| Abstract [eng] |
Health education is relevant at all stages of human development, but it takes on a special meaning at a younger school age. Healthy behaviours and healthy lifestyle skills developed before adolescence (daily routine, rational nu)trition, hygiene skills, physical activity) persist until old age and rarely change. When a child starts school, his or her lifestyle and social roles change, and the level of independence skills also changes. During this period, the child’s cardiovascular, respiratory, musculoskeletal, nervous and other systems develop intensively. Especially intense at this age is the child’s mental development, the formation of the will and the ability to control their feelings. The family has a special role in promoting the health of primary school children, and in correcting unhealthy behaviours. The role of parents in the monitoring and modification of child health behaviour is particularly important. The problem question is: how often do parents monitor and modify the health behaviours of primary school children in the family? The aim of the study is to analyse parents’ approaches to the monitoring and modification of health beha)viour in primary school children at the family level. The study was performed in 2019–2020. A quantitative study, a written survey, was used. A total of 303 parents with primary school-age children participated in the study. Parents who live in the west of Lithuania were enrolled in the survey. The respondents’ ages were: ≤35 years 48.5% (147); and ≥36 years 51.5% (156). The respondents’ education was: without higher (university) education 46.9% (142); and with higher (university) education 53.1% (161). The respondents’ places of residence were: 57.4% urban (174); and 42.6% rural (129). For statistical analysis, the SPSS program was used (Version 24.0), Chi-square test, Mann-Whitney test, and Spearman’s correlation coef)ficient were applied. The significance level p ≤0.05 was considered statistically significant. The study revealed that almost all parents very often or often monitor and modify the habits of children’s personal hygiene, the children’s emotional state, and children’s misbehaviour. Almost a third of parents do not monitor or adjust their children’s posture, sitting or rucksack weight very often. About half the surveyed parents are not very interested in their child’s nutrition outside the home. Although a larger proportion of parents monitor and adjust the schedule of primary school children and the time their child spends online, about a fifth of parents do so occasionally or infrequently. Parents with a university degree are more likely to monitor and modify their children’s weight, posture, sitting and agenda than parents without a university degree. Urban parents monitor and adjust the food consumed by the child outside the home more often than rural parents (living in a district or village). Younger parents are more likely to monitor and adjust the habits of children’s personal hygiene. Parents who are more likely to monitor and correct their child’s emotional state are more likely to monitor and correct their child’s misbehaviour. |
