The effects of a school-based intervention programme on dietary intakes and physical activity among primary-school children in Trinidad and Tobago

Abstract

Objective: Childhood obesity is increasingly being recognized as a major public health problem in the Caribbean. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a short-term, school-based, multi-component education intervention on improving the knowledge, attitudes and behaviour of primary-school children towards better dietary and activity habits. Design: The study was a randomized, controlled, school-based nutrition education and physical activity intervention. Participating schools were randomly assigned to the intervention (IVG) and non-intervention (NIVG) groups. Setting: All primary schools in Sangre Grande, north-east Trinidad. Subjects: Five hundred and seventy-nine pupils in their sixth year of primaryschool education were enrolled from twelve schools in Sangre Grande, north-east Trinidad.Results: Approximately 23 % of participants had BMI $ 85th percentile of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention age-and gender-specific cut-off values. In multivariate regression equations controlling for age, gender, BMI and baseline value, intervention was associated with lower intake levels of fried foods, snack foods high in fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) and sodas (P , 0?05). In similar analyses, intervention was associated with higher knowledge scores (P , 0?01). Intervention was not significantly associated with physical activity and Children's Eating Attitude Test-26 (ChEAT26) scores after controlling for age, gender, BMI and the relevant baseline values. Conclusions: The intervention was associated with lower intake levels of fried foods, HFSS foods, sodas and higher knowledge scores independent of age, gender, BMI, ethnicity and the appropriate baseline value. Finally, the intervention was not associated with changes in physical activity behaviours in multivariate analyses.

Sustainability of a Curriculum-based Intervention on Dietary Behaviours and Physical Activity among Primary School Children in Trinidad and Tobago

“…The PI evaluation of the curriculum with teachers and principals of all the intervention schools suggests that the intervention was successful and non-disruptive to the day-to-day school and curriculum processes and required little additional resources. Moreover, the majority of the students were able to achieve mastery of the modules (28).…”

“…Our methods have been published in detail elsewhere (28). To summarize, a pretested questionnaire and schoolbased curriculum was conducted on the study sample.…”

“…We also collected qualitative data on the intervention from students, teachers and principals. The result of the short-term impact of this intervention has been reported elsewhere (28). We followed a random sample of one hundred students from each of these groups and conducted an evaluation 18 months postintervention (PI).…”

Impact of actions of food and nutrition education program in a population of adolescents

“…The researchers reported a significant impact on students' food knowledge and eating behavior, emphasizing lower intake of high-sodium and high-sugar foods 23,24 .…”

Effect of Lectures by Medical Students on the Awareness of Lifestyle for Elementary School Students

“…Manios et al [10] reported that health education interventions targeting students and their parents, which take place over a three years, influence physical activity and fitness indices. In addition, several studies reported that when interventions were performed for entire schools, changes in lifestyle or weight reduction were observed [11][12][13]. The method of intervention thus requires further investigation.…”