The impact of home-school cooperating health education based on the Health Belief Model on myopia prevention in primary school students in Macau

Objective: To evaluate the impact of a home-school cooperation health education program based on the Health Belief Model on myopia prevention among primary school students in Macau. Methods: From November 17 to December 15, 2023, the research team implemented a four-week intervention (N=64). This included health education lectures, health education booklets, vision health record cards, and the promotion of myopia prevention videos to parents with the collection of feedback questionnaires. Paired t-tests were used to compare the differences in scores for vision health knowledge, health beliefs, and myopia prevention behaviors among primary school students before and after the intervention. Descriptive statistics were used to assess the overall situation of parental supervision of children's adoption of eye-protective behaviors. Results: After the intervention, students' vision health knowledge scores significantly increased (from 6.14±1.66 to 8.05±0.81, t=-8.209, p<0.001); health belief scores significantly increased (from 62.92±19.14 to 77.88±19.81, t=-16.010, p<0.001), with statistical significance in the three dimensions of perceived severity of myopia, benefits of health protection, and barriers; vision health behavior scores significantly increased (from 33.61±8.94 to 46.34±6.08, t=-8.708, p<0.001). Parental feedback questionnaires showed that the average score for parental supervision of children's adoption of eye-protective behaviors was 2.59±0.88, falling between "often" and "sometimes". Conclusion: The myopia prevention health education program based on the Health Belief Model significantly improved the vision health knowledge, health beliefs, and myopia prevention behaviors of primary school students in Macau. Home-school cooperation provided important support for enhancing students' vision health, but there is still considerable room for improvement in parental supervision of eye-protective behaviors.