Educational software and improvement of first grade school students’ knowledge about prevention of overweight and obesity

Abstract Background Nowadays, smartphone overuse affects massively teenagers and young adults. From 2014 to 2018 in Italy, for the 11-17 years age group, there has been an increase from 79.9% to 85.8% of daily mobile phone users. This project aims to investigate usage prevalence and misuse/addiction of mobile phones in a representative sample of first-grade secondary school students of the Province of Palermo, Italy, carrying out educational interventions to promote a proper and conscious use of smartphone. Materials and Methods An anonymous, standardized and previously validated pre-intervention questionnaire consisting of 39 items on general socio-demographic characteristics, attitudes and habits regarding smartphone usage, was administered online to 10-15 years old students of the Palermo's Province. Moreover, two additional sets of 11 and 15 items contributed to calculate a Misuse and an Addiction Score, respectively. After administration, educational interventions aimed at promoting the correct and conscious use of the smartphone, were carried out. Results A total of 1600 students belonging to 16 schools, responded to the questionnaire. 93% of the sample had a personal smartphone and 84% had a personal profile on at least one social network. About 15% of the sample experienced cyber bullying episodes and 30% accessed to adult content online (38% of parents didn't set parental control on the devices). Overall, 78.3% of the sample showed a moderate to severe misuse and 38.3% a moderate to severe addiction to mobile phones. Conclusions The uncontrolled and unconscious use of smartphones among adolescents exposes to different health risks including psycho-social and cognitive-relational problems. Results obtained demonstrate high levels of misuse and addiction to mobile devices in a representative sample of students in a developed Country, suggesting the need to implement educational interventions and the development of guidelines to encourage a responsible use of smartphones. Key messages The present study highlights an uncontrolled and unconscious use of mobile phones among 11-15 years old aged students in Southern Italy. The implementation of educational intervention at school and the development of guidelines regulating smartphone usage among adolescents, should represent a future global health priority.

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Body Composition, Psychological, Cardiovascular, and Physical Activity Factors Related with Academic School Performance

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13168775 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (16) ◽

pp. 8775

Author(s):

Laura Redondo-Flórez ◽

Domingo Jesus Ramos-Campo ◽

Vicente Javier Clemente-Suárez

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Body Mass Index ◽

Heart Rate ◽

Body Composition ◽

Academic Performance ◽

Body Mass ◽

Trait Anxiety ◽

Motor Development ◽

Overweight And Obesity ◽

School Students

The aim of the present study was to analyse body composition, anxiety, cardiovascular, and physical activity factors related with academic performance of school students as well as to analyse differences, by age, in these factors. We analysed in 266 primary school students’ (8.81 ± 1.62 years, range: 5–13 years) heart rate, anthropometric variables to calculate body mass index, physical activity performance, anxiety levels and academic results by the average of marks. Students were divided in two different groups, firstly by their lower or higher academic performance, and secondly by age. Results showed a negative correlation between academic performance and age, weight, body mass index and trait anxiety variables. Additionally, significant differences were found by age, presenting older students higher scores in body mass index and lower physical activity, trait anxiety, heart rate and academic performance values than younger students. Overweight and obesity may have a great impact in academic performance in children and we pointed out the necessity to establish programs related with healthy habits which include improvements in physical activity and nutrition behaviours with the objective to enhance children’s health general status, psychological profile, cognitive and motor development, and academic performance.

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Knowledge and Practices of Back Care, Experience in Colombian Children

Global Pediatric Health ◽

10.1177/2333794x211023460 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 ◽

pp. 2333794X2110234

Author(s):

Sonia Carolina Mantilla Toloza ◽

Carlos Alberto Jaimes Guerrero ◽

Piedad Rocio Lerma Castaño

Keyword(s):

Education Program ◽

School Context ◽

Intervention Group ◽

First Grade ◽

The Body ◽

Control Group ◽

Preventive Strategy ◽

Grade School ◽

Knowledge And Practice ◽

Back Care

Early back care has become the preventive strategy to mitigate bad postural habits and musculoskeletal alterations that trigger inadequate postural patterns in the body schema. The objective was to determine the knowledge and practice of back care in first-grade school children after applying an educational intervention for back care. Quasi-experimental study with pre-test and post-tests in a sample of 71 first grade school students. Knowledge and practices for back care were evaluated before and after of the intervention. During 5 weeks, a program of education for back care was developed in the intervention group, formed by concepts about anatomy, physiology, alterations of the spine, adoption of appropriate postures and movements in school life and the execution of adequate movements learned. Simultaneously, physical exercises based on aerobic work, strengthening and stretching the back muscles were carried out with the children in the control group. A linear regression model and a two-level hierarchical model were applied to estimate the effect of the intervention. After the execution of the back care education program, a better score was found in the knowledge and practice questionnaire, which was different between the intervention group and the control group (1.72 95% CI 1.21-2.24). The development of an education program generated a change in the score of the questionnaire on knowledge of back care in the intervnetion group, which suggests the implementation of these strategies in the school context during early childhood, contributing to the prevention of back disorders and deficiencies

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Improved Arithmetic Skills of French-Immersion Grade-School Students are Confounded by Higher Intelligence

Perceptual and Motor Skills ◽

10.2466/pms.1991.72.3.772 ◽

1991 ◽

Vol 72 (3) ◽

pp. 772-774

Author(s):

P. Falter ◽

M. A. Persinger

Keyword(s):

French Immersion ◽

Grade School ◽

School Students

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