2019 Volume 27 Issue 1 Pages 52-63
Objectives: We examined the effect of a health education class that used teaching materials to enhance perceived susceptibility to lifestyle-related diseases on junior high school students.
Methods: Participants were 160 junior high school students. We assigned two classrooms (n = 80 students), each to the experimental and comparison groups respectively, using a quasi-experimental design. Students in the experimental group were taught using teaching materials designed to enhance perceived susceptibility to lifestyle-related diseases. In contrast, students in the comparison group were taught using existing teaching materials. We administered measures to all students one week prior to, one week after, and one month after the health education class, respectively. Specifically, we assessed their consciousness regarding perceived susceptibility to lifestyle-related diseases, perceived severity of lifestyle-related diseases, prevention of lifestyle-related diseases, and self-efficacy in the prevention of lifestyle-related diseases.
Results: In the experimental group, the health education significantly changed one item regarding perceived susceptibility to lifestyle-related diseases (p<0.001), one item regarding perceived severity of lifestyle-related diseases (p=0.01), and one item regarding the self-efficacy in the prevention of lifestyle-related diseases (p=0.014). In contrast, all items were not changed in the comparison group.
Conclusion: We developed teaching materials to enhance perceived susceptibility to lifestyle-related diseases for junior high school students and found the new teaching method was effective to raise their consciousness on this topic even after one month. This teaching method with new materials should be more widely used for junior high school students in Japan.
