ArticleBMC public health2018
Building school-based social capital through 'We Act - Together for Health' - a quasi-experimental study.
Article in BMC public health, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- A systematic review of the use and reporting of evaluation frameworks within evaluations of physical activity interventions.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2020Pooled it
- A Health Promoting School Intervention in 10th Grade ("My Life - I Decide"): Protocol for a Pragmatic Controlled Trial.JMIR research protocols · 2026Trial
- Social cohesion, social capital and mental health: current evidence and future research directions.World psychiatry : official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) · 2026Article
- A Scoping Review of School Connectedness Interventions for Adolescents.The Journal of school health · 2025Article
- Measurement tools used to assess individual health assets among refugee populations: a scoping review.Health promotion international · 2025Article
- Trend of Correlations between Psychological Symptoms and Socioeconomic Inequalities among Italian Adolescents: Cross-Sectional Study from 2006 to 2018 in Tuscany Region.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- The Direct and Indirect Relationships of Environmental, Interpersonal and Personal Factors with High School Students Physical Activity: An Ecological Approach.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Process evaluation of implementation fidelity in a Danish health-promoting school intervention.BMC public health · 2018Article
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSocial capital has been found to be positively associated with various health and well-being outcomes amongst children. Less is known about how social capital may be generated and specifically in relation to children in the school setting. Drawing on the social cohesion approach and the democratic health educational methodology IVAC (Investigation - Vision - Action - Change) the aim of this study was to examine the effect of the Health Promoting School intervention 'We Act - Together for Health' on children's cognitive social capital.
methodA quasi-experimental controlled pre- and post-intervention study design was conducted with 548 participants (mean age 11.7 years). Cognitive social capital was measured as: horizontal social capital (trust and support in pupils); vertical social capital (trust and support in teachers); and a sense of belonging in the school using questions derived from the Health Behaviour in School Children study. A series of multilevel ordinal logistic regression analyses was performed for each outcome to estimate the effect of the intervention.
resultThe analyses showed no overall significant effect from the intervention on horizontal social capital or vertical social capital at the six-month follow-up. A negative effect was found on the sense of belonging in the school. Gender and grade appeared to be important for horizontal social capital, while grade was important for sense of belonging in the school. The results are discussed in relation to We Act's implementation process, our conceptual framework and methodological issues and can be used to direct future research in the field.
conclusionThe study finds that child participation in health education can affect the children's sense of belonging in the school, though without sufficient management support, this may have a negative effect. With low implementation fidelity regarding the Action and Change dimension of the intervention at both the school and class level, and with measurement issues regarding the concept of social capital, more research is needed to establish a firm conclusion on the importance of the children's active participation as a source for cognitive social capital creation in the school setting.
trial registrationhttps://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN85203017.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.