Introduction:

lifestyle habits can influence the welfare of children and an unsuitable management approach can result in a health status imbalance. The available evidence points out that nursing educational interventions in school environments positively influence the acquisition of healthy lifestyle habits to tackle issues such as childhood obesity.

Objective:

To assess the impact of an educational intervention carried out by primary care nurses in the school setting, with children aged 10 to 12 years old, on the improvement of eating habits, physical activity and sleep quality.

Material and methodology:

Quasi-experimental study to measure the efficiency of a community nurse intervention in the school setting, with pre and post-intervention surveys, prospective, descriptive, observational and without control or randomization.

Results:

150 students from five schools in Tenerife took part in the study. Regarding the reach of impact pre-post intervention, significant differences were observed in the allocation of the problems Sedentary lifestyle and Deterioration of the sleep pattern. Item-to-item differences were corroborated in cases of pre-post dysfunction, using the Cochran Q value and statistical significance. For 28 of the 32 items compared, there was a decrease in the number of children with dysfunctional habits between before and after the intervention, although they were only notable in six of the statements.

Conclusión:

It seems that the incorporation of these three workshops in the school year of these children decreased the problems diagnosed by the nurses as Ineffective feeding pattern of the child, Sedentary lifestyle and Deterioration of the sleep pattern, although without significance in the first of those mentioned. However, a community nurse intervention in education as outlined above seems beneficial so that, embracing other ongoing parallel initiatives and considering other factors and variables, children's lifestyle habits regarding the nutritional value in their food, physical activity and sleep pattern can be enhanced at an early age.

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