Prevalence and Determinants of Obesity and the Impact of an Educational Intervention on Obesity Management Knowledge among Adolescents in Selected Salem Schools

Abstract

A Study was done to assess the prevalence and associated factors of obesity and evaluate the effectiveness of an educational package on knowledge regarding obesity Management among Obese Adolescents in selected Schools, Salem. The subjects were adolescents, who are studying in 8th and 9th standard aged 13 and 14 years. Non Experimental Descriptive Survey and Quasi Experimental Research Design were used for the phase -I & phase-II respectively. During phase-I, based on BMI calculation prevalence of obese adolescents were identified and as30 subjects for experimental and control group. Using rating scale the associated factors of obesity were assessed and closed ended questionnaire was used to assess the knowledge regarding obesity management. The results of phase-I shows that majority 22(73%) of them had moderate risk of obesity. The results of phase II revealsthe estimated ‘t’ value is 13.47 is significantly higher than table value 3.46 at p≤0.001 level. Hence the Educational Interventional Package is significantly effective in gaining adequate knowledge regarding obesity management among obese adolescents in experimental group and control group. Also study results showed there was a significant association between gender and the post-test scores on knowledge regarding obesity management among obese adolescents in experimental group at p≤0.05 level.