Effects of a program to promote healthy lifestyle with motivational interviewing in high school adolescents.

This study evaluated the effect of a program to promote healthy lifestyle in adolescents, comparing two experimental conditions: one with psychoeducation sessions and another with psychoeducation sessions plus motivational interviewing, on mindful eating, self-efficacy for physical exercise, beliefs towards healthy behaviors, emotional regulation and symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress. Through a quasi-experimental design, 142 high school students participated. The intervention consisted of six weekly sessions. In the psychoeducation condition, an introduction to the topic and a pre-evaluation were carried out, while in the motivational interviewing condition, motivational interview questionnaires were applied followed by psychoeducational sessions. The results showed that the motivational interviewing group had better averages in self-efficacy for physical exercise and mindful eating, with a large effect size. However, the low statistical power suggests that the results are not generalizable. Limitations such as interruption of sessions and dropout of participants could have influenced the results. It’s suggested that future studies consider the influence of other variables on the results.