effect of an educational tool based on social cognitive theory on height literacy and healthy behaviors in school-aged children in mae hong son, thailand

Background: height assessment is essential for monitoring child development. accordingly, this study aimed to develop and evaluate educational tools (soong-dee magnet graph) based on social cognitive theory (sct) to enhance height literacy and promote healthy behaviors among school-aged children in mae hong son province, thailand, in 2023. methods: a quasi-experimental one-group pretest-posttest design was employed to evaluate the impact of the height-promotion intervention. sixty students (male: n=31, 51.70%; female: n=29, 48.30%), aged 9–14 years, were selected using systematic sampling. demographic, height literacy, health behavior questionnaires and the soong-dee magnet graph were utilized for data collection. eventually, the obtained data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and paired-sample t-tests to assess changes in knowledge and behavior before and after the intervention (p<0.05). results: after four months of intervention, the height and weight of the students increased, with a noticeable increase in the height literacy and health behavior scores (p<.001). conclusion: our findings revealed that an sct-based educational tool could effectively promote height literacy and healthy behaviors in school-aged children highlighting the potential of simple visual tools to promote health education and well-being in underserved communities.