Effectiveness of Structured Teaching Programme regarding Knowledge on Prevention of Osteoporosis and its related Complications among Women Working in Selected Schools and Colleges of Kolar, Karnataka.

About 300 million people in India suffer from osteoporosis11. In India the prevalence of osteoporosis among women aged between 30-60 years is 30%. It is more frequently found in women than men at the ratio of 4:1.1Osteoporosis is largely preventable for most people, and it is accomplished through medical, nutritional and lifestyle interventions. Prevention of this disease is very important because while there are treatments for osteoporosis, there is currently no cure14.The purpose of the present study was to assess the knowledge regarding prevention of Osteoporosis and its related Complications among Women Working in Selected Schools and Colleges of Kolar, Karnataka.” The study involved a single group without control group, pre  experimental design and purposive sampling technique was used. The study was conducted in selected schools and colleges of Kolar. Karnataka. The formal permission along with subjects consent was taken before collecting the data. Structured Knowledge Questionnaire was administered to 50 women who were working in selected schools and colleges of Kolar, Karnataka. STP was administered on the same day. A post-test was conducted after 8 days with same tool. With regard to the first objective the overall mean Knowledge score of working women regarding prevention of Osteoporosis and its related complications was found to be inadequate (84%) in pre-test and adequate (60%) in post-test after administering structured teaching programme. As per the second objective the mean post test knowledge score of the subjects was higher than (74.5%) the mean pre-test score (43.75%) . The Paired ‘t’ test was done and it was found that there was a significant change in knowledge level after STP (‘t’ value 18.156) at 0.05 level and it was significant. Hence H1 was accepted. As per the third objective the findings revealed that there was not significant association between the post test knowledge scores with socio-demographic variables like age, income, marital status, religion, residency (rural and urban), family history of osteoporosis, body mass index and exposure to mass media with in six months, on osteoporosis and its related complications at 0.05 level through ‘ χ 2 ‘ test . Hence H2 is rejected. As the mean post-test score is significantly higher than that of the pre-test it is evident that the Knowledge of women working in selected schools and colleges about prevention of Osteoporosis and its related complications was improved after the educational intervention. The study highlights about the working women aware about the prevention of Osteoporosis and its related complications thus reinforcing the statement, “Prevention is better than the Cure”