Unhealthy lifestyle behaviours are common among vocational students and
increase their risk of non-communicable diseases later in life. Unfortunately, only a limited
number of school-based healthy lifestyle interventions have been developed for vocational
students. Moreover, there is no evidence that these interventions are effective. They have
often been developed by professionals without involving students and therefore may not
align with the target group’s perceptions and needs. We used a participatory design
approach to develop an intervention to promote healthy physical activity and dietary
behaviours, in co-creation with vocational students. ‘Contextmapping’ was used to assess
student conscious and subconscious motivation for a healthy lifestyle (n = 27, ages 17-26
years). All sessions and interviews were recorded and transcribed. The transcripts were
analysed using framework analysis. Contextual characteristics that influenced student lives
were their peers, family and short-term motives like earning money, being cool and looking
good. In addition, they often had a passive attitude towards daily life, were unaware of their
health illiteracy and being healthy was a goal for the distant future. These findings led to
four design concepts that converged in a peer-led healthy lifestyle intervention that includes
a social media campaign and activities to demonstrate and practice specific health
behaviours among vocational students.