COPE Research Proposal Essay

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1. Background information that justified the reason to conduct this study looks at two major public health problems among American adolescents: obesity and mental health disorders. These disorders have an even higher prevalence among Hispanics. Additionally, there is an insufficient amount of research completed that focus on ways to improve the health and mental health among adolescents.
2. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of temporary interventions using a program called Creating Opportunities for Personal Empowerment (COPE) Healthy Lifestyles Thinking, Emotions, Exercise, and Nutrition (TEEN) involving Hispanic teens. This program focuses on mental health, physical health, and healthy lifestyle views and choices.
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The source of the study population is a high school that is largely composed of Hispanic teens (age 14-16). This high school is in an inner city in the southwestern area of the United States. The students had to be registered in one of two classes of a mandatory health course in order to be in the study. The number of participants in the study is 19 out of 32 teens that were enrolled in the two health class sections and received consent from their parents. A randomized controlled pilot study was the study design as this was included in the title of the article. Groups were randomly assigned by flipping a coin, therefore one group was the intervention group in the COPE program and one was the control group. The study is small scale and focuses on an initial intervention in order to determine its effectiveness.
4. The independent variable is the group the students were randomly assigned to: (COPE) or the attention control group. The dependent variable is mental and physical outcomes of the study, therefore the depression and anxiety symptoms as well as the physical health changes. There were no secondary outcomes mentioned in this

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