SEEDS project was composed by 5 countries, Germany (DE), Greece (GR), Spain (SP), The Netherlands (NL) and The United Kingdom (UK), although the intervention was only conducted in 4 pilot countries (GR, SP, NL and UK):
1) Recruitment of high schools located in deprived neighbourhoods. They were informed about SEEDS and when they accepted to join, they were randomized as intervention or control (who only answered questionnaires) high schools. After that, parents/guardians and adolescents signed the informed consents. 15-18 ambassadors per country, representative adolescents of the high schools, were selected by teachers (using a specific checklist to evaluate their leadership skills). In total, 25 high schools were involved in SEEDS (6 UK, 4 NL, 7 GR and 8 SP).
2) Focus groups (FG): ambassadors participated in FG to gain insights into the barriers and facilitators of key behaviours related to healthy and active living. Potential stakeholders also participated in FGs to indicate the feasibility of changing those behaviours during the intervention. In total, 8 FGs with 36 adolescents and 6 FGs with 28 stakeholders were conducted and analysed.
3) Assessment of adolescents: a questionnaire was designed to evaluate lifestyles, STEM and science interest in adolescents. This questionnaire was answered by all adolescents at baseline (before makeathons) and at the end of intervention (July 2022).
4) Makeathons: an organized event to facilitate the co-creation of interventions (December 2021). Ambassadors, peers of ambassadors and stakeholders co-created activities with the collaboration of facilitators and researchers. In total, 8 makeathons were conducted, in person or hybrid, if necessary.
5) Intervention: in total, 4 different interventions were implemented from January to July 2022. These interventions were designed by the adolescents in the Makeathons to encourage and empower them in creating change to promote a healthy lifestyle focusing on healthy snacks, physical activity (PA) increase and reducing sedentary behavior inside and outside the high schools.
6) Dissemination: SEEDS project finished celebrating a final event in Belgium (October 2022) where ambassadors and teachers from 4 countries, researchers, and some external advisors met to share their experiences, presented the interventions, took stock of the project and provided recommendations for similar initiatives. Also, two flashcards were created about how to empower teenagers in health issues. SEEDS project was presented in numerous congresses and target audiences. SEEDS created a website (seedsmakeathons.com) a Twitter account (@SMakeathons) and a final video (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdOg3jj_NWQ(opens in new window)). The protocol of SEEDS project was submitted as a scientific paper whereas other publications and dissemination actions are in progress.
Regarding intervention effects, no significant changes were found on PA (days/week) or fruit consumption. However, adolescents from intervention schools showed a significant increased vegetable consumption compared to adolescents from control schools, considered as a really positive result bearing in mind the short time of the intervention. Extensive and more in-depth analysis will be done during upcoming months to elucidate the specific impact of the project, not only in the behaviors, but also in the determinants of these. With regard to STEM interest, there was no significant difference between intervention and control schools according to the question analyzed, but it will be also analyzed in more detail soon. In relation to the Makeathon, as a key part of a CS project, the evaluation questions highlighted positive results for both adolescents and stakeholders in all countries related to enjoyment of the event and their views being taken seriously. although ambassadors mentioned that more time is needed for the co-creation and development of interventions. Also, teachers emphasized the importance of regularity of activities, to involve school leadership and broad collaborations as a need for sustaining change in healthy lifestyle behavior.
