Informational significance of medical and social factors that influence the health-oriented behavior of school-age children

Abstract

Background. Based on medical statistics, the negative dynamics of the health status of children and adolescents in Ukraine is determined. According to the World Health Organization, lifestyle factors are a trigger of non-communicable diseases among all categories of the population. Therefore, the question of the development and introduction of measures to prevent the spread of non-communicable diseases among children is becoming urgent. Diagnostic tools also need to be updated to ensure the effectiveness of targeted prevention programs. The purpose of this work is to develop a diagnostic questionnaire, which will give an idea of the importance of medical and social factors influencing the formation of health-oriented behavior in school-age children. Materials and methods. Based on the survey of 851 schoolchildren regarding various components of the lifestyle (daily routine, family, school, subjective opinion about health-oriented behavior) and the application of S. Kullback’s method, the diagnostic questionnaire was deve­loped to determine the informational significance of the medical and social factors that influence the health-oriented beha­vior of schoolchildren. Results. After evaluating the informativeness of each component of medical and social factors, questions with the highest diagnostic value were identified, which constituted the final version of the diagnostic questionnaire. The calculated diagnostic coefficients of each answer indicate the strength of its influence on the formation of health-oriented student’s beha­vior. The final version of the questionnaire includes fifteen questions that correspond to the lifestyle components: daily routine, family, school, subjective opinion about health-oriented behavior. Each question is offered answers in points, standardized on sten score. Answering the question, the respondent chooses one of the answers that he considers to be true. When analy­zing the results, the total scores for the entire questionnaire are calculated and compared with the gradations calculated on sten score — low, medium or high level of influence of medical and social factors of health-oriented behavior. Conclusions. The methodology provides for assessment and correspondence with levels of influence — high, medium, low — for each structural component: daily routine, family, school, subjective opinion about health-oriented behavior, with the aim of further carrying out corrective (diagnostic, preventive, educational) measures for children and parents to increase the level of health, health-oriented behavior and reduce the negative impact of medical and social factors on the health of students.

Keywords

• health-oriented behavior
• schoolchildren
• S. Kullback’s method
• diagnostic questionnaire