Perceived Health Knowledge, Health Education Needs, and Health Behavior Different by Grade in Some Elementary School Students

보건지식, 보건교육요구도, 보건행동 자각수준의 학년별 차이: 서울 일부지역 초등학교 고학년 학생들을 대상으로

Objectives: This study was conducted to describe child perceived health knowledge, health education needs, and health behaviors by grade in a representative general characteristic and examined their associations for students' better health behaviors. Methods: The survey participants were 410 fourth to sixth grade students in two elementary schools in Seoul, Korea. A total of 12 classes in two elementary schools were randomly selected and all students of the selected classes participated in the self-administered survey. The questionnaire contained the items of perceived health knowledge, health education needs(health topics which they want to know more), health behavior, and general characteristics. Results: Perceived health knowledge, health education needs, and health behaviors were, generally, better in the $4^{th}$ grade students than $5^{th}$ or $6^{th}$ grade students. That is, higher grade students had lower perceived health knowledge, lower health education needs, and lower health behavior status. Specifically, there was significant grade differences in 'significance of publichealth,' 'nutritionandhealthyeating,' 'desirablehealthhabits,' 'humansex,' 'physical development in childhood,' 'stress management & drugcontrol,' and 'injury prevention.' Correlations between perceived health knowledge and health behavior were low or medium in all grades. However, correlations between perceived health education needs and health were significant in the $4^{th}$ grade students but not significant in the $5^{th}$ and $6^{th}$ grade students. Conclusions: There was significant grade difference of the relationship between health knowledge, health education needs, and health behaviors among children. In general, the lower the grade the better the health knowledge, educational needs, and health behavior. Health education needs were more significant by grade than perceived health knowledge and health behaviors.