Science Engagement to Empower Disadvantaged adoleScents (SEEDS Project)
Condition: Healthy Lifestyle
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      SEEDS is a multicenter 24-month citizen science (CS) cluster randomized controlled study,
      with interventions conducted in four European countries acting as pilot sites: 1) Greece, 2)
      The Netherlands, 3) Spain and 4) The United Kingdom. This project will merge CS and
      traditional approaches and will target high schools located in deprived neighborhoods.

      The methodology, that combines CS and traditional science, could build effective cooperation
      between science and society to empower adolescents from low-income environments to adopt
      healthy lifestyles to prevent obesity, increase their interest in science and improve their
      critical thinking.
    

Detailed description: 
      SEEDS is a multicenter 24-month citizen science (CS) cluster randomized controlled study,
      with interventions conducted in four European countries acting as pilot sites: 1) Greece, 2)
      The Netherlands, 3) Spain and 4) The United Kingdom. This project will merge CS and
      traditional approaches and will target high schools located in deprived neighborhoods.

      The methodology, that combines CS and traditional science, could build effective cooperation
      between science and society to empower adolescents from low-income environments to adopt
      healthy lifestyles to prevent obesity, increase their interest in science and improve their
      critical thinking.

      The aim is to engage teenagers on this citizen science project to collaborate in all phases
      of the study: problem definition, data collection, analyses and dissemination. This will
      empower them to change habits, thereby contributing to behavioural changes. This
      cluster-randomized control trial involves intervention and control high-schools from deprived
      areas in the Netherlands, England, Greece and Spain. Teenagers with leadership skills from
      intervention schools (called ambassadors) and stakeholders will participate in focus groups
      to gain insights on the barriers and facilitators for healthy lifestyles of teenagers, and
      how science could help address these. Building on the information of the focus groups,
      ambassadors, stakeholders and other peers will participate in a collaborative competition
      event where the SEEDS intervention(s) will be designed. The intervention(s) will be
      implemented at intervention high-schools. Outcomes in health behaviours and science literacy
      will be assessed by validated questionnaires at the start and end of the project.
    

Intervention name(s): Intervention Group
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Teenagers with leadership skills from intervention schools (called ambassadors) and stakeholders will participate in focus groups to gain insights on the barriers and facilitators for healthy lifestyles of teenagers, and how science could help address these. Building on the information of the focus groups, ambassadors, stakeholders and other peers will participate in a collaborative competition event where the SEEDS intervention(s) will be designed. The intervention(s) will be implemented at intervention high-schools during 6 months. Outcomes in health behaviours and science literacy will be assessed by validated questionnaires at the start and end of the project.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Intervention model description: High schools located in deprived areas will be randomized to the intervention group (IG) which will receive the whole citizen science intervention of the SEEDS project, or the controls group (CG) which will not receive any kind of intervention. As the high-schools will be the unit of randomization, this study is a cluster-randomized.
Masking: Single (Outcomes Assessor)
Primary purpose: Prevention
Keywords: Healthy Lifestyle; Science Interest; Adolescents; Deprived; Citizen Science