Meryem Öztürk Haney

Factors related to dietary habits and body mass index among Turkish school children: a Cox's interaction model-based study

AIM To report a study conducted to describe the determinants of Turkish school-aged childrens dietary habits and body mass index. BACKGROUND Over the past two decades, childrens unhealthy dietary habits and obesity have increased rapidly. Nurses have an essential role in minimizing health-risk behaviours and promoting healthy lifestyles. Using the Interaction Model of Client Health Behavior to measure childrens dietary habits and body mass index values helps to prepare health-promotion interventions. DESIGN A descriptive, correlational study. METHOD The study was conducted, based on a sample of 420 fifth-grade students and their parents in one city in Turkey. The data were collected during 2007 using a questionnaire designed to assess the dietary habits and anthropometric indices. Data were analysed using quantitative analysis to identify key variables. FINDINGS The girls scored healthier on dietary habits than did the boys. Although dietary self-efficacy was statistically significant as an explanatory variable of dietary habits for both genders, the dietary attitude was the only explanatory variable of dietary habits for the girls. No difference was detected in the prevalence of overweight between boys and girls. CONCLUSION Nurses are well-situated to give children dietary self-efficacy improvement, dietary attitude enhancement, and family-centred and school-based intervention programmes to reduce their unhealthy dietary habits. The model guides researchers to identify the background characteristics of children that result in the body mass index.

Psychometric testing of the Turkish version of the Health Literacy for School-Aged Children Scale:

This study aimed to assess the validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the Health Literacy for School-Aged Children (HLSAC-T) scale. This study was a cross-sectional and methodological design. The sample consisted of 563 sixth and ninth grade students in Izmir, Turkey. Data were collected with the socio-demographic characteristics questionnaire, HLSAC-T, and Turkish version of the Adolescent Lifestyle Profile. Cronbach’s α for the scale was .77 and item-total correlations were between .49 and .61 (p < .001). The model fit indices were determined to be the root mean square error of approximation at .035, the goodness of fit index at .99, and the comparative fit index at .99. The concordance validity and convergent validity were supported and the discriminant validity suggested that the scale successfully discriminated students who cared about healthy lifestyle from the students who did not. The HLSAC-T showed an adequate reliability and validity for determining the subjective health literacy of Turkish school-aged children. The results showed promise that the scale could be translated into other languages.