Health inequalities emerge during childhood, shaped by both structural and behavioural determinants, often leading to long-term disadvantages in global health. Schools represent a strategic setting for early and equitable health promotion interventions. This study aimed to assess the impact of the second year of Explo’Santé, a school-based health education programme designed to enhance life skills (LS), among 5th grade pupils. This cohort study, embedded within the Explo’Santé interventional research protocol, involved 604 fifth-grade pupils from 43 French primary schools across six districts. A 10-session health education programme, “My day-to-day health in my environment,” was delivered by teachers and French League Against Cancer prevention officers, combining theoretical input with interactive activities. Differences in LS, self-efficacy (SE), life satisfaction (LSa), and health literacy (HL) scores between pre- and post-intervention were assessed using validated French scales. Data were analysed in RStudio using linear mixed-effects models to account for hierarchical structure of the data assessed score variation across time and interactions with gender and district. LSa declined significantly post-intervention (p = 0.04), particularly in school-related LSa (–2.47, p = 0.04). No significant results were observed for LS, SE or HL. No significant gender × time effects were found, though girls had higher baseline LS (p < 0.001) and SE in French (p < 0.001), but significantly lower in Maths SE (p = 0.01) and self-love (p = 0.01). Notable district disparities were also observed, as well as variations at school- and class-level. These results underscore the challenges of achieving short-term impact from limited-duration programmes. Thus, to fully assess effectiveness, future research should incorporate longitudinal, mixed-method designs capable of capturing delayed and context-dependent changes.
Salque et al. (Fri,) studied this question.