Title of Proposal:
A Comparative effect of Child-to-Child and Health Educatorto-Child teaching approaches on nutritional status in Elementary School Students in Rasht, 2014
(1) Introduction and objectives:Nutritional problems are one of the most important health issues among school-aged children, and modification of the nutritional status in prepubertal childrenis very important.
General Objective:A Comparative effect of Child-to-Child and Health Educator to-Child teaching approaches on nutritional status in Elementary School Students in Rasht, 2014
Specific objectives:
- Determine child's nutritional performance in control group before and after the intervention
- Determining the child's performance for the nutritional status of the child-to-child group before and afterthe intervention
- Determining the child's performance for the nutritional status of the educator-to-child group before and after the intervention
(2) Designing:This is a cross-sectional and quasi experimental-interventional study. Samples were chosen by random-cluster and simple sampling model
.
(3) Methods: through which 450 students are selected from third, fourth and fifth grades from elementary schools of different districts of Rasht.Data-collection tools consist of demographic questionnaire and FFQ (food frequency questionnaire or checklist) with 54 items onsnacks. Before the intervention, the questionnaire is completed by the researcher and mother during one week and after gathering them, the items of questionnaire (checklist) will be summed upfor determining the favorable and unfavorable food frequency. This means that 54 items of authorized and unauthorized snack-foods with a variety of four main groups of food pyramid have been listed. If each student consumes 28 items of the authorized snack-foods during one week for seven times or more, she/hewill obtain 0.5 points, and if the diversity of snack-foods is not met or the students consume the unauthorized ones, they will obtain point zero. The total score for the authorized snack-foods is 14. According to the score of food frequency, the students are divided intodesirable (favorable) and undesirable (unfavorable) groups using random method. In the first group, the subjects who obtain 14 points or more for the food frequencyhave the favorable frequency which they will not be entered in the educational intervention. In the second group, the subjects who obtain a score less than 14are categorized as unfavorable frequency which they are qualified to enter the educational intervention.
Some of thelittle educators will be selected for each level of studies regarding the highest score in the questionnaire (checklist) and the comments of school masters and principlesin order to recognize the student with a good rhetoric. A training course for the little educators and the health care providers will be held by the researcher (by using pamphlets, booklets and posters) at one of the schools during three sessions. Three training sessions (for 30 minutes) with the subjects about the authorized and unauthorized snack-foods, micronutrient, the role each of them plays and the fruit festival will be held for each level of studiesby the child-to-child and the educator-to-child groups at one of the school in the afternoon. There is no training course for the control group. After three weeks, a questionnaire (observation checklist) is completed by the researcher and mother during one week, which the research and mother's information will be gathered at the end of the week. Finally, the score of the food frequency will be favorably and unfavorably computed according to the determined points.
(4) Inclusion and Exclusion criteria of study participants:
Inclusion criteria: a student at the base of the third, fourth and fifth grade and the consent of the parents.
Exclusion criteria: Other than the above is the exclusion criteria.
(5)Interventions:From 450 students with the unfavorable frequency, 174 students are selected and divided into three groups (58 students for the first group or the child-to-child group, 58 students for the second group of the health educator-to-child group and 58 students for the third group or control group). First and second groups will receive educational intervention but the third or control group will get no teaching intervention.
(6)Primary outcomes:The study group training
Second outcome:Nutritional Status