TY - JOUR
T1 - Effects of a theory-based education program to prevent overweightness in primary school children
AU - Kocken, Paul L.
AU - Scholten, Anne-Marie
AU - Westhoff, Ellen
AU - De Kok, Brenda P.H.
AU - Taal, Elisabeth M.
AU - Goldbohm, R. Alexandra
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2016/1/4
Y1 - 2016/1/4
N2 - The effectiveness of the “Extra Fit!” (EF!) education program in promoting healthy diet and physical activity to prevent and reduce overweightness among primary school children aged 9 to 11 was evaluated. A randomized controlled design was carried out in 45 primary schools (n = 1112) in the Netherlands, 23 intervention and 22 control schools. The intervention schools received the education program for two successive school years in grades (U.S. system) 4, 5, and 6 (mean 7.6 h during 16 weeks per school per year). The control schools followed their usual curriculum. No positive effects of EF! were found with regard to behavior and anthropometric measures when follow-up measurements were compared to the baseline. However, from baseline to follow-up after one and two school years, the intervention group improved their knowledge score significantly compared to the control group. Moreover, an effect was observed for mean time spent inactively that increased more in the control group than in the intervention group. In conclusion, limited intervention effects were found for the intervention on knowledge and inactivity. To improve the effectiveness of education programs, we advise focusing on parental involvement, attractive lessons to enlarge the acceptability of the program, and multi-component environmental strategies.
AB - The effectiveness of the “Extra Fit!” (EF!) education program in promoting healthy diet and physical activity to prevent and reduce overweightness among primary school children aged 9 to 11 was evaluated. A randomized controlled design was carried out in 45 primary schools (n = 1112) in the Netherlands, 23 intervention and 22 control schools. The intervention schools received the education program for two successive school years in grades (U.S. system) 4, 5, and 6 (mean 7.6 h during 16 weeks per school per year). The control schools followed their usual curriculum. No positive effects of EF! were found with regard to behavior and anthropometric measures when follow-up measurements were compared to the baseline. However, from baseline to follow-up after one and two school years, the intervention group improved their knowledge score significantly compared to the control group. Moreover, an effect was observed for mean time spent inactively that increased more in the control group than in the intervention group. In conclusion, limited intervention effects were found for the intervention on knowledge and inactivity. To improve the effectiveness of education programs, we advise focusing on parental involvement, attractive lessons to enlarge the acceptability of the program, and multi-component environmental strategies.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84953931619
U2 - 10.3390/nu8010012
DO - 10.3390/nu8010012
M3 - Article
C2 - 26742063
AN - SCOPUS:84953931619
SN - 2072-6643
VL - 8
JO - Nutrients
JF - Nutrients
IS - 1
ER -