A training program of source-separated recycling for primary school students: Applying the health promoting schools model

Abstract Recycling is a waste management process that has attracted a lot of attention for helping protect the environment. The current research aims to determine the effect of an intervention based on the Health Promoting Schools model (Albanian’s HPSM) on the recycling behaviors of primary school students. In this study, 413 primary school students in Maragheh, Iran, were randomly divided into a test group (n = 207) and a control group (n = 206). The educational intervention consisted of seven 45-minute teaching sessions and eight promotion programs for the students, two discussion sessions for the parents and two group educational sessions for the teachers. The tools used included a researcher-made questionnaire with items on awareness, attitude, performance, and participation in source-separated recycling. The validity and reliability of this tool were also measured. The questionnaires were completed in two stages in both groups, including before and three months after the intervention. Data were analyzed using SPSS software. The significance level was considered to be P < 0.05. After the intervention, a significant difference was observed in the mean scores of awareness, attitude, performance, and participation in terms of recycling among the students in the test group compared to before the intervention (P < 0.05). The mean scores of knowledge, attitude, performance, and participation also differed significantly after the intervention between the teachers and parents in the test group and the control group (P < 0.05). The use of Albanian’s Health-Promoting Schools (HPS) approach is effective in improving source-separated recycling behaviors in primary school students.