Background
Methods
Description of the programme
Setting and participants
Total sample | |
---|---|
Sociodemographic characteristics | n = 36 |
Mean age, years (SD) | 6.3 (0.3) |
Sex % (n) | |
Girl | 63.9 (23) |
Boy | 36.1 (13) |
Weight statusa % (n) | |
Underweight | 5.6 (2) |
Normalweight | 66.7 (24) |
Overweight | 16.7 (6) |
Obesity | 11.0 (4) |
Parental level of educationb % (n) | |
High | 69.4 (25) |
Low | 25.0 (9) |
Missing | 5.6 (2) |
Parental country of birthc % (n) | |
Sweden/Nordic | 44.4 (16) |
Europe | 2.8 (1) |
Outside Europe | 47.2 (17) |
Missing | 5.6 (2) |
Data collection
Ethics approval and consent to participate
Data analysis
Results
Categories | |||
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Time available to work on intervention activities | Others’ interest | Abilities and interests in intervention activities | Practicing the concept of health |
Subcategories
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Subcategories
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B: Lack of time B: Being absent B: Frustrating to wait F: Getting more time |
Support and help
B: Lack of support and help F: Received support and help F: Pedagogical support at the children's level | B: Activity or topic boring B: Activity or topic difficult F: Activity or topic fun F: Activity or topic easy |
Aids for learning
F: Use of symbols for recognition of the health message F: Involvement in practical assignments F: Use of material that facilitates learning and discussion |
Enthusiasm
B: Helpers negative B: Helpers show no enthusiasm F: Helpers positive F: Helpers show enthusiasm |
Opportunities to apply knowledge in everyday life
F: Practicing knowledge at home F: Relating knowledge to health behaviours of people in one’s surrounding F: Knowledge produces certainty in own health behaviour |
Time available to work on intervention activities
C1: Yes it’s because I had a doctor’s appointment and missed everything [the lesson]. Then I went back to school and only got to cut three sodas…That was no fun [to only get to do a small part of the lesson]. (FG 2).
[Recognizing the workbook] C1: Yes..can we finish?..Can we finish working in them? [looking through the workbook]. C2: I still have [the assignment] sleep and rest left to do. C3: Can we finish this one today? [the workbook]. (FG 5).
Others’ interest
Support and help
C1: Nobody. [helped me]. C2: Mom. C3: Yes on the first page it was… C4: Yes on the first page..and with the football…[I was helped by]…my big sister… C3: I don’t even have siblings. C5: Nobody. C6: Mom.… C2: Mom. C3: Nobody…I did all [the assignments] myself. (FG 2).
C1, C2, C3: Easy [to understand what the keyhole was]. C3: First it was difficult, you did not understand, but then when [the teachers] told us it became easy… (FG 1).
Enthusiasm
C1: Mom thought it was hard…C2: and my mom…C3: and my dad…C4: My dad didn’t think it was hard…C5: and my brother…and my dad helped me […] they thought it was good… C4: My mom thought…she was a little tired… she wanted to lie down. [C3 was asked] C3: Mom. C3: [my mother thought it was] fun…she wasn’t tired. (FG 7).
C1: Maybe …well, was fun. Because, once when we talked about that, [the teacher] smiles when she talks sometimes […] mm, yes [many children]. C2: She did this [showing a smile] C3: They looked happy. I thought they looked. they were like…they thought it was good. (FG 3).
Abilities and interests in intervention activities
C1:…and the candy bag was easy [discussing different activities]. The keyhole was easy…the plate model was in the middle... And then the heart was hard. […] C2: I haven’t done the heart [the assignment]. C3:.it was difficult to draw and then cut out… (FG 5).
Practicing the concept of health
Aids for learning
[Recognizing the Keyhole] Yessss! [many children]. C1: Keyhole. C2: I can’t remember what it’s called, I remember what it looks like though. C3: It’s … it’s like...I think it’s some food marking or something. C4:.. that it is healthy. Like… that these are the things that are healthy, like for example many things […]. C5: I was going to say another thing...that we should remember that […]. [Recognizing the plate model] C5: Like, it is… I do not remember if we talked about it although I know that, like, how much vegetables and fruits you eat every day and then there are also some things.. like, this is the kind of food that is good to eat… (FG 3).
C1: I remember talking about that it is good to move and not good to sit and have the Ipad all the time. […] The plate model. […] Ahh, we drew what we ate…uh we sat and talked, and we drew what we ate in the workbook. C2: That you become healthy by healthy stuff, yes. C1: We also talked about that you should eat fruits and vegetables every day. […] C3: If you eat too much candy you can get…have holes in your teeth. C1:.and teeth may fall off. […] C1: that it sounded very loud [listening to the heart] C2: and the pulse sounded. […] Good. [many children, how it felt]. C1: That you can feel the pulse on the neck, on the wrist and on the arm … [C4 shows how to take the pulse on the neck] C1: I did it at home [took the pulse]. C2: And [the teacher] said we could try a movement activity, so we danced and then we felt it pounding. (FG 1).
Opportunities to apply knowledge in everyday life
C1: Mm. That like...that [the teacher] said like this…that you can eat candy like on Saturdays, but you should not eat like… today, on Tuesday I eat a bag of candy and on Monday I eat like…because sometimes...the children from fifth grade, sometimes like… they usually buy at ICA [a supermarket] and eat at school. They can buy a big bag of maybe [chocolate] every day… […] C2: That my cousin, she eats sweets every day and she never brushes her teeth… she does not brush her teeth or anything and she is six years… and because she eats sweets [so often] so she went to the dentist and pulled out her teeth and now she has two black teeth. (FG 3).
C1: Thumbs up [lessons about healthy eating] because you felt like, you felt like good because you like…now I know...now I can say to my mom that I don’t want to eat that much because I...then I will feel bad…because then you know like…how much you should eat. (FG 3).
Discussion
Challenging to involve all parents
The packaging and delivery of health information is important
Strengths and limitations
Implications for practice
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Children should be given adequate time to finish intervention activities and assignments.
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The engagement of parents and teachers should be facilitated by e.g. integration of the intervention components in the school-structure as much as possible to enhance the teacher’s possibility to give enough time and involve the parents. This could be achieved by setting up rules and expectations concerning homework assignments.
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The deliverers of information should be encouraged to tailor the lessons and the different activities to be able to reach children with different interests and abilities. Further the importance of communication through body language and being positive should be emphasized.
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The inclusion of practical activities, home assignments and the use of symbols in the material are recommended in health promotion interventions.