School Environmental Factors Affecting Overweight Kindergarteners in Bangkok

Abstract

Overweight in childhood is a major public health problem as a result of its increasing
tendency and rapid spread globally, including in Thailand. The purpose of this research was to
examine factors of the school environment affecting overweight among kindergarteners in Bangkok.
A multi-stage random sampling technique was used to select a sample of 126 kindergarten schools
(level 1-3) and one teacher in each under the jurisdiction of the Basic Education Schools, Bangkok
Metropolitan Administration and the Private Education Commission Schools in academic year
2015. Research instruments were self-report questionnaires inquiring about knowledge of
overweight prevention in children of kindergarten teachers, attitudes of kindergarten teachers
toward overweight, school measures and policies, activities and play hours, and observational
records consisting of types of lunch food with high calories, types of snacks with high calories, and
types of high caloric food available near their school. Data collection was carried out from January
to March 2015. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and stepwise multiple regression analysis.
Results revealed that the average percent of overweight of level 1-3 kindergarteners in Bangkok
was 12.8% (SD = 1.8) Best significant predictors of overweight in kindergarteners included attitudes
of kindergarten teachers toward overweight, private school type, types of lunch food with high
calories and types of high caloric food available near school, respectively. These factors
accounted for 77.3% (R2 = .773) of the variance in predicting overweight at a significance level of <.05.
These findings suggest that school environmental factors affect childhood overweight.
Consequently, community nurses and health care providers of children in school might apply
these results to predict overweight and develop programs to prevent it among kindergarteners
by focusing on the attitudes of teachers to overweight. Additionally, schools should adopt strategic
controls and policies on high caloric food and beverage sales in schools and surrounding neighborhoods.