Our starting hypothesis was that children between the ages of 6 and 17 and their parents who are exposed to the "Do it for You!" campaign maintained or reinforced their knowledge, attitudes, intentions and practices regarding healthy eating habits and regular physical activity.
We believe it is relevant to examine the significance of this campaign and to evaluate its impacts on the school population, including both students and their parents. Many lifestyle habits are established during childhood. The Do it for You! program targeted schools in its programming and included various school-based interventions. Some of the promotional campaign's messages were also aimed at children and parents, with the goal of encouraging improvements to the lifestyle habits of the family as a whole.
The family is a central focus for actions that foster the adoption of healthy lifestyle habits.
Our project's primary objective was to study the potential effects of Do it for You!, a program to promote healthy lifestyle habits implemented by the Québec government in 2004, on the eating and exercise habits of school-age children (6 to 17) and their parents. A second objective was to analyze how school-age children and their families appropriated the messages promoting healthy lifestyle habits and the ways in which they shared them with those close to them (friends and family), using quantitative and qualitative data.
Contrary to media reports at the time, primary school students and, to a lesser extent, secondary school students and their parents had a favourable perception of the campaign's messages. It also appears that the family is a central focus for actions that foster the adoption of healthy lifestyle habits.
Main researcher: François Trudeau, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières
Original title: Le programme « Vas-y, fais-le pour toi! » : les impacts chez de jeunes Québécois de la Mauricie et leurs parents
