IMPACT OF A BRIEF EDUCATIONAL INTERVENTION ABOUT NUTRITION AND HEALTHY LIFESTYLES TO SCHOOL STUDENTS GIVEN BY A HEALTHCARE PROVIDER

Introduction: Obesity is an important health concern worldwide. Spain has one of the highest pediatric obesity rates among European countries, and they are increasing, which mandates the development of innovative strategies aimed at reverting this trend and decreasing the health problems related to obesity and the considerable waste of resources foreseen for the upcoming years. Objectives: To determine if an educational intervention from a health professional would yield an additional benefit in the acquisition of knowledge on nutrition. A second objective was to determine the prevalence of weight excess as well as the lifestyle habits in a sample of school students. Material and methods: Analytical, interventional, random, longitudinal, pilot study in a sample of 107 students aged 9-15 years. The weight, height, adherence to the Mediterranean diet, level of physical activity and sedentarism, and knowledge on feeding and healthy lifestyles were estimated through a questionnaire. In an intervention group (54 students) a short educational intervention was carried out by a health professional. Two months later, the knowledge on diet and lifestyle habits was reassessed in all the students. Results: After the educational intervention, the students in the intervention group had better knowledge regarding feeding and healthy lifestyles than the control students, and this difference was statistically significant. Conclusions: the additional educational activities on healthy lifestyles within the scholar program given by a health professional may represent an additional benefit to the strategies aimed at decreasing pediatric obesity in our setting.