Background and aims There is an urgent need to address the role of healthy diet and
behaviors promoting health among school adolescents in order to tailor appropriate
interventions in Jordanian schools. This study aims to evaluate the reliability and validity of
the Arabic version of Students As LifeStyle Activists (SALSA) survey alongside Jordanian
adolescents' attitudes and perceived barriers to healthy eating and physical activity.
Methods This study uses baseline data from a randomized controlled trial recruiting school …

Results: The Arabic version-SALSA survey has acceptable Cronbach's alpha values (> 0.78)
for most of its scales. Five scales were derived from the Arabic version-SALSA survey using
principal components analysis/factor analysis (factors loading above 0.3). A higher
proportion of female students agreed that “healthy food makes you more comfortable”
compared to male students (44% vs 36%, P< 0.05). Few Jordanian high school students
held positive attitudes toward healthy food. This study identified both social and personal …