School Connectedness – Strengthening Health and Education Outcomes for Teenagers

In efforts to achieve specific behavioural outcomes, programmes aimed at developing young people’s life skills without a particular context such as a health behaviour or condition are less effective than programmes that overtly focus on applying life skills to specific health choices and behaviours (Kirby et al, 1994). To influence behaviour effectively, skills must be applied to a particular topic, such as a prevalent health issue. Not to be overlooked, however, is the importance of building life skills to equip young people in other aspects of their development as well, such as maintaining positive interpersonal relations with teachers, students, and family members....