The effect of implementation of health promotion program in school to control risk factors for obesity in adolescent

Background & objective: Obesity in children and adolescents is a significant health problem that requires comprehensive prevention and intervention efforts. Present study was carried out to assess the effect of implementation of health promotion program in school on control of risk factor for obesity. Methods: This study is a quasi-experimental research in two groups (case and control) carried out in 1385 in Tehran. Two boy’s secondary schools were selected randomly from secondary schools of 6th region of education and training organization in Tehran. Body weight and height of students were measured and body mass indexes (BMI) were calculated. samples were composed of two groups of 35 of overweight and at risk for overweight as case and control(Overweight and at risk for overweight were defined as ≥ 85th and ≥ 95th percentile of age-sex-specific CDC 2000 BMI values, respectively). Tools for data collection including electronic scale, stadiometer, demographic questionnaires of adolescents and parents, Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ), nutritional knowledge and a questionnaire for recording physical activity & watching TV in one week that were distributed to fill out by students before and 1 month after intervention. Interventional program that lasted four months includes educational program for teachers, parents and adolescents and changes in school environment. Data were analyzed using paired and independent T-test. Finding: The results showed that there is no significant differences between samples mean Body Mass Index (BMI) in two groups after intervention (P>0.05). There is significant differences between mean nutritional knowledge score in case group after intervention in comparison with before intervention (P=0.0015). There are significant differences between mean consumption of dairy group, salty snack, sweet and carbonated beverages and fast food in case group after intervention in comparison with before intervention (P=0.001, P=0.006, P=0.034, P=0.001 respectively) but there is no significant differences between mean consumption of this food in control group after intervention in comparison with before intervention (P>0.05). T-test showed that there is significant differences between mean time of vigorous physical activity in one week and TV viewing in case group after intervention in comparison with before intervention (P=0.04, P=0.001 respectively) whereas there is no significant differences between mean time of these activities in control group (P>0.05). Conclusion: according to the results, this research showed that although there is no significant differences between samples mean BMI in two groups after intervention but implementation of this program to control risk factors for obesity regarding to dietary pattern and physical activity was successful. Therefore it is recommended that the effectiveness of such interventions should be considered over time.