Evaluating Behavioral Change Among Grade 8 Youth Following a Global Health Workshop
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Youth growing up in today’s globalized society will experience the impact of global issues more than previous generations. Given the implications for the current generation of youth, educating students to be global citizens should be considered a priority in our society.
METHODS: This pilot study used the Theory of Planned Behaviour, a model previously shown effective in evaluating changes in behaviour and intention in youth, to evaluate the efficacy of a one hour workshop in changing youths’ reading, talking and watching behaviours towards learning about global health.
RESULTS: Data showed that a one-hour workshop changed talking behaviours with an absolute mean difference of 0.50 (95% CI 0.28 -0.72, p-value of <0.001), and watching behaviours with an absolute mean difference of 0.33 (95% CI 0.05-0.60, p-value of 0.02), but not reading behaviours in a sample of female grade 8 students from a Vancouver private school. According to the Theory of Planned Behaviour, changes in behaviour can be attributed to changes in youths’ subjective norm with a mean difference of 1.81 (95% CI 0.73-2.88, and a p-value of 0.001).
CONCLUSION: A one hour interactive workshop changed youths’ subjective norms towards learning about global health issues that they care about which may have led to behavioural changes, specifically watching and talking behaviours.