The Effect of Traditional Games Intervention on Overweight Among Secondary School Students in Iran

This study examined the role of Physical Education (PE) program and traditional games intervention on controlling student's weight for a national sample of secondary school students in Iran. Quasi-experimental design was selected for this research. Some 60 lower secondary school overweight girls were selected according to multistage random selection and categorized into two groups. In the experimental group (n = 30) school physical education (PE) program was done for 45 minutes and traditional games intervention performed for 15 minutes but for the control group (n = 30) school physical education (PE) program was carried out for 60 minutes without traditional games intervention. Both group continued the experiment three days a week for three months. Measured BMI were analyzed by using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) to adjust for differences and co-variables. ANCOVA results illustrated that all of the variables in this research had positive effects on each other. The results suggested that physical education program can decrease overweight. Combination of physical education program with traditional games intervention could be more effective and efficient for reducing overweight. Therefore this study indicated that a traditional games intervention program is very effective.