Pilot-Testing an Intervention to Enhance Wellness Policy Implementation in Schools: Wellness Champions for Change

To develop and pilot-test Wellness Champions for Change (WCC) to enhance local wellness policy (LWP) implementation by forming wellness teams. Randomized, controlled school-level pilot study. Five Maryland school districts. A total of 63 elementary, middle, or high schools. Developed from stakeholde...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of nutrition education and behavior 2018-09, Vol.50 (8), p.765-775
Main Authors: Hager, Erin R., Song, Hee-Jung, Lane, Hannah G., Guo, Hallene H., Jaspers, Lea H., Lopes, Megan A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Child
Health Policy
Health Promotion - methods
Humans
Maryland
pediatric obesity
Pediatric Obesity - prevention & control
Pilot Projects
policy
Random Allocation
school
School Health Services
School Teachers
Schools
Surveys and Questionnaires
wellness programs
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Summary:To develop and pilot-test Wellness Champions for Change (WCC) to enhance local wellness policy (LWP) implementation by forming wellness teams. Randomized, controlled school-level pilot study. Five Maryland school districts. A total of 63 elementary, middle, or high schools. Developed from stakeholder interviews, focus groups, and existing programs. Schools were randomized within district to (1) WCC training (6-hour, single-day teacher training), (2) WCC training plus technical assistance (TA), or (3) delayed training (control). Online teacher/administrator survey pre-post (spring, 1 year apart) that examined the direct effect of the intervention on active wellness team formation (postintervention, 8-item sum score) and LWP implementation (29 items, not implemented to fully implemented)/indirect effect of intervention on LWP implementation via active wellness team formation. Adjusted linear or logistic regression and mediation modeling. Postintervention, WCC plus TA and WCC had more active wellness teams (vs control, β = 1.49, P = .02 and β = 1.42, P = .03, respectively). No direct effect of intervention on LWP implementation was found. Formation of active wellness teams mediated the association between both WCC plus TA and WCC and LWP implementation (WCC plus TA confidence interval [CI], 1.22–16.25; WCC CI, 10.98–15.61 [CI was significant without 0]). The WCC intervention approaches indirectly affected LWP implementation through the formation of active wellness teams. These results support building and school-level wellness teams.
ISSN:1499-4046
1878-2620
DOI:10.1016/j.jneb.2018.05.018