From "best practice" to "next practice": the effectiveness of school-based health promotion in improving healthy eating and physical activity and preventing childhood obesity

International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity

Research

Christina Fung¹  Connie Lu¹  Paul J Veugelers¹  Megan Purcell¹  Kate Storey¹  Stefan Kuhle¹  Marg Schwartz¹ 

[1] School of Public Health, University of Alberta, 6-50 University Terrace, 8303 - 112 St, T6G 2 T4, Edmonton, AB, Canada;

关键词: Public health;    School health;    Nutrition;    Physical activity;    Obesity;    Children;    Comprehensive school health;    Health promotion;    Program evaluation;    Health policy;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1479-5868-9-27

 received in 2011-07-22, accepted in 2012-03-13,  发布年份 2012

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundIn 2005, we reported on the success of Comprehensive School Health (CSH) in improving diets, activity levels, and body weights. The successful program was recognized as a "best practice" and has inspired the development of the Alberta Project Promoting active Living and healthy Eating (APPLE) Schools. The project includes 10 schools, most of which are located in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas. The present study examines the effectiveness of a CSH program adopted from a "best practice" example in another setting by evaluating temporal changes in diets, activity levels and body weight.MethodsIn 2008 and 2010, we surveyed grade 5 students from approximately 150 randomly selected schools from the Canadian province of Alberta and students from 10 APPLE Schools. Students completed the Harvard Youth/Adolescent Food Frequency Questionnaire, questions on physical activity, and had their height and weight measured. Multilevel regression methods were used to analyze changes in diets, activity levels, and body weight between 2008 and 2010.ResultsIn 2010 relative to 2008, students attending APPLE Schools were eating more fruits and vegetables, consuming fewer calories, were more physically active and were less likely obese. These changes contrasted changes observed among students elsewhere in the province.ConclusionsThese findings provide evidence on the effectiveness of CSH in improving health behaviors. They show that an example of "best practice" may lead to success in another setting. Herewith the study provides the evidence that investments for broader program implementation based on "best practice" are justified.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Fung et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2012. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.