142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

Home Events & Meetings Annual Meeting Schedule & Program

Online Program

Annual Meeting Recordings are now available for purchase

311989
Assessing the Implementation Climate for School-based Obesity Prevention Policies and Practices

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Monday, November 17, 2014 : 8:50 AM - 9:10 AM

Christine Totura, PhD , Department of Psychology, Auburn University, Auburn, AL
Holly Figueroa, MSW , Southwest Interdisciplinary Research Center, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ
Background: Nationally, obesity and obesity-related disease have become increasingly concerning for communities, with rates growing among children and adolescents. Research suggests that schools can play a key role in obesity prevention by implementing environmental policy strategies related to student health. This study explores the impact of school climate factors on strategy implementation to identify the mechanism predicting health and wellness policies and practices in Kindergarten-8th grade public school programs. It is the first study to test an empirical model of implementation factors for a comprehensive array of environmental obesity prevention strategies in schools. 

Methods: Utilizing a participatory research survey approach with school health professionals (n = 62) and a multiple regression design, a moderated predictive model of research-supported implementation effectiveness (i.e., attitudes and beliefs about prevention, school commitment to prevention, barriers, and stakeholder collaboration) was tested.

Results: School commitment to obesity prevention predicts implementation of healthy food policies when few barriers are in place. However, when many barriers are in place, school commitment is not associated with more healthy food policies. Without stakeholder collaboration, teachers are more likely to exclude students from physical education as punishment.  Commitment to obesity prevention practices, however, is related to decreased likelihood that exclusion from physical education is used as a punishment.

Conclusions: Barriers to obesity prevention efforts, such as lack of resources, support, or strategy clarity, may impact implementation efforts despite strong school commitment. Attitudes toward prevention and stakeholder collaboration are important in predicting implementation of physical education practices.

Learning Areas:

Assessment of individual and community needs for health education
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Public health or related organizational policy, standards, or other guidelines

Learning Objectives:
Explain the impact of implementation barriers on obesity prevention policies and practices in schools. Discuss the importance of stakeholder collaboration in predicting school implementation of physical education strategies consistent with obesity prevention efforts.

Keyword(s): School-Based Health, Obesity

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been a Principal or Co-Principal Investigator on several federally and locally funded studies examining the implementation of public health prevention efforts in school and community settings. My work has been published in numerous peer-reviewed publications and presented at multiple professional meetings.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 3025.0: Barriers to Policy Implementation