ABSTRACT
Introduction: Overweight and obesity in children has been documented to be major health problem. This study is the educational intervention of child`s parents according to the social cognitive theory [SCT] for their body mass index [bmi] decrease in overweight and obese children of pre-elementary grade in Zarrinshahr
Materials and Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted on mothers with overweight and obese pre-elementary school children, residents of Zarrinshahr town in 2015. Mothers were divided randomly into the intervention and control groups [n=45 each]. For the intervention group [children and parents], an educational program was designed, based on the SCT and presented in 4 sessions. Data were collected by a researcher made questionnaire, including demographic information, the structures of SCT, and height and weight measurement tools, both before [baseline] and 5 months after the educational intervention. Data were analyzed by Mann-Whitney, Chi-square test, analysis of covariance and the independent t-test
Results: Five months after educational intervention, mean scores of all structures of SCT, including self-efficiency, outcome expectations, self-regulation and social support of the intervention group showed a meaningful increase [P<0.001] in comparison with the control group. Physical activity of children in the intervention group also had a meaningful increase in comparison with controls. Use of social media, sweetmeats, salty snacks and sweet drinks after intervention showed no significant increase. In children, BMI showed a significant difference, compared to the pre-intervention assessment [P<0.05]
Conclusion: Results of the present study, showed that the social-cognitive theory can be used cautiously in related studies of children affected to by overweight