Intervention On The Health Behavior In Primary Students In Yanji City

Objectives:Assess current health behaviors of primary school pupils; evaluate the changes in students'health knowledge and behaviors after educational intervention.Methods:This study is quasi-experimental in nature, in which 747 pupils of the fifth grade from two primary schools in Yanji City were picked up randomly to participate voluntarily as subjects. The measure of convenience sampling was adopted and the pupils were randomly divided into experiment group and reference group. The education concerning health behaviors and knowledge was conducted to the experiment group; while none of the intervention measures were taken to the reference group. A questionnaire survey designed by the experimenter on the health-related behaviors of primary school pupils was conducted as research tool. And pre-intervention assessment and post-intervention evaluation were made. To process and analyze data, SPSS for Windows 13.0 was used.Results:(1) Among the 747 subjects,372 are in the experiment group and 375 in reference group. The subjects'general demographic features and life styles differ among groups with different sexes, self-assessed health levels and happiness levels; the differences are statistically insignificant among other groups. The subjects'behaviors concerning safety and danger-elusion differ among groups with different educational levels of the subjects'fathers; the differences are statistically insignificant among other groups.The differences among all subjects in terms of mental health and disease prevention are statistically insignificant. The subjects'behaviors concerning puberty health care differ among groups with different sexes, family conditions, levels of education of the subjects'mothers; the differences are statistically insignificant among other groups.There are no noticeable differences in demographic features between experiment group and reference group. Before intervention, the subjects'knowledge concerning life style, and disease prevention barely reached a passing grade. Though the grades for safety and danger-elusion are fairly high, the grades for puberty health care are below passing. Before intervention, the contrast between the grades of the experiment group and reference group concerning the knowledge about health is statistically insignificant; before intervention the contrast between the health-related behaviors of the two groups is statistically insignificant.(2) The experiment results reveal that after intervention the levels of health-related knowledge of the experiment group have risen. The differences of health-related knowledge of the experiment group before and after intervention are statistically significant. The differences, before and after intervention, between experiment group and reference group, in terms of knowledge concerning safety, danger-elusion, disease prevention and puberty health care, are statistically significant. While in terms of life styles, the differences are not.(3) The experiment results reveal that after intervention the scores of the health behaviors of the experiment group have risen, but not with a big margin. The differences, before and after intervention, in behaviors concerning life styles and disease prevention of the experiment group are statistically significant; while the differences in behaviors concerning safety, danger-elusion, mental health and puberty health care are not.After intervention the contrast between experiment group and reference group in terms of behaviors concerning mental health is statistically significant; while the contrast in terms of behaviors concerning life styles, safety and danger-elusion, disease prevention and puberty health care is not.Conclusion:pupils comparatively lack of health-related knowledge. After the health behavior intervention, the level of health knowledge has risen and the health education has fully worked. The small-margin rise in the levels of pupils'health behavior after intervention suggests that the changes in health behaviors take a long course of time. To improve primary school students'health behaviors, continuous and lasting health education is necessary. Therefore, the courses on health education should be made conventional in school curriculum so that long-term and systematic improvement in students'health is guaranteed.