Effectiveness of a School-based Multicomponent Intervention on Children Nutritional Status among Primary School Children in Bangkok, Thailand

Abstract

Childhood obesity has become a major public health issue today. Childhood obesity in Thailand has more than doubled since the 1960s and a recent study reported that overweight and obesity in Thai is the 5th highest in Asia. The present study objective is to evaluate the effectiveness of a multicomponent, school-based intervention on children’s nutritional status. A quasi-experimental design was conducted in two-groups (control and intervention schools) on 453 primary school children. The intervention included education, dietary, physical activity, food-environment, school built-environment, and life skills components. Outcomes were measured at baseline and post-treatment measured after 6 months.The intervention group had significant improvements in healthier practice (+1.5 mean difference, p=0.048) on dietary habits and physical activity, lowered cholesterol levels (-2.43 mean, p=0.019) ), and higher HDH levels (+4.06 p=0.028) as compared to control. A higher reduction of overweight individuals among the intervention group over the intervention period was observed. Physical activity and consumption of vegetable increased while consumption of high-caloric snacks and fasts food decreased in children after the intervention. Childhood overweight and obesity is a serious public health problem based on its increasing rates and the associated health risks. This study indicated that multidisciplinary approach on school-based interventions is likely most effective to prevent children becoming overweight in long term. More research should be conducted on school-based intervention with longer intervention periods with higher sustainability.