The Impact of an Intervention Taught by Trained Teachers on Childhood Overweight

Rafaela Rosário, Bruno Oliveira, Ana Araújo, Oscar Lopes, Patrícia Padrão, André Moreira, Vítor Teixeira, Renata Barros, Beatriz Pereira and Pedro Moreira
Additional contact information
Rafaela Rosário: School of Nursing, University of Minho, Largo do Paço, 4704-553 Braga, Portugal
Bruno Oliveira: Faculty of Nutrition and Food Sciences, University of Porto, Rua Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
Ana Araújo: Research Centre in Child Studies, School of Education, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal
Oscar Lopes: Sports’Medical Center, Tempo Livre, Alameda Cidade de Lisboa, Creixomil, 4835-037 Guimarães, Portugal
Patrícia Padrão: Faculty of Nutrition and Food Sciences, University of Porto, Rua Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
André Moreira: Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, Al. Prof. Hernâni Monteiro, 4200-319 Porto, Portugal
Vítor Teixeira: Faculty of Nutrition and Food Sciences, University of Porto, Rua Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
Renata Barros: Faculty of Nutrition and Food Sciences, University of Porto, Rua Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
Beatriz Pereira: Research Centre in Child Studies, School of Education, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal
Pedro Moreira: Faculty of Nutrition and Food Sciences, University of Porto, Rua Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal

IJERPH, 2012, vol. 9, issue 4, 1-13

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of a six-months’ nutrition program, delivered and taught by classroom teachers with in-service nutrition training, on the prevention of overweight and obesity among children in grades 1 to 4. In this randomized trial, four hundred and sixty four children from seven elementary schools were allocated to a nutrition educational program delivered by their own teachers. Intervened teachers had 12 sessions of three hours each with the researchers throughout six months, according to the topics nutrition and healthy eating, the importance of drinking water and healthy cooking activities. After each session, teachers were encouraged to develop activities in class focused on the learned topics. Sociodemographic, anthropometric, dietary, and physical activity assessments were performed at baseline and at the end of the intervention. In the intervention group the increase in Body Mass Index (BMI) z-score was significantly lower than in the control group ( p = 0.009); fewer proportion of children became overweight in the intervened group compared with the control (5.6% vs. 18.4%; p = 0.037). Our study provides further support to decrease the overweight epidemic, involving classroom teachers in a training program and making them dedicated interventionists.

Keywords: BMI z-score; children; obesity; overweight; trained teachers; health promotion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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