Effectiveness of Structured Interventional Strategy on Knowledge, Attitude and health behavior regarding selected modifiable coronary artery disease risk factors among adolescents in selected schools

Abstract

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) remain the biggest cause of deaths worldwide. Although CVDs typically occur in middle age or later, risk factors are determined to a great extent by behaviours learned in childhood and continued into adulthood. Adolescence provides an opportunity for teenagers to incorporate healthy lifestyle behaviours that will benefit them not only during the teenage years, but also throughout the life span. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of structured interventional strategy on knowledge, attitude and health behavior regarding prevention of selected modifiable CAD risk factors among adolescents in selected schools. An experimental (pre-test and post-test) design was adopted for this study. 80 adolescents were randomly assigned to either experimental or control groups. A structured questionnaire, a five point likert scale, and a 4 point rating scale were used. A pre-test was administered followed by (video – assisted teaching). Three post-tests were given. The results revealed that, the overall paired 't' test in experimental group for knowledge was 24.86, for attitude 17.97 and health behavior 27.01 which were highly significant at P<0.001 level. The overall unpaired 't' test for 3 rd post-test scores on knowledge was 42.39, for attitude 16.93 and for health behavior 39.49 which were highly significant at P<0.001 level. There was no significant correlation between the dependent variables and there was no significant association between pre-test knowledge, attitude and health behavior and selected demographic variables except for dietary patterns.