Youth and Healthy Lifestyle Promotion Skills

Why this module matters: Health information does not change health behaviour. If it did, nobody who knew smoking causes cancer would smoke. Module 1 builds the theoretical foundation for health promotion that actually works, behaviour change frameworks, the social determinants of youth health, and an honest assessment of what the evidence says about effective approaches.

• The information-action gap: why knowing what is healthy does not produce healthy behaviour
• Health promotion frameworks: Ottawa Charter, assets-based approaches, social ecological model
• Behaviour change models: Health Belief Model, Stages of Change, Social Cognitive Theory, what they mean for your practice
• Social determinants of youth health: poverty, gender, culture, access to services, digital environment
• Youth health priorities across the Gulf, Africa and Asia: the specific health challenges requiring the most urgent attention in each context
• Workshop: participants map the health promotion approach currently used in their programme against the behaviour change evidence base

Why this module matters: Physical health promotion with young people in GCC, African and Asian contexts requires specific adaptation, the obesity challenge in Gulf cities requires different approaches than food insecurity in African rural contexts, and both require approaches that are culturally grounded and practically achievable for the young people involved.

• Nutrition and diet: the obesity challenge in GCC urban contexts; food insecurity and malnutrition in African contexts; the specific nutritional challenges of South and Southeast Asian youth populations
• Designing nutrition education that is practical, culturally grounded and non-shaming
• Physical activity: barriers for young people across different cultural contexts, including restrictions on female physical activity in some GCC and African settings
• Practical physical activity promotion approaches for contexts with limited facilities and resources
• Sleep: the underestimated health priority, prevalence of sleep deprivation among adolescents and evidence-based approaches to addressing it
• Activity design: participants design a physical health promotion session for their specific target group

Why this module matters: Mental health is the health topic youth workers most need to address and most often avoid. Module 3 gives practitioners the confidence, cultural sensitivity and practical skills to open mental health conversations with young people, reduce stigma in their groups, support young people who are struggling, and know when and how to refer.

• Youth mental health across the Gulf, Africa and Asia: prevalence, trends, and the specific forms mental health challenges take in each context
• Stigma: how it operates in GCC, African and Asian communities, and culturally grounded approaches to reducing it
• Opening safe conversations about mental health with young people: specific approaches, language and facilitation techniques
• Common mental health presentations in young people: anxiety, depression, trauma responses, social withdrawal, what to look for
• Supporting young people who are struggling: what you can do and where the limits of your role are
• Responding to disclosures of self-harm or suicidal thinking: what to say, what not to say, what to do next
• Making mental health referrals: who to refer to, how to do it, what to do when professional services are absent or stigmatised

Why this module matters: These are the health topics most often excluded from youth programmes, precisely because they are the ones where discomfort, cultural sensitivity and lack of practitioner confidence cause the most avoidance. Module 4 addresses both topics with the cultural intelligence and practical grounding to make them accessible for practitioners in GCC, African and Asian contexts.

• Sexual and reproductive health: why it matters for youth workers even when it is not your primary focus
• Navigating cultural and religious sensitivities: this is not the same conversation in Riyadh, Nairobi and Jakarta, we address each context specifically
• Age-appropriate approaches to sexual health information for young people
• Gender-based violence: recognising it, responding to it, making referrals
• Early and forced marriage: prevalence, impact and how youth workers can respond in different cultural and legal contexts
• Substance use across the Gulf, Africa and Asia: tobacco and shisha in GCC; khat in East Africa; cannabis in West Africa; prescription drug misuse; digital addiction across all regions
• Harm reduction approaches and their applicability in different cultural contexts
• Talking to young people about substance use without shame or defensiveness: specific conversational approaches

Why this module matters: Peer health educators reach young people more effectively than adult practitioners for most health topics. Engaging young men requires specific approaches. And knowing whether your health promotion is working requires evaluation that measures behaviour change, not just attendance. Module 5 covers all three.

• Why peer health education outperforms adult-led health promotion for most young audiences
• Selecting, training and supporting peer health educators: the design principles for effective peer programmes
• Engaging young men in health promotion: the specific challenge and the approaches that work
• Supporting young women's health in contexts of restricted mobility and social control
• Evaluating health promotion with young people: measuring behaviour change, not just session attendance
• Designing a health promotion programme: theory of change, method selection, content planning, evaluation
• Personal action plan: the specific health promotion changes each participant will make in the 30 days after this course