The effect of cardiovascular health promotion on health behaviors in elementary school children: an integrative review

Abstract

This report provides on an integrative review of health promotion studies relevant to elementary school children published between 1986 and 1998. The 22 research articles represented several disciplines including public health and nursing. The studies varied in research design, sample characteristics, and approaches to health education. The most common interventions targeted behavioral risk factors for cardiovascular disease, but it also was evident from the literature that family and community involvement both played a significant role in health behaviors of children. Health promotion studies were under-represented in the nursing literature, a gap that creates an impetus to study children and families to identify the ways they learn primary preventive behaviors.