Background. Among middle school students, physical inactivity and poor diet reinforce the risk of lifestyle and a future stroke. Existing didactic educational intervention approaches have not been effective. We tested the effect of a newly developed  stroke education program that integrates social interaction with active learning among school children in improving stroke awareness.

Method.  Middle school students between the ages of 11 and 14 years attending public school, were recruited to participate in an interventional program to promote stroke knowledge and healthy lifestyle education. We tested the impact of the intervention on students’ knowledge immediately after, and extended period following the intervention to assess both immediate and delayed retention of basic knowledge of stroke and healthy lifestyle with stratification by grade. 

Result. ANOVA with repeated measures found a significant difference in the immediate retention of the signs of stroke (FAST) between the 6th, 7th and 8th grades [F (1,109) = 279.67, P < 0.001]. In the delayed testing, there was a significant difference [F (1,109) = 0.89, P = 0.96] among the 6th, 7th and 8th grades in the retention of the fact that stroke occurs in the brain.

Conclusion. In an educational interventional program that integrates active learning with social interactive activities, middle school children between the ages of 11 and 14 can retain information about stroke and healthy life style. Intervention strategies need to consider social interactive activities with embedded active learning to better enhance the retention of basic knowledge of stroke and healthy life style.

A novel school-based stroke educational intervention to stimulate, retain and improve stroke awareness in 11 to 14 years school children