OurFutures are excited to be adding the Health4Life program to our suite of evidence-based, curriculum-aligned online health modules!
The Health4Life Initiative aims to empower young people to improve their physical and mental health, and to prevent the onset of chronic disease in later life. Evidence-based and aligned with the Australian Health and Physical Education (HPE) and NSW PDHPE curriculum, the Health4Life Initiative aims to encourage year 7-8 secondary school students to: eat healthily, stay physically active, adopt healthy sleep habits, limit their sedentary recreational screen time, and remain alcohol, smoke- and vape-free.
The program was co-designed with school students, educators and researchers across Australia. It involves six online lessons delivered weekly during year 7 health education class (students aged 12-13 years). This is an important age for prevention and early intervention, as the onset of mental disorders typically occur during adolescence and unhealthy habits that start at this age, tend to continue into adulthood.
What does Health4Life look like?
The Health4Life program is made up of different components that work together to promote learning:
- Online modules: six 20-minute online cartoon-based modules delivered in PDHPE/HPE class
- Stop & Think activities: interactive exercises delivered within the online modules to encourage students to reflect and think critically
- Self-guided quizzes: interactive online quizzes delivered at the end of each online module to test students’ knowledge
- Additional activities: classroom and homework activities to reinforce key messages and help students to apply knowledge
- Module summaries: graphic summaries for students and teachers of the key information and concepts presented in each module
Health4Life was evaluated via a large trial in >6600 students from 71 schools across NSW, QLD, and WA. Students who completed the Health4Life modules had greater knowledge about risk behaviours (up to 2 years later), improved behavioural intentions, and improved mental health outcomes in the short-term. Feedback from participating students and teachers was positive. For example, 88% of students felt that the skills and information in the program would help them to be healthy and 83% of teachers rated the educational quality of the program positively.
Stay tuned as we add this engaging, innovative program to our website in the coming weeks!
For more information on Health4Life, head here.
The latest published studies on Health4Life can be found here and here.
