fit4future

A nationwide prevention initiative in schools and daycare centers

At a glance

Since 2016, the fit4future project, which is supported by DAK-Gesundheit and the fit4future foundation Germany, has been motivating children and young people to adopt a healthy lifestyle. Since then, more than 1.2 million children and young people in 3,100 educational institutions have taken part in the project. A new four-year project period will start in 2022. For the first time, this explicitly aims to enable schools and daycare centers to independently plan and implement health promotion and prevention activities.

Background

The prevalence of physical inactivity and obesity, as well as mental illness and disorders, among children and adolescents remains alarmingly high. For many years, schools and daycare centers have been considered suitable settings for health interventions. Corresponding measures are often aimed at the behavioral level, but the environmental level has so far rarely been focused on. The fit4future project closes this gap and addresses both the behavioral level and the environmental level in the years 2022 - 2026 using a holistic approach by focusing on the autonomy to plan and implement health promotion and prevention activities of up to 2000 daycare centers and schools. This is to be achieved with the help of a variety of measures (e.g. workshops, teaching series, digital materials). An important component of the overall project is the fit4future check, the development and evaluation of which is the responsibility of our working group.

Aims of the fit4future check

The fit4future check is a digital survey that is conducted at the beginning of the implementation of fit4future at the respective institution (school or daycare center). With the help of the survey, the respective previous experiences of the facilities with regard to health-promoting and preventive measures are recorded. In addition, an individual classification of the facility is made on the basis of the health promotion process and the organizational health competence, which provides important information on the areas in which there is further potential for development. The fit4future check is subsequently repeated every six months. This documents progress in the areas of autonomy and organizational health competence over time. As a learning project, the results obtained are used during the project to continuously develop the measures and adapt them to the needs of the target groups.

Time horizon

The development of the fit4future check was initiated with the project start in spring 2022 and is expected to end on July 31, 2026.

Contact

If you are interested in the overall project or the fit4future check, or if you have any further questions, please contact the project team: Prof. Filip Mess, Dr. Christoph Mall, Friederike Butscher, Simon Blaschke & Jan Ellinger