Assessing the impact of a specially designed cardiovascular health education program for adolescents

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of a specially designed Cardiovascular Health Education Program (C.H.E.P.), on the cardiovascular health knowledge of junior high school adolescents. The program consisted of seven educational modules implemented within seven of the health classes in one grade eight class of junior high school adolescents. The impact of the program was assessed using the Cardiovascular Health Knowledge Questionnaire (C.H.K.Q.) with an experimental group and control group. The C.H.K.Q. was administered prior to the implementation of the C.H.E.P. (pretest), immediately after its implementation, (post test 1) and four months later(post test 2). -- Both the experimental and control groups scored poorly on the pre test. The experimental group significantly improved their mean scores on the post test 1 (p < .05) and this improvement was maintained on the post test 2. The control group however did not demonstrate any significant improvement on any of the post tests. -- The findings of this study demonstrate that a specially designed school-based cardiovascular health education program can have an impact on adolescent cardiovascular health knowledge. Further research is warranted to replicate the study with a larger sample and to assess the impact of the program on adolescent cardiovascular health attitudes and behaviors.