Periodic Reporting for period 2 - SEEDS (Science Engagement to Empower Disadvantaged adoleScents)
Reporting period: 2021-10-01 to 2022-12-31
Adolescents from deprived areas have fewer opportunities for out of school activities, informal learning and reduced access to science education, and in general, adolescents seem to have a lack of interest in science. Health is influenced by social determinants, and specifically, deprivation and lower access to health information, have major consequences in terms of chronic diseases. Scientific literacy can be promoted through enhancing health education and it is important to change unhealthy habits as early as possible; self-leadership and active methods would be key ingredients. SEEDS aimed to improve the lifestyles of adolescents from deprived areas considering STEM education by implementing an extreme citizen science (CS) project, created, led and disseminated by adolescents to their peers and relevant stakeholders.
SEEDS objectives:
- To improve scientific engagement and healthy lifestyles in adolescents from low-income neighborhoods by pairing scientific excellence with social awareness through participatory-research interventions.
- To empower adolescents from deprived areas by immersing them in the scientific process, to better understand how they behave, understand, and interact with science and their motives to do so.
- To train a new generation of scientists in the importance of co-creation and dialogue between science and society.
- To provide evidence on the needs of adolescents from deprived neighborhoods to improve their interest in STEM careers and to translate it into policy recommendations and educational tools tailored to this group.
SEEDS objectives:
- To improve scientific engagement and healthy lifestyles in adolescents from low-income neighborhoods by pairing scientific excellence with social awareness through participatory-research interventions.
- To empower adolescents from deprived areas by immersing them in the scientific process, to better understand how they behave, understand, and interact with science and their motives to do so.
- To train a new generation of scientists in the importance of co-creation and dialogue between science and society.
- To provide evidence on the needs of adolescents from deprived neighborhoods to improve their interest in STEM careers and to translate it into policy recommendations and educational tools tailored to this group.
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). 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.
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). 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.
We are now able to describe the science interest of adolescents from disadvantaged neighborhoods, and also, their lifestyles and behavior determinants, separately by gender. This project plans to evaluate the relationship between science interest and lifestyles of adolescents and elucidate if the adolescents with better lifestyles are more interested in science.
More CS interventions have to be implemented considering disadvantaged adolescents to be capable of improving their lifestyles. In this way, the evidence of this type of interventions will grow, and it will be possible to analyze if CS is a recommended methodology to tackle lifestyles of vulnerable adolescents.
The expected results are to spread the methodology for implementing CS projects in high-schools, and to have a new effective methodology to be used by teachers to tackle some lifestyles aspects of adolescents detected in their high-schools.
One of the potential impacts of the project, is to transmit the idea to adolescents that their voice is important to deal with problems that concern them. And consequently, a paradigm shift will take place in high-schools where teachers will involve adolescents when solving aspects of their life. Engagement will benefit from its wide-scope applicability in the everyday life of adolescents, social acceptance towards health research, and long-term impact of self-management and self-care in health outcomes. In the aspect of socio-economic impact, this project brings a characterization of adolescents from deprived areas, usually a part of the society not much studied. SEEDS has the potential to improve the careers of involved participants, as well as their job market integration, long-term capacity building, and training opportunities
More CS interventions have to be implemented considering disadvantaged adolescents to be capable of improving their lifestyles. In this way, the evidence of this type of interventions will grow, and it will be possible to analyze if CS is a recommended methodology to tackle lifestyles of vulnerable adolescents.
The expected results are to spread the methodology for implementing CS projects in high-schools, and to have a new effective methodology to be used by teachers to tackle some lifestyles aspects of adolescents detected in their high-schools.
One of the potential impacts of the project, is to transmit the idea to adolescents that their voice is important to deal with problems that concern them. And consequently, a paradigm shift will take place in high-schools where teachers will involve adolescents when solving aspects of their life. Engagement will benefit from its wide-scope applicability in the everyday life of adolescents, social acceptance towards health research, and long-term impact of self-management and self-care in health outcomes. In the aspect of socio-economic impact, this project brings a characterization of adolescents from deprived areas, usually a part of the society not much studied. SEEDS has the potential to improve the careers of involved participants, as well as their job market integration, long-term capacity building, and training opportunities