Effectiveness of a Program for Promoting Physical Activity to Prevent Obesity among Grade 4-6 Students in Northern Thailand

Inadequate physical activity among school children can lead to overweight and obesity. This two-group pretest-posttest quasi-experimental study proposed to assess the effectiveness of a program for promoting physical activity to prevent obesity among grade 4-6 students in Pho Prathap Chang District, Phichit Province, northern Thailand. A total of 120 samples were students studying in grade 4-6 selected using systematic random sampling. The subjects were classified into 2 groups, the intervention group and the control group. Each group consisted of 60 subjects. Data were obtained using a questionnaire. The questionnaire was tested using KR20 for knowledge and Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the attitude and their reliabilities were 0.87 and 0.83, respectively. Data were analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, chi-square test, t-test, and McNemar test. The results indicated that after intervention, the intervention group had significantly higher mean scores of knowledge and attitude before intervention (p<0.001). The body mass index (BMI) of the intervention group decrease significantly (p=0.001) and proportion of adequate physical activity increased significantly (p<0.001). However, there was no significantly difference of knowledge, attitude, BMI, and physically activity in the control group. The program for promoting physical activity to prevent obesity among 4-6 students is effective in the intervention group. Therefore, the related institution should employ this program in the targeted students to promote physical activity.