The awareness and consciousness of young students about the threat of risk factors of development of non-infectious diseases – modern status of the problem

The purpose of this study was to analyze students' awareness and con­sciousness about the threat to health of risk factors for the development of chronic non-infectious diseases, to determine whether they have the skills of a healthy lifestyle and to develop and scientifically substantiate the Algorithm for introducing health-saving educational technologies in the educational process of higher educational institutions of Ukraine. A sociological survey was conducted among students of higher educational institutions of Ukraine regarding the levels of awareness and consciousness about certain factors in the development of non-infectious diseases. 430 students of the Kiev National University of Trade and Economics and 216 students of Sumy State Pedagogical University were interviewed. A specially designed questionnaire was used. A high level of awareness of students about the main factors in the development of non-infectious diseases – poor nutrition, low physical activity, smoking and alcohol abuse has been established. At the same time, students are not sufficiently conscious about the risk of developing diseases and are unsufficiently motivated to a healthy lifestyle. It is shown a significant difference in indicators of healthy lifestyle among students of institutions of various profile. The Algorithm for the introduction of a health-saving educational technologies into the educational process of higher educational institutions, which is a scientifically substantiated system containing the main tasks, principles and measures aimed at raising the level of awareness and consciousness of young students about the health threat of risk factors for the development of chronic non- infectious diseases has been developed. The data obtained are the basis for the improvement of measures for the prevention of non-infectious diseases among students in Ukraine.