellent reliability and structural and concurrent validity. The final version is composed of twelve subscales, aggregated in three areas, with just 48 items: Study (Intrinsic Motivation, Extrinsic Motivation, Time Management, Study Dedication), Self (Learning Assessment, General Self-Esteem, Self-Efficacy, Reaction to Failures, Emotional Control), and Relationships (Family Relationships, Fellow Student Relationships, Teacher Relationships). Conclusions. The H-Comp Scale would be a useful and easy-to-use instrument to support school counselors, tutors, teachers, and researchers in exploring different types of non-intellective variables, to better project educational intervention aimed to improve high school students’ academic performance and satisfaction.


2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Guilherme da Silva Gasparotto ◽  
Aline Bichels ◽  
Thaynara do Prado Szeremeta ◽  
Gislaine Cristina Vagetti ◽  
Valdomiro de Oliveira

The objective of this study was to verify the association of psychological factors and body practices with the academic performance of high school students. A sample of 330 students participated, made up of 167 girls and 163 boys. Likert scale instruments were used for collecting information on self-concept, and on general and academic self-efficacy. Time spent on moderate to vigorous physical activity was recorded, and so was participation in several types of body practices, such as sports, dances, martial arts, performing arts, and systematic physical exercises. Academic achievement was referred to from the students' grades on regular subjects. Linear regression analysis was used for verifying the association of independent variables with academic performance. The adjusted regression model explains between 7% and 36% of academic performance variance, whereas Self-Concept explains academic performance on six of the twelve subjects, and the mean of the grades, with Beta values between 0.13 (p = 0.02) for Sociology and 0.28 (p <0.01) for Mathematics. Academic self-efficacy explained performance on eleven subjects and the mean of the grades, with Beta values between 0.21 (p <0.01) for Physical Education and Philosophy, and 0.44 (p <0.01) for Biology. Participation in extracurricular activities involving body practices explained academic performance on six subjects and the mean of the grades, with Beta values between 0.14 (p = 0.02) for Sociology and 0.31 (p <0.01) for Arts. The studied psychological variables and participation in projects concerning body practices during extracurricular activities correlated with academic achievement as to several school subjects, and with the mean of the grades.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Waleed Ahmed Shahzad

The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether anxiety and depression have a negative effect on academic performance. This small-scale study assessed the relationship between these factors. A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was carried out. A randomized sample of 52 high school students based in various schools across Lahore participated in the survey. Of the participants, 32 were males and 20 were females. As a measure of anxiety and depression 14 questions from the DASS-21 were utilized (The 7 questions pertaining to the measure of stress were not included in this study). Based on the DASS-21 score obtained by the respondents they were classified under categories of normal, mild, moderate, severe and extremely severe levels of anxiety and depression. As a measure of academic performance, the Grade Point Average (GPA) of the students was obtained via the survey. The mean average GPA was calculated for all the students falling under the aforementioned categories pertaining to anxiety and depression separately and these averages were compared. It was found that the mean average GPA was highest in students falling under the categories of normal and mild levels of anxiety and depression. Whereas, mean average GPA was lower in students suffering from severe levels of anxiety and depression. These findings suggest the need to come up with methods to combat anxiety and depression in high school students as these factors impede academic performance.


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