Effect of Self-Instructional Module on Knowledge and Attitude regarding Prevention of Obesity among Adolescents

At present the potential public health issue that is emerging is the increasing incidence of childhood obesity in developing countries and the resulting socioeconomic and public health burden that will be faced by these countries in the near future. The prevalence is increasing at a fast rate and presently, about 200 million schoolaged children are estimated to be overweight at the global level. In the year 2025, India will have over 17 million obese children and stand second among 184 countries where the number of obese children is concerned. The present study is aimed to assess the effectiveness of self-instructional module on knowledge and attitude regarding prevention of obesity among adolescents in a selected school, Coimbatore. Thirty adolescent between the age group of 12 to 15 years were selected as samples by using stratified sampling technique. Data collection was done for one month by using knowledge questionnaire and attitude scale. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics, following the analysis it shows that in pre test 40% of the children have moderately adequate knowledge, in post- test 93% of the children have adequate knowledge. In pre -test 87% of the adolescent have unfavorable attitude, in post-test 90% of the adolescent have most favorable attitude. When comparing the pre test and post test knowledge and attitude there is a significant difference between pre test and post test values. There is a significant correlation between knowledge and attitude. It concludes that self instructional module is effective to improve the knowledge and attitude regarding prevention of obesity among adolescents.