Effect of obesity prevention program on eating behaviors, eating addiction, physical activity and obesity in children

Aim: This study was carried out to determine the effect of the obesity prevention program on children's eating behaviors, food addiction, physical activity, and the prevalence of obesity. Method: A pretest-posttest unmatched group model, which is one of the quasi-experimental methods, was used in the study. The study was carried out with a total of 128 5th-grade students enrolled in two state schools affiliated to İzmir Provincial Directorate of National Education, including 55 students in the intervention group and 73 in the control group. The control group followed a curriculum-based routine training program, while the intervention group received an obesity prevention training program consisting of six sessions. The data were collected using a socio-demographic data form, the child eating behavior questionnaire, the food addiction scale, and the physical activity questionnaire for children. The data were evaluated using the multi-eyed chi-square test, Mc Neamer's test, Cochrane Q test, multivariate analysis of variance in repeated measurements, Bonferroni corrected paired t-test, power analysis, effect size, and regression analysis. Findings: The body mass index values and food addiction rates of the students in the intervention group were lower than those of the students in the control group (p <0.05). A significant difference was found between the mean eating behavior questionnaire scores and mean physical activity questionnaire scores of the students in the intervention and control groups in terms of time, groups, group*time interaction (p <0.05). It was determined that the intervention program had a large effect size (0.39) and a strong (0.85) effect on body mass index. Conclusion: The intervention program for obesity prevention was found to be effective in increasing children's positive eating behaviors and the mean physical activity score, and reducing food addiction rates and body mass index values. Keywords: Childhood obesity, child eating behaviors, physical activity, food addiction, obesity training.