2019, Vol. 1, Issue 1, Part A

Each year diarrhoea kills 5,00,000 Indian children. Infected water causes an estimated 80% of diseases in India, according to WHO, making poor sanitation and inadequate sewage disposal the nation’s biggest public health problem.

The information booklet is one of the effective teaching strategies which can be used for teaching the school children as they are the most vulnerable group of the society. Hence the study was undertaken on the effectiveness of information booklet for upper primary school children. The objectives of the study were

1. To determine the knowledge of students regarding food and waterborne diseases and their prevention.

2. To evaluate the effectiveness of the information booklet in terms of gain in knowledge score.

Methods: An evaluatory approach with one-group pre-test – post-test design was used on 120 school children drawn from stratified random sampling. The pre-test was conducted to determine their knowledge regarding food and waterborne diseases and their prevention by a structured knowledge questionnaire. The information booklet was given for further reference and learning. The post-test was conducted on the eighth day using the same structured knowledge questionnaire.

Results: The collected data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. There was highly significant difference (t₁₁₉ = 59.72, P<0.05) between the mean post-test (x₂ = 36.633) and mean pre-test (x₁ = 17.958) knowledge score. The area-wise mean knowledge score of the pre-test was maximum (12.4417) in the area of ‘prevention of food and waterborne diseases’ and minimum (0.3833) in the area of ‘causes of food and waterborne diseases’ whereas the area-wise mean knowledge score of post-test was maximum (19.3750) in the area of ‘prevention of food and waterborne diseases’ and minimum (2.4333) in the area of ‘causes of food and waterborne diseases.’

There was significant association between the gain in knowledge score and selected variables like age (c² = 9.797, P<0.05), class (c² = 14.729, P<0.005) and number of family members (c² = 7.625, P<0.05).

Interpretation and conclusion: The information booklet on food and waterborne diseases and their prevention has helped the students in attaining more information which was evident in post-test knowledge score.