1824 - Evaluating the Impact of Teen Lifestyle Medicine: A Lifestyle Medicine Program for High School Students

Objectives: Adolescents face increasing rates of preventable chronic conditions, highlighting the need for early interventions that promote healthy behaviors. This study evaluated the impact of Teen Lifestyle Medicine on high school students’ lifestyle behaviors, level of knowledge, and sense of empowerment to make healthy decisions.

Design: During the 2024-2025 school year, students at three high schools created Teen Lifestyle Medicine, a peer-led initiative designed to promote healthy behaviors through school-based lifestyle medicine clubs. The students collaborated to design and lead club activities focused on fostering knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy in health-related decision making. Club members completed a survey at the beginning and end of the academic year that included a modified Lifestyle Medicine Assessment assessing self-reported lifestyle behaviors as well as novel questions examining knowledge of lifestyle medicine and perceived empowerment to make healthy decisions. Pre- and post-intervention scores were compared using unpaired t-tests to evaluate changes over time.

Results: 74 students completed the baseline fall survey, and 44 students completed the follow-up spring survey. There were significant differences in students’ self-rated understanding of lifestyle medicine and most lifestyle medicine pillars, including movement and exercise, healthful nutrition, restorative sleep, stress management, social engagement, and cognitive enhancement (p< 0.05). There were also significant differences in students’ self-rated sense of empowerment to make decisions about healthful nutrition, restorative sleep, stress management, social engagement, and cognitive enhancement (p< 0.05) between the fall and spring surveys. Although overall lifestyle medicine survey scores of healthy behaviors improved, the difference was not significant (p=0.11).

Conclusions: While students’ self-rated understanding of lifestyle medicine and sense of empowerment to make decisions about most lifestyle medicine pillars improved, the change in overall Lifestyle Medicine Assessment of healthy behaviors did not reach significance. Future work can include changes to the program to address this gap and expanding Teen Lifestyle Medicine to other high schools.