Effects of a School-based Intervention to Increase the Water Consumption in Elementary School Children

Danube University Krems1,485 enrolled

Overview

The purpose of this controlled intervention study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a school-based intervention aiming at increasing the water consumption in elementary school children. The intervention schools received refillable water bottles and drying racks for all school children as well as educational material. The focus of the intervention is the promotion of drinking tap water.

This pilot project, called "H2NOE-Wasserschulen" (Water Schools in Lower Austria), aims to increase the water consumption of school children in elementary schools, to raise awareness of water drinking in children, parents and school teachers and to promote water drinking in Lower Austria in general. By increasing the consumption of water, the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages may decrease and in the long run may have a positive impact on children's body weight and tooth status. All intervention schools receive refillable water bottles for each school child and drying racks for each classroom. Furthermore, in each school an information session for all school teachers is held and the teachers receive prepared educational material. The control schools do not receive the water bottles nor the educational material. For the study, the investigators recruited 22 intervention schools and 32 control schools. Outcomes will be measured by paper and pencil questionnaires of school children at third grade of participating elementary schools in Lower Austria and with online questionnaires of teachers at baseline, at the end of the intervention (after one school year/June 2019) and at the one-year follow-up (after two school years/June 2020). For process evaluation outcomes, the investigators will carry out focus group discussions with a subsample of school children and teachers and include questions in the respective questionnaires for school children, teachers and school headmasters. Parents will have the possibility to give feedback online.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

NON_RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

SINGLE

Enrollment

1,485

Conditions

Water Consumption Drinking Behavior

Interventions

WasserschulenBEHAVIORAL

Schools receive following materials and trainings: * one training sessions for teachers (at the beginning of the intervention) * refillable water bottles for each school student * drying rack for water bottles for each classroom * educational material for each class and for school events * informational material for parents

Eligibility

Sex: ALLHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

For the intervention schools: Inclusion criteria: * elementary school in Niederösterreich (Upper Austria, a province of Austria) * no juice provided with the school milk programme For the school children taking part in the survey: Inclusion criteria: * school children in third class of elementary school (at baseline) * written declaration of consent by a parent/guardian

Locations (1)

Lower Austrian Health and Social Fund

Sankt Pölten, Austria

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Change in water consumption of school children (from baseline to post-intervention and follow-up)

consumption of tap water, in number of glasses (with 1 glass defined as 200 mL) per day/ during school time (self-report)

Time frame: baseline, end of intervention (after one school year, 9 months), follow-up (after two school years, 21 months)

Change of attitude of school children towards drinking water (from baseline to post-intervention and follow-up)

preference for water and sugar-sweetened beverages (measured as agreement to various statements regarding water and sugar-sweetened beverage consumption with 5 likert-scale answer categories: yes, that's right; yes, mostly; no, mostly not; no, not true; I don't know)

Time frame: baseline, end of intervention (after one school year, 9 months), follow-up (after two school years, 21 months)

Secondary Outcomes

Change in beverage consumption of school children (from baseline to post-intervention and follow-up)

consumption of tap water, mineral water, fruit- and herbal tea, milk and cacao, soft drinks (lemonade, cola and iced tea), juice and juice with water; in number of glasses (with 1 glass defined as 200 mL) for the last 24h

Time frame: baseline, end of intervention (after one school year, 9 months), follow-up (after two school years, 21 months)

Change in food consumption of school children (from baseline to post-intervention and follow-up)

consumption of fruit and berries; vegetables (raw or cooked); sweets, chocolate or ice-cream; soft drinks (lemonade, cola and iced tea); fast food (french fries, chicken nuggets, pizza, McDonald's, sausages); salty snacks (crisps, popcorn, salted pretzel sticks); frequency of consumption during a normal week, when thinking of the last weeks

Time frame: baseline, end of intervention (after one school year, 9 months), follow-up (after two school years, 21 months)

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

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