The effect of implementation of health promotion program in school to control risk factors for obesity in adolescents

• Main Authors: Arman Azadi, Monireh Anoosheh, Fatemeh Alhani, Ebrahim Hajizadeh
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bushehr University of Medical Sciences 2009-02-01
• Series: Iranian South Medical Journal
• Subjects: health promotion program; health; obesity; adolescent; school
• Online Access: http://ismj.bpums.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-3-144&slc_lang=en&sid=1

Background: Obesity in children and adolescents is a significant health problem that requires comprehensive prevention and intervention efforts. The present study was carried out to assess the effect of implementation of health promotion program in school on control of risk factor for obesity in obese adolescents and those at risk of obesity. Methods: This quasi-experimental study was carried out involving two groups (case and control) in 1385 in Tehran. Two boys’ secondary schools were selected randomly from secondary schools of 6th region of Education Ministry in Tehran. Body weight and height of the students were measured and body mass indexes (BMI) were calculated. They were divided into two case and control groups, each containing 35 students. The case group consisted overweight and at risk for overweight students (Overweight and at risk for overweight were defined as ≥ 85th and ≥ 95th percentile of age-sex-specific CDC 2000 BMI values, respectively). The tools for data collection included electronic scale, stadiometer, demographic questionnaires of adolescents and parents, Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ), nutritional knowledge and a questionnaire for recording physical activity and watching TV in one week. They were distributed to be filled out by students before and one month after the intervention. The interventional program was done in four months included separate educational sessions for teachers, parents and adolescents and changes in school environment. Results: There was no significant differences between the adolescents’ mean Body Mass Index (BMI) in two group after intervention (P>0.05). There was a significant difference between mean nutritional knowledge score in the case group before and after the intervention (P=0.0015). We found significant differences between the mean of intake of dairy products, salty snack, sweets, carbonated beverages and fast food in the case group after and before the intervention (P=0.001, P=0.006, P=0.034, P=0.001 respectively), but there was no significant difference between the intake mean of these food products in the control group after and before the intervention (P>0.05). There were significant differences between the mean time of vigorous physical activity in one week and TV watching in the case group after and before the intervention (P=0.04, P=0.001 respectively) whereas there is no significant differences between mean time of these activities in control group (P>0.05). Conclusion: This research showed that although there were no significant differences between the students’ mean BMI between the two groups after intervention but implementation of this program to control risk factors for obesity regarding dietary pattern and physical activity was successful. Therefore, it is recommended to investigate the effectiveness of such interventions over time in further studies.