DAGIS – Increased Health and Wellbeing in Children, Families and Educational Settings

DAGIS is a consortium study focusing on health and wellbeing in early childhood education and school children in Finland. 

The DAGIS project is especially interested in following children’s health behaviours, including fruit and vegetable intake, intake of sugar-sweetened (everyday) foods and drinks, physical activity, sedentary behaviour, screen time, sleep, and wellbeing and investigating how they are associated with socioeconomic status background. The DAGIS project has investigated the preschool as a setting for health promotion to improve health behaviours and decrease socioeconomic differences among children for these behaviours.

The DAGIS project started in 2014. A needs assessment, including a cross-sectional survey of over 800 children and parents across eight municipalities in Finland, was carried out in 2015–2016 (responsible researcher Reetta Lehto). The DAGIS survey study collected data on health behaviours , weight and wellbeing in Finnish 3–6-year-old preschool children, alongside data on home and preschool environment. Survey findings were used to design an intervention program, which was carried out in 2017–2018 as a randomised controlled trial in preschools across two Finnish municipalities: Salo and Riihimäki (responsible researcher Carola Ray). The intervention aimed to improve children’s health behaviours and self-regulation skills and to decrease socioeconomic differences in health behaviours.

Data collection for the DAGIS project continued in 2023 by following up participants in the DAGIS Survey study, and the study investigates  the relationship between circadian rhythms, eating, sleeping, and adiposity among the now 11–14-year-old adolescents (responsible researcher Reetta Lehto). The relationship between early childhood diet and allergies and asthma will also be investigated in the same study.

The participants in the DAGIS intervention (2017–2018) were followed up in the autumn 2023 and spring 2024. All primary schools in the Salo municipality took part in the follow-up study DAGIS Salo (responsible researcher Carola Ray). The aim of the DAGIS Salo follow-up study is to identify past and present environmental and individual factors related to health behaviours, wellbeing, weight, and learning among schoolchildren.

The DAGIS consortiumalso is led by prof Eva Roos and the other parts are University of Helsinki, led by prof Maijaliisa Erkkola and University of Eastern Finland, led by prof Nina Sajaniemi.