CURRICULUM, INSTRUCTION, AND PEDAGOGY article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Health Education and Promotion
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1600342
Mobile Health Education for Salt Reduction and Hypertension Prevention: Effects on Knowledge Acquisition and Behavioral Change among Chinese Third-Grade Students
Provisionally accepted
- Zhenjiang Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Zhenjiang, China
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Background and aims:This study evaluates the impact of a comprehensive health education intervention delivered via a mobile application on health knowledge and behavior among third-grade students in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, China. With increasing rates of non-communicable diseases, particularly hypertension among children, this intervention aimed to enhance health literacy and promote healthier behaviors. Methods:A total of 15,656 students from 88 primary schools participated, with 11,614 completing both pre-and post-intervention surveys. The intervention included 20 animated health education lessons covering topics such as balanced diets, personal hygiene, and salt reduction, alongside activities involving parents and school staff. Results:Results indicated significant improvements in health knowledge, with an average increase of 5.6 points, and health behavior scores increased by 2.6 points post-intervention. The awareness of key knowledge areas, including vision protection and correct coughing/sneezing habits, had increased by more than 10%. However, improvements in health behaviors were less pronounced, underscoring the challenge of translating knowledge into action. A mixed-effects model analysis revealed that baseline scores significantly influenced post-intervention outcomes, with urban students outperforming their rural counterparts. Conclusion: This study highlights the effectiveness of mobile health education interventions in enhancing health literacy among children and suggests the need for continued focus on behavior change strategies to complement knowledge acquisition.
Keywords: Mobile Health Education, salt reduction, Hypertension prevention, Knowledge acquisition, behavioral change
Received: 26 Mar 2025; Accepted: 30 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Lin, Liu, Zhong and Yuan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Yang Zhang, lindsay731@sina.com
Yan Liu, ckjck@126.com
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.