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Effects of the Interdisciplinary Topic “Health and Life Skills”

The Norwegian government has decided to include the interdisciplinary topic “Health and Life Skills” in schools all over Norway. What are the consequences of the topic for young people’s lives?

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About the project

The aim of the interdisciplinary topic is to give the pupils competence to promote mental and physical health, and to provide opportunities for making responsible life choices. Our goal is to evaluate whether the topic makes a difference for young people’s lives.

Objectives

Our goal is to examine the extent to which:

  • mental health, quality of life, socioemotional school environment, school performance and attendance improve and fewer young adults drop out from education, employment or training after implementation of the topic

  • the improvements vary between cohorts that receive the topic in 2020/21, 2021/22 and 2022/23

  • improvements in mental health and the socioemotional school environment can partially explain potential improvements in school performance and reduced dropout

  • family and local socioeconomic variations influence the effects of “Health and life skills” on mental health and academic performance

  • the effects of "Health and life skills" are moderated by the timing, quality and scope of implementation

Method

How do we work?

We will use existing data sources, such as school survey data (Ungdata, Elevundersøkelsen, Spørsmål til Skole-Norge), national registry data (Skoleporten, SSB microdata, Norway Control and Payment of Health Reimbursement Database, the Norwegian Prescription Database, The Norwegian Patient Register), and data from longitudinal cohort studies (the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study).

Financing

The project is funded by the DAM Foundation and the Norwegian Research Council from 2021 until 2027.

Published Aug. 30, 2021 3:14 PM - Last modified Apr. 3, 2024 2:59 PM

Participants

Detailed list of participants