The effect of positive health behavior development education given to adolescents at risk of obesity on healthy lifestyle behaviors and physical activity

The aim of this study is to analyze The Effect of Positive Health Behavior Development Education Given to Adolescents at Risk of Obesity on Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors and Physical Activity. With the start of the research that done between the dates of November 2014-December 2015, the necessary measurements (height, weight) of all the students in the school are made. The Physical Activity Questionnaire for Older Children (PAQ-C) and Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors Scale II (HLBS II), which are prepared by the researcher, are applied to the students identified as at risk of obesity. All the students identified as at risk of obesity (n=78) are included in the education. Four sessions (each session 40 minutes/a lesson hour) of positive health behavior development education are given to students identified as at risk of obesity. The educational activities are performed in the course hall of the school. Scale and survey applications are repeated at the end of the education and 4 weeks after the education is over. The criteria to be included in the research is to be between 85. – 95. percentiles, according to the percentile curve defined for Turkish children. Official permissions are taken before the start of the research. The data gathered are evaluated on electronic environment and SPSS 18.0 package programme, and for the evaluation of the data; basic statistical analysis, t-test, One Way Anova, Correlation, and Paired Samples t-test are used. In the study, 48,7 % of the students are female, 51,3 % are male, and average of age is 11,77±0,92. In the study, it is found out that post-education first monitoring and post-education second monitoring Health Responsibility (5,035;0,008), Physical Activity (6,284;0,002), Nutrition (5,709;0,004), HLBS II total (6,227;0,003) scores are higher when compared to pre-education scores; post-education first monitoring Interpersonal Relationships (3,145;0,046) and Stress Management (3,058;0,050) scores are higher when compared to pre-education scores. In the light of all these findings, it is concluded that the education given has positively affected healthy lifestyle behaviors of the students and their physical activities. Key Words: Obesity, Adolescent, Health Behavior Education, Physical Activity