ผลของสมาร์ตโฟนแอปพลิเคชันเพื่อการจัดการตนเองของเด็กและครอบครัว ต่อพฤติกรรมการบริโภคและกิจกรรมทางกายในเด็กวัยเรียนตอนปลายที่มีภาวะน้ำหนักเกิน

Abstract

Overweight late school-aged children can develop non-communicable diseases and other health issues, which is a serious problem for a nation's public health and requires attention. This quasi-experimental design aimed to compare the eating and physical activity behaviors of late school-aged children who were overweight before and after using a smartphone application for self-management of children and families and to compare the eating and physical activity behaviors between the control and the experimental groups. The study sample consisted of 60 children attending schools under the Northern Regional Office of Education Services, during February to March 2022. The research instruments were 1) a general information questionnaire; 2) an eating behavior questionnaire; 3) a physical activity questionnaire; and 4) a smartphone application for self-management of children and families. The data were analyzed by descriptive and t-test statistics. The results showed that the mean score for eating behavior among overweight late school-aged children after using the smartphone application for children and family self-management was statistically significantly higher than before using the smartphone application and statistically significantly higher than those who did not use the smartphone application (p < .01). The mean score for physical activity behavior among overweight late school-aged children after using the smartphone application for children and family self-management showed no significant difference between groups or within the group (p > .05). The findings indicate that the use of a smartphone application for children and family self-management can improve the eating behavior of late school-aged children who are overweight more appropriately. However, more long-term studies on using smartphone applications are needed to further examine changes in the physical activity behavior of overweight late school-aged children.