The Effect of Health-Based Intervention on Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of First-Grade High School Students

Abstract

Introduction: Students' health of is of great importance because they account for a large part of community. Schools play an important role in the transfer of health information to students. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a health-based intervention on the knowledge, attitude, and practice of high school students in Mehriz city. Methods: In this semi-experimental study with pretest-posttest design, 260 first-grade high school students were studied in Mehriz city in 2016-2017. The data collection tool was five sections of the Global school-based student health survey (GHSH). The questionnaires were completed by students before and three months after the intervention. Data were analyzed by SPSS 20 using z test, t-test, ANOVA, McNemar's test, and chi-squared test. Results: After the intervention, a significant difference was observed between the students' scores in the pre- and post- intervention steps with regard to taking milk and dairy at least twice per day, consuming vegetables, washing hands before eating in school, brushing twice or more daily, exercising for at least 60 minutes per day, and having insufficient sleep at night due to being worried about various issues (P<0.05). The intervention was also effective on the mean (±standard deviation) scores of knowledge about mental health, nutrition, and oral health, as well as mean(±standard deviation) scores of attitudes toward physical activity, oral health, and nutrition (P<0.05). Conclusion: Health interventions can increase health promoting behaviors and enhance knowledge and attitudes in students. Therefore, it is recommended to use interventional programs using available facilities in schools.