The increasing prevalence of childhood obesity has become a major public health concern. Schools are positioned to play a key role in obesity prevention by exposing youth to quality education programs that foster knowledge and behaviors related to energy balance (EB). This study evaluated the effect of a short EB curriculum unit on adolescents’ EB knowledge, physical activity, and situational interest.
Method:
A total of 168 sixth and seventh graders (Mean age=12.01/.67; Male: n=73; Female: n=95) were recruited and randomly assigned into two groups: (1) experimental group (n=65; received two EB lessons in physical education) or (2) comparison group (n=103). EB knowledge and situational interest were pre- and post-measured by a validated written test (Nelson, Lytle, & Pasch, 2009) and the Situational Interest Scale (Chen, Darst, & Pangrazi, 1999), respectively. Physical activity (daily average metabolic equivalent [MET]) was measured by the Sensewear armband monitor (BodyMedia®, 2009; Pittsburg, PA) worn by the participants for six to 14 days. Repeated measure MANOVA was used to detect changes over time and between the groups. Chi-squared analysis was conducted to test the group difference in item-by-item knowledge performance.
Analysis/Results:
The adolescents’ overall EB knowledge increased but the change was not statistically significant (p>.05). Knowledge gain (posttest-pretest) did not differ significantly across the groups (p>.05). However, the experimental group outperformed the comparison on item 12 (about an average teenage boy’s daily energy intake: χ2=24.99, p<.05) and 14 (about energy expenditure for one-mile walk:χ2=7.35, p<.01). The armband monitor was consistently used (87%/17% of time). Daily average physical activity intensity was 2.09/.50 MET and did not differ across time or groups. Adolescents’ situational interest started high but declined, especially for perceived enjoyment (F=15.84, p<.01), attention demand (F=4.00, p<.05), and total interest (F=31.70, p<.01). The experimental group had higher attention demand than the comparison group (F=3.58, p<.01).
Conclusions:
The EB curriculum was efficacious in promoting adolescents’ EB knowledge, particularly the knowledge of energy required for daily activities. The curriculum unit demanded significant attention from adolescents to engage and learn. Limited by the modest treatment magnitude, the curriculum did not seem to impact adolescents’ daily physical activity. Future research should consider expanding the number of lessons of the EB curriculum. Overall, this study bears significant implications to childhood obesity prevention by evaluating the efficacy of an innovative EB curriculum on adolescents’ EB knowledge, physical activity behavior, and motivation, all of which are important determinants for weight management.
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