An evaluation of the intervention effectiveness of a health education project on iodine deficiency disorders in Shandong from 2011 - 2015

Objective To find out the cognition and participation of people in the disease areas of Shandong Province on prevention and treatment of iodine deficiency disorders(IDD), and to evaluate the effectiveness of a health education project on prevention and control of IDD. Methods From 2011 to 2015, a prospective research was used in study, 46 iodine-deficient counties (cities, districts) were selected as project counties in Shandong Province each year, and 3 townships (towns) were chosen in each project county. Health educational activities on IDD prevention and control knowledge were carried out in the central primary school, 3 villages were chosen in each selected township (town) where the health educational activities in the community were carried out. Before and after the healthy education activities, questionnaire surveys on IDD prevention and control knowledge were conducted among 30 students of grade 5 in the central primary school and 15 housewives lived near the schools in each selected township (town). Results After the health education activities, the knowledge awareness rates of students and housewives on IDD prevention and control were 96.06% (61 232/63 471) and 95.44% (32 576/34 131) , respectively, which increased significantly compared with those before the intervention [79.00% (50 038/63 342) and 81.25% (27 281/33 576) ], and the differences were statistically significant (χ2 = 8 435.19, 3 326.19, P < 0.05). Among the primary school students and housewives, the knowledge awareness rates of IDD prevention were increased by 17.06% and 14.19%, respectively. Conclusion After implementing the intervention measures of IDD health education, the awareness rate of IDD prevention and control knowledge in iodine deficiency areas in Shandong Province is significantly increased, which has achieved the effectiveness of IDD health education behavioral intervention. Key words: Deficiency disorders; Iodine; Health education; Evaluation study