Improving clean and healthy living behaviour through snakes and ladders board game among school children

Introduction: Community nurses have a strategic role in improving clean and healthy living behaviour by providing health education to the community. Play therapy is one of the nursing interventions that can be a method of health education in school children.Objective: To determine the effect of snakes and ladders board game with peers modelling approach in improving clean and healthy living behaviour of school children.Method: The design is quasi experimental pre-test post-test with control group. Calculated sample size was 126 school chidren 6-12 years old who had a problem of lack of clean and healthy living behaviour. The researchers used simulation of snakes and ladders board game in four sessions over 1 month, staging each session for 45 minutes. Data collection tool was a questionnaire consisting of variable knowledge, attitudes, and clean and healthy living behaviour skills of school-age children. Data was analysed using the paired t-test.Results: The parental education levels were low in 56% and the parental incomes were low in 58%. Around 75% of children had experienced a diarrhoeal disease in the previous 3 months. Handwashing facilities, clean water sources, and healthy latrines were readily available in 70.5%. Knowledge about clean and healthy living behaviour children increased from 44.7% to 60.9%, the child's attitude about clean and healthy living behaviour increased from 43,8% to 59.5% the skills of children of clean and healthy living behaviour increased from 41.2% to 55.7% after engaging in simulation of snakes and ladders board game. Alternatively, in the control group, there was no significant change in the values of the knowledge, attitude, and skills variables.Conclusions: Simulation of snakes and ladders board game significantly increases knowledge, attitudes, and skills of clean and healthy living behaviour in school children. Sri Lanka Journal of Child Health, 2020; 49(4): 341-346