Knowledge, attitude and reported practice of primary school teachers on specified school health activities in Danuphyu Township, Ayeyarwaddy Region, Myanmar

Abstract

Schools are important settings for comprehensive health promotion. School exerts the most influence on the lives of children and youth. Schools can play a key role in supporting students' health and, by extension, the health of their families and communities. This school-based cross sectional descriptive study was conducted in Danuphyu Township from June to November, 2012. This study aimed to identify the levels of knowledge, attitude and practice of primary school teachers concerning four school health activities: comprehensive school health education; healthy school environments; prevention and control of communicable diseases; and nutritional promotion and food safety. The sample consisted of 97 teachers from 23 primary schools were randomly selected to participate in the study. A pre-tested structured questionnaire was used as a data collection tool. It was found that 62.9% of teachers achieved a high level of knowledge scores (mean knowledge score of 39.10 with SD 3.087); 57.7% had a positive attitude towards school health activities; 52.6% of teachers achieved high reported practice scores (with mean practice score of 66.07 and SD 4.17); teachers from urban areas, over 50 years of age, and with service duration of 20-24 years, are statistically significantly associated with higher levels of reported practice; teachers with high knowledge and positive attitude scores achieved higher reported practice scores, but these associations are not statistically significant. Overall, over 50% of the teachers had a high knowledge, a positive attitude and high practice scores relating to school health activities, and this shows that favorable conditions exist at the schools among the teachers for further strengthening the school health program of Myanmar. Enhancing teachers' involvement in school health activities would establish good outcomes of the school health promotion program. Provision of continuous training of teachers in school health would further enhance knowledge of teachers, and would gradually inculcate positive attitudes among them. This would lead towards more involvement of teachers in school health activities. Health is closely interlinked to education. Good health and good education are not only ends in themselves, but also means which provide individuals with the tools to lead productive and satisfying lives. It is commonly believed that a child's ability to attain her or his full potential is directly related to the complimentary effect of good health, good nutrition, physical activity and quality education. Keywords:1 To attain educational achievements, children must fully participate in educational activities. 1Children and youth are recognized as a priority population. The national development depends on the academic success and optimal health and well-being of its children and youth. Schools are important settings for comprehensive health promotion. The school exerts the most influence on the lives of children and youth. Schools can play a key role in supporting students' health and, by...

Knowledge, attitude and practices of secondary school teachers regarding school health services in children

“…Htun et al reported that there were 46.4% teachers with an experience of >14 years, 9.3% teachers with experience of 15-9 years, 15.5% teachers with experience of 20-24 years and 28.9% teachers with >25 years experience. 1 These study reports although; they do not correlate with our study, were reported for teachers of Myanmar.…”

“…Schools exert maximum influence on the lives of children and youth; and can play a key role in supporting students' health and, by extension, the health of their families and communities. 1 Children spend most of their time with their teachers during school years. It is recommended to have the knowledge and skills to reach their future goals and nurture hidden potentials during this period.…”

Status of knowledge regarding school health services among school teachers: a cross sectional study from a northern Indian state

“…A similar trend but a higher proportion of females teachers was observed by Htun et al (91.8%), and Saadia et al (69.3%) that most of the participants in that study were females. 5 Contrarily Abubakar et al has reported that the majority of the participants were males (79.3%) in his study area. 9,10 We observed that mean age of participants was 41.…”

“…As the proportion of schools located in rural area was more in the study area, we observed that majority of the participants were from rural schools (58%), similarly a study by Htun et al found that most of the teachers were from rural schools (69.1%). 5 A higher proportion of private schools were observed to be more in a rural area, may be because of cheaper land in areas located outside the municipality limit. In our study, female participants (54%) outnumbered the male participants (38%).…”

“…But according to the studies, school teachers are ill-equipped with adequate knowledge regarding school health and without adequate knowledge, it is impossible to take care of the health promotion of students. [5][6][7] As per available literature, there is a scarcity of data regarding the knowledge among school teachers regarding school health services. So this study was conducted to assess the status of knowledge of school health services among designated school teachers.…”