METHODS: This study is a school based cross sectional study among secondary school students in Khartoum State - Sudan that targets both male and female students aged 14-17 years. A total of 3387 students from 29 public and private schools were selected by multi stage random sampling. The participants completed an anonymous self-administered questionnaire which was based on Arabic version of the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS).
RESULTS: The response rate was 100% in schools and among participants, 57.3% were females and 51.6% were from public schools. The overall prevalence of those who had ever smoked shisha was 13.4%, and among male students the prevalence was 16.8%, while it was 10.9% in females. The associated factors were poor academic performance OR 2.90 CI 95% (1.21-6.94), friends smoking shisha OR 2.39 CI 95% (1.65-3.45), friends smoking cigarettes OR 2.76 CI 95% (1.90-4.01), peer pressure to smoke shisha OR 13.76 CI 95% (7.86-24.07) and unexpectedly restriction of selling shisha to minors OR 2.21 CI 95% (1.28-3.82).
CONCLUSION: The prevalence of those who had ever smoked shisha is among the lowest in Middle East region; therefore, regular surveillance system is needed. A well-structured peer based comprehensive tobacco control programmes that are supported by strict and rigorous anti-tobacco regulations which control both commercial and social resources of tobacco are needed to contain this issue among adolescents.
OBJECTIVES: This study used nationally representative samples from the Global School-based Student Health Survey (GSHS) (2010-2019) to determine the frequency of toothbrushing among school-going students (N = 266,113) in 72 countries.
MATERIAL AND METHODS: The country-specific sample size ranged from 130 in Tokelau to 25,408 in Malaysia. The outcome variable was the frequency of brushing or cleaning teeth once daily within the past 30 days prior to the survey. Bivariate analysis was conducted following a descriptive study to determine the frequency of toothbrushing or cleaning across different age groups (≤12, 13, 14, 15, ≥16 years), sexes, World Health Organization (WHO) regions, and gross domestic product (GDP) per capita quintiles.
RESULTS: The overall proportion of males to females in the sample was 50.9:49.1. In 45 countries or territories (62.5%), the proportion of participants who reported brushing their teeth at least once a day was above 90%. Participants from 10 countries or territories (13.9%) reported never or rarely brushing their teeth. In 69 countries or territories (95.8%), male students were more likely than female students to never or rarely brush their teeth. The highest rate of individuals who never or rarely brush their teeth (32.1%) was reported in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. In comparison, the Region of the Americas had the highest frequency of brushing twice or more daily (82.9%).
CONCLUSIONS: Educational interventions focused on dental health implemented in schools and aimed at early adolescents have the potential to promote the formation of healthy habits, which may lead to improved well-being over both short and long terms.
METHODS: A nationally representative survey was employed in 900 elementary, junior high, and senior high schools that were located in 60 regions or 24 provinces of Indonesia. Each school's compliance with SFZ parameters was measured using a closed-ended questionnaire. The dataset was analyzed using frequency distribution, while the chi-square was performed to analyze the measurement effect of each parameter for SFZ compliance.
RESULTS: Java Island is the region with the largest proportion of school units (10%) studied in this study, and the largest group of the schools are high schools (36.1%). In terms of SFZ compliance, 413 (45.9%) of schools had perfect compliance scores of 8, followed by 183 schools (20.3%) with a score of 7 and 107 (11.9%) with a score of 6. It was found that parameter 5, namely cigarette butts found in the school environment, had the largest proportion when a school did not apply SFZ. Cigarette butts were found in 261 (29.0%) schools. Cigarette butts found in schools contributed 7.8 times to not applying SFZ compared to schools where no cigarette cutters were found.
CONCLUSION: Although the SFZ compliance rate in Indonesian schools is 66.2% at least on 7 of 8 existed parameters, this means most of schools still aren't fully complying with the regulations for SFZs. This recent evidence will help decisionmakers to enforce tobacco control, particularly among youth, which form the pillar of national development.
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METHODS: Integrated community participatory action research (CPAR) was employed using preparation, planning, implementation, and evaluation. Data was collected using quantitative and qualitative methods from high school students. Descriptive statistics such as frequency and percentage, chi-square and fisher's exact test were used to summarize and compare quantitative data before and after intervention. Similarly, qualitative data was collected through interviews and focus group discussion (FGD) and then analyzed through thematic analysis.
RESULTS: Two hundred and thirty-nine (96.3%, n = 239/248) and 232 (93.5, n = 232/248) participants were included in the interventions before and after, respectively. School-based dengue prevention was developed with input from a variety of stakeholders, including students, community leaders, health educators, district officials, and community health volunteers. As demonstrated by pre- to post-test results, students understanding of dengue and the larval indices surveillance system has increased. Students who received the training were not only inspired but created a sense of community responsibility with a high commitment to teaching and sharing information in their circle to enhance overall community wellbeing. Being female and higher educational attainment was associated with students understanding of dengue and larval indices surveillance.
CONCLUSION: This participatory action research not only improved students' understanding of dengue but also empowered them to be proactive in various community health initiatives. The positive correlation between educational attainment and students understanding of dengue solution and larval indices surveillance underscores the need for tailored educational interventions that address diverse learning needs within the community. Collaborative efforts to establish dengue health information center based at primary schools and above can better improve reduction of dengue incidence.
METHODS: Twenty-three out of 1196 government primary schools in central Peninsular Malaysia participated in this cluster-randomized control study. Schoolchildren aged 9-11 years with a body mass index (BMI) z-score greater than + 1 SD (WHO) were eligible for the study. The intervention group participated in the MyBFF@school program while the control followed the existing standard curriculum. The primary outcome was cardiorespiratory fitness using physical fitness score (PFS) measured by the modified Harvard step test. Data were collected at baseline, month-3 and month-6 and were analyzed according to the intention-to-treat principle using mixed linear models.
RESULTS: A total of 954 schoolchildren completed six months follow up, with 439 (n = 439) in the intervention group (n = seven schools), while 515 (n = 515) in the control group (n = 16 schools). In the first three months, there was significant within-group PFS improvement in overall (both), girls (both) and obese (control). Comparing between-groups, the mean differences favored the control in most parameters, but were not significant: overall (-0.15(-0.75, 0.45), p = 0.83), boys (-0.07(-0.98, 0.83), p = 0.83), girls (-0.27(-1.27, 0.73), p = 0.81), overweight (-0.16(-1.28, 0.94), p = 0.97), obese (-0.05(-1.03, 0.92), p = 0.93), morbidly obese (-0.68(-2.43, 1.05), p = 0.26), urban (0.07(-0.79, 0.94), p = 0.45), and rural (-0.35(-1.34, 0.62), p = 0.30). At month-six, the within-group improvements maintained. However, the mean differences now favored the intervention group although they remained not significant: overall (0.05(-0.98, 1.07), p = 0.69), boys (0.06(-1.35, 1.46), p = 0.86), girls (0.10(-1.31, 1.51), p = 0.74), overweight (0.15(-1.07, 1.36), p = 0.93), obese (0.28(-0.98, 1.55), p = 0.75), morbidly obese (-0.79(-2.74, 1.15), p = 0.47), urban (0.61(-0.56, 1.77), p = 0.47), and rural (-0.69(-2.52, 1.14), p = 0.17).
CONCLUSIONS: MyBFF@school program showed positive trend in cardiorespiratory fitness changes especially after six months. MyBFF@school intervention program has the potential to combat obesity in primary schoolchildren and should be at least six months.
TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinical trial number: NCT04155255, November 7, 2019 (Retrospective registered). National Medical Research Register: NMRR-13-439-16563. Registered July 23, 2013. The intervention program was approved by the Medical Research and Ethics Committee (MREC), Ministry of Health, Malaysia and, the Educational Planning and Research Division (EPRD), Ministry of Education, Malaysia. It was funded by the Ministry of Health, Malaysia.
METHOD: The content of the questionnaire was developed based on the content of Annex 1 of the Assessment Measures for Physical Education in Primary and Secondary Schools issued by the Ministry of Education of China in 2014 and was modified based on feedback from the expert panel and pre-test participants. The questionnaire was initially tested for validity by 5 expert reviewers, and then we collected data information from 350 participants and conducted exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to explore the factor structure of the initial version. One week later, 40 of the 350 participants were randomly selected to assess test-retest reliability.
RESULTS: The I-CVI and KAPPA value analysis results of the expert review results show that the questionnaire has extremely high reliability and consistency among experts. EFA results indicate that the five dimensions of this questionnaire are highly reliable. In the test-retest reliability, the Pearson correlation coefficients of the initial test data and the retest data of each dimension are all greater than 0.7, and the significance probability values are all less than 0.05, reaching the significance level, the results show that the questionnaire has good stability.
CONCLUSIONS: This study concluded that the 5 dimensions and 38 items of this questionnaire had high reliability and validity and could be used as a preliminary tool to measure the implementation level of physical education programs in junior high schools in China. However, future research should explore the potential need for adjustment to suit different regions and cultures.