Reducing Behavioral Risk Factors of NCDs: Protocol for a School-based Health Education Program in Bangladesh

This is a before-after designed intervention study conducted in two randomly selected secondary schools- one was selected randomly as intervention school and the another as control school. A baseline survey was conducted among the students of both schools by a pre-tested questionnaire to attain their current status of knowledge, attitude and practices related to NCDs. Afterward, students were enrolled in the intervention group who met the eligibility criteria from the intervention school. The intervention was given through a health promotion session to a group of students, not more than 25 at a time, by trained facilitators. A post-intervention end line survey was conducted among all the participants from both schools using the same questionnaire three months after the baseline survey. An intervention has been developed based on some principals of two psychosocial theory- Motivational Interview and Social Cognitive Theory. Emphasis was given on motivating the adolescents towards a healthy lifestyle, supporting self-efficacy to be changed, guiding self-regulatory ways along with facilitating desired changing process by empowering them with choices about the preventive measures of NCDs. This intervention is expected to increase awareness by equipping the adolescents with specific knowledge and skills and thus, facilitate an eventual change in their practiced risk behaviors.