This paper discusses finding from two midterm evaluations (2012/2013) of a health promotion intervention project aiming at involving socially disadvantaged young people in health and increasing their sense of coherence and empowerment through a unique pedagogical method.

The project takes place in eight institutions in the Municipality of Copenhagen and in the neighborhoods/communities of the institutions, where young people with immense social challenges live for a longer or shorter period. The young people have heavy social problems and some of them are in danger of being imprisoned because of criminal behavior. An aim of the intervention is to show the young people that they possess unknown competences and resources which in return will give them a new and more positive image of themselves leading to better health and competences to handle challenges of everyday life.

The pedagogical method uses physical activities combined with an approach to the young people based on voluntariness, patience, flexibility, motivation and hope/confidence. The intervention project allocates a personal trainer to each of the young people. The personal trainer motivates the young people and trains with them when they are ready for training. The primary activities are all kinds of physical activities but can also be leisure activities (music, help with homework or handwork). The principal of the pedagogical method is that all activities take a starting point in the specific activities the young people themselves decide to participate in and in a pace and rhythm determined by the young people. The project contains 46 personal, volunteer trainers who all together have been training/working with 615 young people in the period April, 2011 till December, 2013.

Theoretical/analytical framework and questions in the research:
The analytical framework of the evaluation is inspired by theories of social constructivism/narratives (Gergen, 200), the theory of salutogenesis (Antonovsky, 2000) and theory of social competences (Persson, 2003).

• What new narratives/stories can the young people tell about themselves because of their participation in the intervention project? A narrative is defined as a unit of meaning which frames our experiences. It is through narratives that we interpret our experiences and it is through narratives that we understand ourselves.
• In which ways does the intervention project help develop meaningfulness, comprehensibility and manageability in everyday life of the young people participating in the project? Theory of salutogenesis consists of the three components: Meaningfulness: a belief that things in life are interesting and a source of satisfaction, and that there is good reason or purpose to care about what happens. Comprehensibility: a sense that you can understand events in your life and reasonably predict what will happen in the future. Manageability: a belief that you have the skills or ability, the support, or the resources necessary to take care of things, and that things are manageable and within your control.
• How does the intervention affect the social competences of the young people? Which new social competences do the young people develop and how are these competences visual in the social interaction with other people? How do the young people solve conflicts and build new social relations? How do they handle the relations between themselves, the others and society? 

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