Boys and Girls - an interactive web-based series to promote healthy lifestyles among European adolescents

The Boys and Girls project responds to the 2008-2013 second Public Health Programme of the European Union to ”health promotion activities addressing the needs of young people (aged 15-25) who are neither in work nor in education”. In the long-term, the project also addresses the priority area in the EU Public Health Programme "Promote healthier ways of life and reduce major diseases and injuries by tackling health determinants”. The general objective is to carry out and assess the effectiveness of a web-campaign to promote healthy lifestyles for young people aged 15-18 who are neither in work nor in education. Unhealthy lifestyles are widespread among Europe’s young people, particularly those in the project’s target group. These young people often grow up in an unhealthy environment as there is often little or no education from their parents or peers. This group is notoriously difficult to reach with health promoting messages through traditional communications means, they can be rebellious and respond negatively to well intended advice by medical professionals, social workers or from government campaigns. Therefore, communication on their terms and in a language they understand and relate to, can be more effective. To overcome these communication barriers and to sensitize this target group effectively, the project will reach out to them in an environment they trust, in a way that does not push information at them, but rather provides it to them in their own language and on their own terms. Young Europeans from all backgrounds share a similar passion for the internet and the new media. To them, this medium is accessible and democratic, and it overcomes geographical, social, educational and economic boundaries. The project aims to leverage this trend by developing a pilot web series that target young Europeans aged 15-18 neither in work nor in education. The series will be compelling, emotional and relevant and will focus on real life health issues that affect all teenagers but particularly those in this vulnerable target group. The health issues focus on nutrition, alcohol and drug abuse, and sexual health. In this respect, the data of the Eurostat report (1); e.g.19.4% of the Danish young people (age 15-24) are overweight, 49.9% of the Austrian young people (age 15-24) are daily smokers, 16.5% of the Italian young people and young adults (age 15-34) smoke cannabis, 50% of the German adolescents (age 15-16) have been drunk at least once in the last 12 months. Viewers will be able to watch the series anywhere, anytime outside a formal educational environment and regardless of their "social status". Health messages identified by content experts will be ‘tested’ directly with our target audience, both through the Peer Review Group, consisting of a representation of the target group and through directly reaching out to young people through social networking sites. The contributions and experiences from the experts and the peers will help the project to get an in-depth understanding what messages work best with the target group on these health issues. Once finalized (defined and evaluated), these messages will be fed into the drafting and production phase of the series. The work in the project will be underpinned by an integrated communication and dissemination plan that will be carried out during the project period. Activities will include gathering interest for the project and series through social networking sites, in the media, partner and other stakeholder networks. We plan to disseminate the Boys and Girls story as widely as possible. The series will consist of up to 50 short episodes of the Boys and Girls project that will be communicated through the relevant social media and networks. Besides, the project will be evaluated both on effect and on process. The project is expected to increase the awareness of the target group on relevant health issues, encouraging them to change their behaviour and habits in the long term.