Effects of Psychological Inoculation Versus Health Education on Physical Activity: Two Randomized Controlled Studies

Can school health education improve students' physical exercise time? Empirical research based on CEPS (2014-2015) survey data

Purpose

School health education is an effective strategy for cultivating adolescent physical exercise habits by transmitting healthy knowledge; it helps to form healthy behaviours and encourages students to participate in physical exercise. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between school health education and student participation in physical exercise.

Methods

CEPS (China Education Penal Survey, 2014-2015) survey data were used to empirically analyse the impact of school health education on the time that students spend on physical exercise and the underlying mechanism of influence.

Results

The results showed that receiving a school health education increased the time that students spent on physical exercise. 1) Compared with receiving health education in only primary school or secondary school, receiving health education in both primary and secondary school had a greater impact on students spending time on physical exercise. 2) Receiving a school health education improved the time that students spend on physical exercise by improving students' health perception and their sports interests. 3) Receiving a school health education had a more obvious impact on the physical exercise time of male students, nonrural resident students, and students from multi-child households. These findings can provide a reference for the seasonable settings of health education curriculum in schools.

Effects of a computerized psychological inoculation intervention on condom use tendencies in sub Saharan and Caucasian students: two feasibility trials

Objective: An effective method for preventing the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is condom use. Yet, research shows limited effects of education on increasing condom use. This research examined the effects of psychological inoculation (PI) versus education on condom use -barriers and -tendencies, using a fully automatized online system. Design: Two randomized controlled trials. In Study 1, 59 Sub-Saharan students were included while Study 2 20 European students were included. In both studies, participants were randomly assigned to PI or control conditions. In Study 2, we additionally matched pairs on gender and condom barriers. In the PI, participants received challenging sentences they had to refute. Main outcome measures: An indirect condom use test (I-CUTE) and a condom use barriers questionnaire, assessed at baseline and a month later. Results: In Study 1, a significant increase in I-CUTE scores and no change in barriers was found in the PI condition. Controls did not change on either outcome. In Study 2, two sub-scales of condom barriers (concerning partner and satisfaction) were significantly decreased in the PI group, while in controls, barriers significantly increased over time. In both groups, I-CUTE scores tended to increase. Conclusions: These results replicate previous studies and extend them to a fully automatized system without counselors.