A study to test the effectiveness of a school-based educational intervention on knowledge, attitude and practices related to cardiovascular risk factors among high school students in selected rural schools of Kolar district in Karnataka state, India.

Non-communicablediseases are the leading causes of death globally, of which cardiovasculardiseases are the most common. Cost effective interventions (educational & behaviouralinterventions) for the reduction of cardiovascular risk factors should bepromoted especially in the low and middle income countries such as India; suchinterventions must start in childhood because this is the time when the diseaseprocesses start and when life style habits are formed. Further, schools offeran ideal setting of a captive population of adolescents for theseinterventions. Our hypothesis is that schools with students, who receive intervention inthe form of an educational capsule, directed at reduction of cardiovascular riskfactors will have improved knowledge, attitudes & practices regarding thesame (when compared to before-intervention and to schools with students notreceiving such an intervention).

The intervention package wouldcomprise of education to the children on the three principal areas ofcardiovascular risk factors i.e. dietary behaviors, physical activity &tobacco consumption using a set of educational modules developed by theinvestigators with technical help from experts in the field. Innovative &locally available methods like storytelling, games, role-plays &preparation of charts by students would be used. The intervention will bedelivered over a period of 6 days. This kind of educational programme will bedelivered twice during the period of 1 year at a gap of 6 months (Jan-Feb,Aug-Sep). So, a total of two educational programs will be held for the studentsin the intervention group. The students in the control arm will not receive anyspecial educational intervention on cardiovascular risk factors. Knowledge andattitude scores will be developed using the interview schedule to assess thelevels of knowledge and attitude at both baseline and following theintervention. The level of knowledge of students regarding risk factors for CVDswill be the primary outcome measure while the levels of risk factors (i.e.dietary practices, physical activity and use of tobacco) will be the secondaryoutcome measure.

With thisstudy, we aim to provide evidence that a well designed educational interventiondelivered in an innovative & interesting manner has an impact on theknowledge, attitude and practices related to cardiovascular risk factors of thechildren which in turn will improve their health status in the long run. Byinvolving the education sector, the same model can be implemented in otherschools as well, thereby improving the health status of an entire generation.