This document summarizes a pilot program that used media branding to promote healthy behaviors among students. The program targeted two middle schools in Israel in 2013. It aimed to increase knowledge, influence behaviors, and change attitudes around exercise, water consumption, and eating habits. The program recruited student "young leaders" to lead change efforts and engaged all students in physical activity and healthy eating events that were filmed and shared on TV and social media. Evaluations found the program was successful in changing behaviors, like increased physical activity, among the young leaders. It also increased knowledge and perceptions of health promotion among other students. The program demonstrated the potential for combining pedagogy and communication tools to influence student health behaviors.

1. Media Branding of Health Behaviors as "Cool":
Evaluation of a School-based Pilot Program
Rachel Wilf-Miron, MD, MPH1, 2 Mira Roskies, MA3, and Ronit Peled, PhD4
1
The Gertner Institute for Epidemiology and Health Policy Research, Tel Aviv, Israel
²The School of Public Health, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel
Aviv, Israel
3
Research, Development and Training Administration, ORT Israel
4
Department of Health Systems Management, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben
Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel
Background:
"Healthy Living at ORT" is a joint venture between ORT educational network and
Ananey Communications, which was established in order to promote healthy
behavior among students. The Media was mobilized to brand healthy behavior as a
desirable product, easy to adopt as a habit. A program review methodology was
used to assess the pilot in two middle schools in 2013.
Goals:
To deepen knowledge, influence behavior and change the students' attitudes about
exercise, drinking water and eating habits.
Methods:
The intervention included providing information and tools for the students who led
the change, routine-breaking and experiential "peak days" to engage the students in
physical activity and/or healthy eating, and filming such activities for broadcast on
TV and the social networks.
Duration of exposing students to the program was about two months.

2. Population Participating in the Program: Young leadership was selected among the
eighth grade class. They were exposed to intensive intervention to implement
change among classmates; Medium intensity intervention - among the rest of the
eighth grade (excluding the young leaders), exposed to the routine-breaking and
experiential "peak days" and the Ninth grade that was not involved in the
intervention and therefore served as a control.
The Variables Evaluated: Knowledge and attitudes concerning healthy behavior;
Perception of the importance of school health promotion; self-reported health
behaviors. Anonymous self-administered questionnaires were passed out and
completed before the program and at the program's end.
Statistical Methods: T-test or Chi Square to test differences between groups.
Statistically significant - P Value <0.05.
Results:
When launching the program the groups were similar in knowledge, perceptions and
behavior. After the intervention, differences were observed in physical activity,
eating habits and drinking water/sweetened drink behaviors, mostly among the
young leadership.
Examining each group separately, before and after the intervention, the young
leadership demonstrated significant changes in most variables, such as an increase
from 59 to 81% in regular physical activity; increase from 39 to 74 % in those who
eat in the morning, and decrease from 57 to 30 % in those who drink sweetened
drinks.
The medium intensity intervention group demonstrated differences in knowledge
and perception of the importance of eating behavior. Both the latter group and the
young leadership demonstrated significant changes in the perception of the school
as a promoter of health. The control group did not demonstrate any significant
change.

3. Six clips were recorded during the "peak days," and have been broadcasted at
school, on the Internet and television. The clips contributed to the branding of the
schools in their communities as health promoters.
Conclusions: The program was successful, in a short time, in producing a change in
health behaviors of young leaders, but not for the other eighth grade members. We
believe that key factors to success were the recruitment of students, "young
leaders" as agents of change among their peer; the creation of links between healthy
behaviors and "fun" during the "peak days". It also seems that pedagogical concepts,
connected with communication tools, have the potential to change health behavior
of students.
We are currently expanding our operations to school teachers, to increase the
impact on students.