African Health Sciences Makerere University Medical School ISSN: 1680-6905 EISSN: 1729-0503 Vol. 8, Num. 4, 2008, pp. 259-260

African Health Sciences, Vol. 8, No. 4, Dec, 2008, pp. 261

Workshops on healthy lifestyle to adolescents

Usama ALAlami and Ross G. Cooper

Physiology Division, Faculty of Health, Birmingham City University, Perry Barr, Birmingham B42 2SU, UK, Phone: 0121 331 5490, Fax: 0121 331 6592, E-mail: usama.alalami@bcu.ac.uk

Code Number: hs08055

National strategies are currently being implemented across the UK to deal with the rapid decline in lifestyle with special focus on the areas of smoking, drug and alcohol abuse, and sexually transmitted infections¹. The responsibility for this in the UK lies with NHS health promotion teams. In South Africa, although health promotion is a directorate within the Social Sector Cluster within the Primary Health Care, there is a lack of experienced health promotion specialist to deliver such targets². Both the UK and Africa are lagging behind in terms of reporting on their findings and experiences.

The objective of the current study was to deliver workshops on healthy lifestyle to adolescents at schools and colleges in the West Midlands region of the UK. This would also be of interest to first and second generation African immigrants in the UK. The design of the questionnaires was based on our intuitive knowledge of pathophysiology and health. The bias to our questionnaire included gender and culture responses. Following agreement, the schools subsequently approached parents to secure their consent for participation in the workshops. A tick-box design questionnaire of five elements from selected schools incorporated strongly agree, agree, neither agree nor disagree, disagree, and strongly disagree ratings. Responses and measurements were compared using ANOVA incorporating multivariate and Chi-square statistical tests (SPSS 14.0 for Windows-XP, SPSS Headquarters, Chicago, Illinois). A confidence of 95% was agreed. The results of the current study indicated that interest and understanding were significantly (p<0.05) high and this was not gender specific. The use of medical images was shown to capture the audience by significantly (p<0.05) enhancing understanding. This successful approach should enlighten UK and immigrant Africans about the dangers of frivolous and unhealthy lifestyles. The success of the workshops was evident in the schools and colleges inviting us for subsequent talks.

References

1. Wimbush, E., Young, I., Robertson, G. Developing effective policy and practice for health promotion in Scotland. Promotion and Education, 2007, 14(4), 228-232.
2. Onya, H. Health promotion in South Africa. Promotion and Education, 2007, 14(4), 233-237.

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