Citation

Knight J, Grantham-McGregor S, Ismail S, Ashley D. Child Care Health Dev. 1991; 17(1): 49-58.

Affiliation

Tropical Metabolism Research Unit, University of the West Indies, Mona, Kingston, Jamaica.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1991, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

2022008

Abstract

The evaluation of a child-to-child health education project in Jamaica found for mothers and guardians a small improvement in knowledge and a slight and not significant improvement in behavior about a safe and health environment and nutrition; children's scores were significantly improved over controls. The project was conducted in 7 rural primary grades of all level 4 and 5 children in the parish of St. Thomas and was representative of rural schools in general, but the analysis included the 4 largest schools and 2 control schools nearby. The instructions to 423 children to spread concepts of child health, nutrition, and development to guardians and younger siblings was accomplished with trained teachers, rather than as previously conducted by the investigator. 15 workshops were devoted to training the development of curriculum; action-oriented songs, stories, skits, jingles, games, and pictures were created based on indigenous Jamaican folk music and patois intelligible to children with low literacy levels. Those children with very poor attendance were excluded (33%). The sample included 90 project and 40 control mothers who had no formal education at the secondary level and had large families in overcrowded houses with poor water supplies and sanitation. The evaluation was conducted for children only at the end of the project because of literacy problems, but mothers were administered questionnaires pre- and postproject with 8% absenteeism at the end of the project. Absenteeism for children was 22%, 23%, and 14%. Nutrition knowledge pertained to when and how to breast feed, the advantages of breast feeding, when and how to introduce weaning foods, and composition of food groups. Healthy environment included awareness of the causes and spread of diseases, flies and mosquitoes, how to prevent the spread of disease, food handling, and personal hygiene. Child development issues were the normal growth and development, positive reinforcement rather than physical punishment, how to play with children, what to teach with play, and how to make toys. The success in teaching the children is attributed to the teaching techniques and relevance to their lives. Teachers were highly supportive and motivated. Minimal success with mother's knowledge may be due to quality control issues and Jamaican traditions which interfere with children advising parents. Actions are more difficult to change. The program has been expanded to other schools.

Language: en