Effect of Health Promoting School Program in Schools of the City of Babol: 2013

Investing in the health of adolescents and youth population in educational environments is one of the most important interventions in the health sector. This study aims to evaluate the percentage of improvement of the Health Promoting School program in schools under the coverage of the city of Babol.

This study was a before and after the intervention conducted in 2013. The research population and samples were selected by census from 63 health program executor schools in the city of Babol. The data collection tool was standard Checklist to evaluate health program executor schools in two administrative and 8-fold indices. Data were collected in two phases- before and after the intervention- within a month and analyzed by SPSS18 software at the significance level of p˂0.05.

Of the 63 health program executor schools, (38.1%) 24 were primary schools (27%) 17 guidance schools (34.9%) and 22 high schools, and also (65.1%) 41 urban schools and 33 schools for boys (52.4%). From 100 points, the average point of health program executors was 66.08 11.99 before intervention which as promoted to 71.79 10.96 after the intervention. There was a significant difference between the total mean score and the mean scores of 9- fold items before and after the intervention (p˂0.05). Model results showed that the total checklist Score of the first phase and geographical area is only related to the second check list points and the impact of this program was higher in the rural schools.

This study showed that the execution of the health promoter programs has a positive impact in improving school indicators. It is recommended to implement this program in all schools.