Effect of Nutritional Self-Management Program on Food Consumption Behavior and Body Weight of Obese Upper-Primary School Children
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Abstract
This quasi-experimental study aimed to determine the effect of nutritional self-management program on food consumption behavior and body weight of obese upper-primary school children. The sample was divided into two group (experimental and
control group). Two schools were purposively selected and thirty three obese children from
each school were recruited through systematic random sampling method. The instruments
used in this study consisted of 4 parts; 1) nutritional self-management program was developed based on the self-management concept of Kanfer & Gaelick-Bays with traffic light diet principle for 8 weeks; 2) handbook with food consumption behavior control pathway; 3) nutritional self-management promotion form; and 4) demographic data and food consumption behavior questionnaires. The instruments were validated by 3 experts.
The reliability of the food consumption behavior questionnaire was tested in 20 children using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient which yielded the value of 0.81. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-square, and t-test.
Results revealed that food consumption behavior posttest mean score in the experimental group was significantly higher than the pretest mean score (t = -3.63, p < 0.01)
and mean body weight posttest was significantly lower than the pretest (t = 2.51, p < 0.05).
When comparing food consumption behavior posttest mean score and mean body weight between experimental and control group, it was found that there was not significantly different (t = 1.96, p > 0.05, t = 0.47, p > 0.05)
Findings indicated that the nutritional self-management program is valuable and applicable to obese school children care to promote proper food consumption behaviors and body weight control. However, the duration of the program should be expanded and exercise self-management should be included to enhance the effectiveness of the program.