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Teen LifeCheck

Latest News

NHS LifeCheck Stakeholder Website

HE PA PSHE EHWB

October 2009

The national NHS LifeCheck stakeholder website is now live... Read more ›

NHS Teen LifeCheck - A Report

HE PA PSHE EHWB

October 2009

On the 26th and 27th July there was a Teen LifeCheck stand near the Oasis eating area Meadowhall. Read more ›

Teen LifeCheck in Sheffield

Planning and preparation

Here in Sheffield we took a proactive approach to the launch of the Teen LifeCheck Programme and were keen to get it off the ground as early as possible after the information from the Department of Health was provided. The programme here has been co-ordinated by me, Julie Roberts and my colleague Amy Plant. We are both Health Improvement Practitioners with Sheffield PCT and have taken on the co-ordination of the programme as part of our roles.

Working together we decided to take a universal approach to the promotion of the programme and felt that we would reach the majority of young people through schools. However, we did not want to exclude those young people that were not attending school, for whatever reason, and looked at the organisations that provide services for these young people. We felt that the more often young people were exposed to the message about Teen LifeCheck the more likely they were to access the website and complete the quiz. With this in mind we used our experience of working with children and young people to as many organisations as we could that work with young people.

The Launch of Teen LifeCheck

The first wave of the launch was 4 half-day briefings across Sheffield to which all secondary schools (including independent schools) and other organisations that work with young people were invited. These took place in January 2009. The briefings were very well received by the people that attended and we had a coverage of 22 (out of 27) secondary schools, 3 independent schools, KS3 and KS4 inclusion units, 2 special schools, and 17 other organisations (including Action for Children, Young Carers, Hospital and Home Education Service).

The briefings were used to inform the Life Check Coordinators about the programme, give them an opportunity to try out the website and work their way through the quiz and to tell them about the materials that would be produced to promote the programme in their school/organisation. We also used this as an opportunity to receive feedback on what Life Check Coordinators thought about the website/quiz and this was in turn fed back to the DH.

Each school was given the following promotional materials: 250 credit cards, 5 tri-fold leaflets for professionals, 4 A4 posters, 3 laminated A3 posters and 100 memory sticks. Schools were given £50 to pay for the cover of each person that attended a briefing and £500 to spend on the promotion of Teen LifeCheck in any way that they felt was appropriate for their school. Ideas for this were given during the briefings. Organisations other than schools were able to apply for money to promote the programme.

Additional to the briefings, IT managers in all secondary schools we contacted, informed about the programme, told who the person responsible for Teen LifeCheck in their school was and sign-posted to a Teen LifeCheck computer background on the Sheffield Healthy Schools website. The idea was that this could be used as the background on all computers in the school for a period of 2 weeks to bring the programme to the attention of young people.

A4 posters were sent the Marketing Manager at the Central Library so that they could be distributed to all public libraries in Sheffield.

Examples of the way that different organisations have promoted the programme in Sheffield. Manor and Castle Development Trust arranged a Health Day at a local Youth Centre. This proved to be very successful with 400 young people completing the quiz, receiving a memory stick, and being able to use the Wii Fit that was purchased. The school nurse at the City School in Sheffield organised a Health Day for all Y8 pupils with everyone having the opportunity to complete the Teen LifeCheck Quiz. Young people then completed a postcard with comments about the quiz. These comments have been used to produce a promotional DVD with the young people as the stars. A copy of the DVD will be sent to all schools in Sheffield to be used as the second wave of promotion in September.

Further developments in Teen LifeCheck

The Teen LifeCheck road show that took place at the Meadowhall Shopping Centre on the 26th and 27th August was the icing on the cake for Teen LifeCheck in Sheffield. Many of the young people that came up to the Teen LifeCheck stand had already heard about the programme and some had already completed the quiz. Young people were keen to take part in the games on the Nintendo Wii that were part of the competition to win 2 consoles and games.

Teen LifeCheck co-ordinators have been informed about developments in the programme with the use of 2 newsletters.

The promotion of Teen LifeCheck will continue and will also be evaluated in the Autumn Term.

Quotes

"I feel that Teen LifeCheck is a good way for young people to start to examine and take control of their health. It encourages them to access sources of help locally and has already shown that young people are approaching Teen LifeCheck coordinators and other adults in schools and other settings for support."
Julie Roberts
"Teen LifeCheck is a good tool for starting conversations around health."
Amy Plant