Towards gender-sensitive health promotion strategies: Understanding the barriers and enablers of health promoting attitudes and behaviors among secondary school students in Abu Dhabi - EHESP - École des hautes études en santé publique Access content directly
Conference Poster Year : 2012

Towards gender-sensitive health promotion strategies: Understanding the barriers and enablers of health promoting attitudes and behaviors among secondary school students in Abu Dhabi

Abstract

The present study seeks to explore the environmental, psychosocial and gender-specific needs of Emirati students as it concerns their capacity to adopt health promoting attitudes and behaviors. Methods: Using a cross-sectional mixed-methods design, the health behaviors and gender-specific needs of Grade 12 secondary school students in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi (N=152) were assessed with a Student Health Promotion Questionnaire (SHPQ) and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), as well as, through FGDs with school staff (N=75). Probabilistic models were created to analyze the factors explaining students’ adoption of healthy eating (HE) and physically active (PA) behaviors using polytomous and binary logistic regressions. FGDs were analyzed using the framework analysis approach and were then used to create systemic maps explaining gender-sensitive health behavior adoption processes. Results: In adjusted analysis, HE behavior adoption was explained by age (OR: 0.35; 95% CI: 0.18-0.70), healthy eating scores (OR: 8.37; 95% CI: 2.23-31.50), intention to maintain weight (OR: 12.43; 95% CI: 2.26-68.35) and selfperceived ability to manage problems (OR: 3.92; 95% CI: 1.47-10.50). In turn, PA behavior adoption was explained by intention to gain (OR: 8.72; 95%CI: 1.53-49.56) and maintain weight (OR: 4.98; 95% CI: 1.04-23.78), annual weighting and measuring (OR: 4.77; 95% CI: 1.18-19.25) and self-perceived opportunity to participate in extracurricular school activities (OR: 5.63; 95% CI: 1.88-16.85). FGDs revealed relevant gender differences in (1) attitudes towards health and health promotion, (2) health beliefs and behaviors, (3) health issues and concerns, and (4) barriers and enablers of behavior adoption. Conclusion: This study provides evidence of behavior adoption correlates among adolescent Emirati students and reveals significant gender differences in healthy eating, physical activity and health protective factors. The results highlight the need for culturally appropriate, gender-responsive and evidence-based school health promotion interventions targeting the environmental and psychosocial needs of Emirati students.
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hal-04586700 , version 1 (24-05-2024)

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Lucia Fiestas Navarrete, Eric Breton, Carine Platat, Bassam Aysar. Towards gender-sensitive health promotion strategies: Understanding the barriers and enablers of health promoting attitudes and behaviors among secondary school students in Abu Dhabi. Conférence européenne de santé publique - 5th European Public Health Conference "All Inclusive Public Health", Nov 2012, St. Julians, Malta. Unpublished, 2012, ⟨10.13140/RG.2.2.25895.96165⟩. ⟨hal-04586700⟩
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