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The Smartphone-Assisted Intervention Improved Perception of Nutritional Status among Middle School Students.

ABSTRACT: Misperception of nutritional status is common and hinders the progress of childhood obesity prevention. This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of a smartphone-assisted intervention to improve student and parental perception of students' nutritional status (underweight, normal weight, overweight, obese). We conducted a parallel-group controlled trial with a non-randomized design in three junior middle schools of Beijing, China in 2019. One school was allocated to the intervention group and two schools to the control group. A total of 573 students (aged 13.1 ± 0.4 years) participated in the trial. The 3-month intervention included three components: health education sessions for students and parents, regular monitoring of students' weight, and the provision of feedback via a smartphone application. Schools in the control group continued their usual practice. Primary outcomes included the student and parental accurate perception of students' nutritional status. The percentage of students' accurate perception of their own nutritional status in the intervention group increased from 49.0% to 59.2% from baseline to three months, whereas it decreased from 64.1% to 58.1% in the control group; the adjusted odds ratio (OR) between the two groups was 1.71 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.13, 2.59). The intervention did not significantly improve parental perception of students' nutritional status (p > 0.05). The study findings provided a brief approach for improving perception of nutritional status among middle school students.

SUBMITTER: Shen YH

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7459995 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The Smartphone-Assisted Intervention Improved Perception of Nutritional Status among Middle School Students.

Shen Yan-Hui YH Liu Zheng Z Li Wen-Hao WH Zhou Shuang S Xu Jin-Hui JH Jiang Chu C Wang Hai-Jun HJ

International journal of environmental research and public health 20200815 16

Misperception of nutritional status is common and hinders the progress of childhood obesity prevention. This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of a smartphone-assisted intervention to improve student and parental perception of students' nutritional status (underweight, normal weight, overweight, obese). We conducted a parallel-group controlled trial with a non-randomized design in three junior middle schools of Beijing, China in 2019. One school was allocated to the intervention group and ...[more]

PMID: 32824190

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Project description:Background Schools play an important role in providing access to physical activity opportunities for children. There are common economic and gender disparities in physical activity and health-related fitness among children, which may inform a school’s programming needs. The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding about gender, school-level socioeconomic status, and children’s cardiorespiratory fitness. Methods This observational study used 2017–2018 school year data from schools in the Dallas Metropolitan area participating in the Healthy Zone School (HZS) program. Three data sources were integrated: 1) FitnessGram® data, 2) school-level data from the Texas Education Agency, and 3) HZS survey data. Being in the Healthy Fitness Zone (HFZ) for aerobic capacity was the dependent variable, and gender and the percentage of economically disadvantaged students (at the school-level) were key independent variables. Mixed-effects logistic regression models examined associations between dependent and independent variables. Final models were adjusted for age and type of aerobic test. Results There were 67 schools and 15,052 students included in the analysis. When testing main effects, girls had lower odds for being in the HFZ for aerobic capacity than boys (OR?=?0.54, CI?=?0.47–0.62). Additionally, having a greater percentage of students who were economically disadvantaged was associated with lower odds for being in the HFZ for aerobic capacity (0.98, CI?=?0.98–0.99). There was a significant interaction between gender and the percentage of economically disadvantaged students. Results indicated girls had even lower odds (than boys) for being in the HFZ in schools with 90% economically disadvantaged students (OR?=?0.44, CI?=?0.35–0.55) versus in schools with 15% economically disadvantage students (OR?=?0.62, CI?=?0.51–0.76). Conclusions Results suggest girls in Healthy Zone Schools have lower odds to meet aerobic capacity fitness standards than boys. Additionally, boys and girls in schools serving a greater percentage of economically disadvantaged students have lower odds to meet aerobic capacity fitness standards. Last, girls have even lower odds of meeting HFZ standard when attending a school serving a greater percentage of economically disadvantaged students. Thus, schools need to provide more programs for girls targeting aerobic physical activity. This is especially important for schools serving a high percentage of low-income students.

Project description:Kentucky experiences the highest overall cancer incidence and mortality rates in the USA with the greatest burden in the eastern, Appalachian region of the state. Cancer disparities in Kentucky are driven in part by poor health behaviors, poverty, lack of health care access, low education levels, and low health literacy. Individuals with inadequate health literacy are less likely to participate in preventive measures such as obtaining screenings and making healthy lifestyle choices, thus increasing their chances of developing and dying from cancer. By increasing cancer literacy among youth and adults, it may be possible to decrease cancer disparities across Kentucky. This study aimed to establish connections with middle and high schools in Kentucky that would facilitate pilot implementation of a brief cancer education intervention and assessment of cancer health literacy among these student populations. A baseline pretest cancer literacy survey consisting of 10 items was given to 349 participants, followed by the delivery of a cancer education presentation. Immediately following the presentation, participants were given a posttest with identical items to the pretest. Participants were primarily Caucasian (89.4%), female (68.7%), and in 10th through 12th grade (80.5%). Significant (p < 0.0001) increases in both average and median percent of correctly marked items were observed between the pretest and posttest (average, pretest = 56% versus posttest = 85%; median, pretest = 60% versus posttest = 90%). The scores for all individual items increased after the brief intervention. The results demonstrated a significant increase in cancer literacy levels immediately after the pilot educational intervention. We suggest that it may be possible to improve cancer literacy rates in Kentucky by integrating cancer education into middle and high school science and/or health education curricula. This could ultimately drive changes in behaviors that may help lower cancer incidence and mortality rates. Plans for future interventional studies measuring long-term cancer knowledge retention and resultant behavioral changes among middle and high school students as well as the feasibility of integrating cancer education into middle and high school curricula are also discussed.

Project description:ObjectivesAlthough cancer is seen in every state in the United States, it does not affect every geographic area and population equally. Kentucky has the highest cancer incidence and mortality rates in the country, with an unusually high number of cases localized in its Appalachian region. Risk factors such as sun exposure, tobacco use, poor diet/exercise, poverty, and lack of access to healthcare centers contribute to this disparity. Because education levels in the area are low, cancer literacy (defined as how well a person can understand the advice of a healthcare professional and make appropriate lifestyle decisions) also is low. In this study, we examined the short-term and long-term effects of a brief cancer-related intervention on the cancer literacy of Kentucky middle and high school students.MethodsThis study targeted middle and high school students in Kentucky. We administered an online 10-item cancer literacy pretest, followed by a brief educational intervention and a posttest to 164 students at six Kentucky middle and high schools. This posttest also included questions asking how likely students would be to change their habits or to encourage others to change their habits as a result of the intervention. All of the participating students also were sent a 3-month follow-up online survey with items identical to the pretest; 48 students completed the 3-month follow-up test, leading to a response rate of 29.2%. The data were summarized as frequencies, averages, median, and confidence intervals (CIs) of correctly marked answers. A paired t test was used to test for significance.ResultsWe observed an increase in the overall average test score from 50.2% (95% CI 47.8%-52.6%) on the pretest to 77.1% (95% CI 74.6%-79.7%) on the posttest immediately following the intervention. There also was an increase in the average number of correct responses on each item. The 3-month follow-up test similarly showed average test score improvement (75.4%). When asked how likely students would be to change their habits as a result of the intervention on a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = extremely unlikely, 10 = extremely likely), the median was 6. When asked how likely students would be to encourage another to change their habits, the median was an 8.ConclusionsThese results provide evidence that a brief educational intervention can increase cancer literacy, improve cancer knowledge retention, and encourage behavior change in Appalachian Kentucky students. Increasing cancer literacy may result in increased participation in preventive cancer screenings and improved health habits, which could ultimately lower cancer rates in the region.

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The Smartphone-Assisted Intervention Improved Perception of Nutritional Status among Middle School Students.

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The Smartphone-Assisted Intervention Improved Perception of Nutritional Status among Middle School Students.

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