Summer Youth Employment Programs for Health Promotion

The purpose of this proof-of-concept study is to assess the initial signal of effectiveness of summer youth employment programs (SYEP) on understudied obesity-related outcomes in adolescents. This small-scale study is essential to identify early success and refine the intervention before scaling to a larger, more resource-intensive randomized trial. Specifically, this one-group pre-posttest study will: Aim 1 (Primary): Evaluate if a 6-week SYEP provides an initial signal for effectiveness (maintenance or decrease in zBMI) over the summer. Hypothesis 1: Adolescents who participated in a SYEP will maintain or decrease their BMI over the summer. Aim 2 (Secondary): Evaluate changes in obesogenic behaviors (physical activity, sleep, sedentary, and diet) over the summer. Hypothesis 2: Adolescents who participated in a SYEP will increase physical activity, reduce sedentary behavior, and improve sleep and diet quality over the summer. Aim 3 (Secondary): Evaluate the feasibility of SYEP for obesity prevention intervention to inform intervention scalability. Hypothesis 3: The SYEP program will be a feasible and acceptable intervention strategy for the prevention of obesity in adolescents over the summer.