Do Right, Be Bright: A Protocol on the Development of an Inter-Professional Health Intervention Model for Pre-School Children Through a Community-Based Service-Learning Initiative

Abstract

Sobia Bilal,1 Snigdha Misra,2 Sumaira Hussain,3 Seok Shin Tan,2,4 Ekta Priya5 1Division of Prevention and Public Health Sciences, Pediatric Dentistry, College of Dentistry, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA; 2Division of Nutrition and Dietetics, School of Health Sciences, International Medical University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 3Department of Community Medicine, School of Medicine, International Medical University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 4Jeffrey Cheah School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Monash University Malaysia, Bandar Sunway, Malaysia; 5MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, School of Health and Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, ScotlandCorrespondence: Snigdha Misra, Division of Nutrition and Dietetics, School of Health Sciences, International Medical University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Tel [phone], Fax [phone], Email [email protected]: An inter-professional project with a collaborative endeavor between the programs of Dentistry, Nutrition and Medicine was carried out with the aim to emphasise oral health maintenance, making the right nutritional choices and effective hand washing among pre-school children. The purpose of this paper is to share a detailed description of the design, development process, implementation, and planned evaluation of an interprofessional school-based health promotion intervention model “Do Right, Be Bright”. This model is part of a quasi-experimental study, targeting pre-school children as the “Targets of Change” through the empowerment of school teachers as the “Agents of Change”. The program design was based on Bartholomew’s Intervention Mapping Approach, which proposes a direction for developing a theory-based health promotion intervention and on the most extensively applied theories of health behavior, the Health Belief Model. Therefore, based on a thorough literature review and needs assessment, three key areas of needs were identified for the targeted preschool children: oral hygiene, hand hygiene and nutrition. The efficacy of this model will be pilot tested in a preschool in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia.Keywords: oral hygiene, hand hygiene, nutrition, interprofessional education, health-promoting schools

Keywords

• oral hygiene
• hand hygiene
• nutrition
• interprofessional education
• health-promoting schools