School of Nursing, University of Minho, Largo do Paço, 4704-553 Braga, Portugal.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2012 Apr;9(4):1355-67. doi: 10.3390/ijerph9041355. Epub 2012 Apr 16.
The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of a six-months' nutrition program, delivered and taught by classroom teachers with in-service nutrition training, on the prevention of overweight and obesity among children in grades 1 to 4. In this randomized trial, four hundred and sixty four children from seven elementary schools were allocated to a nutrition educational program delivered by their own teachers. Intervened teachers had 12 sessions of three hours each with the researchers throughout six months, according to the topics nutrition and healthy eating, the importance of drinking water and healthy cooking activities. After each session, teachers were encouraged to develop activities in class focused on the learned topics. Sociodemographic, anthropometric, dietary, and physical activity assessments were performed at baseline and at the end of the intervention. In the intervention group the increase in Body Mass Index (BMI) z-score was significantly lower than in the control group (p = 0.009); fewer proportion of children became overweight in the intervened group compared with the control (5.6% vs. 18.4%; p = 0.037). Our study provides further support to decrease the overweight epidemic, involving classroom teachers in a training program and making them dedicated interventionists.
本研究旨在评估一项为期六个月的营养计划的效果，该计划由接受在职营养培训的班主任来实施和教授，以预防 1 至 4 年级儿童超重和肥胖。在这项随机试验中，来自七所小学的 464 名儿童被分配到由他们自己的老师提供的营养教育计划中。干预组的教师在六个月内与研究人员进行了 12 次 3 小时的课程，内容涉及营养和健康饮食、饮用水的重要性和健康烹饪活动等主题。每次课程结束后，教师都被鼓励在课堂上开展与所学主题相关的活动。在基线和干预结束时进行了社会人口统计学、人体测量学、饮食和身体活动评估。在干预组中，体重指数（BMI）z 评分的增加明显低于对照组（p = 0.009）；与对照组相比，干预组中体重超重的儿童比例较低（5.6%比 18.4%；p = 0.037）。我们的研究进一步支持了通过培训班主任并让他们成为专门的干预者来减少超重流行的方法。
