What programs work to promote health for children? Exploring beliefs on microorganisms and on food safety control behavior in primary schools

- A health promotion campaign was carried out in the compulsory primary school.
- Aims were to improve children knowledge and behavior in the context of food safety.
- A comparison between a theoretical and a practical teaching approach was evaluated.
- Results show the success of the practical teaching method.
- Scientific concepts drawings and interviews are effective evaluation methods in childhood.

Effective food safety interventions implemented in schools should be an important way to reach children and to improve their knowledge and habits in the context of food handling and personal hygiene. However, few intervention programs of this kind have been implemented with young children, as the preferred groups are secondary school children, young adults and adults. Even though introducing children to new hygiene habits and offering them simplified knowledge based on experience might be effective, health intervention programs and evaluation methods must be adapted to the peculiarity of childhood learning abilities.This study provides an example of a health promotion campaign addressed at primary school students, with the aim of improving children's knowledge, correcting habits in the context of food safety, and enhancing the children's understanding of microorganisms and their functions. Children attending a program based on (1) mostly theoretical knowledge or (2) mostly practical information (with the scientific method of “learn by playing”) were evaluated before and after the intervention using drawings and semi structured interviews to test the intervention effectiveness. Data extracted from an analysis of 492 drawings and of 141 interviews showed that practical classes are more effective than theory classes. Data also show that children's drawings could be used to simplify and consolidate the deep learning of scientific topics, and also to evaluate the successfulness of health promotion campaigns targeting young children. This should contribute to the amelioration of children's awareness of hygiene and food contamination-related risks, leading to significant benefits for primary prevention of foodborne illness.