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Using research to drive policy development: A school‐based nutrition intervention
Author(s) -
Spence Marsha,
Jones Sonya,
Hardin Sonia
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.20.4.a129
Subject(s) - general partnership , participatory action research , intervention (counseling) , overweight , qualitative research , perception , psychology , health promotion , medical education , policy development , citizen journalism , political science , medicine , sociology , public health , obesity , nursing , public administration , social science , neuroscience , anthropology , law
The objective of this intervention study was to use teacher generated themes from a qualitative study to drive policy change at the school level. Originally, 13 elementary school teachers were recruited for a participatory action research study to develop a research‐driven partnership to change school food policies related to child overweight. Additional interviews were conducted with 20 elementary school teachers to ascertain their perceptions regarding the school nutrition environment and its impact on child health and weight status. Several themes emerged and were presented to the wellness committee during the policy‐making process. The themes helped drive the development of several aspects of the school nutrition policy, including 1) promoting healthy snacks in the classroom, 2) discouraging the use of candy as a reward, 3) promoting the use of fresh fruits and vegetables as choices at school parties, and 4) changing concession and vending selections to meet the state guidelines for healthy snacks. This policy will be integrated into the school’s wellness policy and implemented in January 2006. Data will be presented that examines the effectiveness of this policy. If effective, this model may be used by schools to develop nutrition and wellness policies that address the underlying problems in most school environment.