School wellness policies: effects of using standard templates

• Published in: American journal of preventive medicine 2012-09, Vol.43 (3), p.304-308
• Main Authors: Smith, Erin M, Capogrossi, Kristen L, Estabrooks, Paul A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Childhood; Epidemics; Health Behavior; Health Policy; Health Promotion - methods; Humans; Motor Activity; Nutrition; Nutrition Policy; Obese children; Obesity; Physical activity; Policy Making; Public schools; Regulations; School Health Services - organization & administration; Schools - organization & administration; Schools - statistics & numerical data; Virginia
• ISSN: 0749-3797; 1873-2607
• DOI: 10.1016/j.amepre.2012.05.009

Public school policies related to physical activity and nutrition recently have become the focal point for policymakers to evaluate the effect of regulations on the childhood obesity epidemic. State school board associations have begun to provide school districts templates for wellness policies, and little research exists that evaluates the effect of a template on the strength and comprehensiveness of these policies. To determine the strength and comprehensiveness of school wellness policies developed using a standard template when compared to those that do not. In 2011, a random sample of wellness policies from school districts in Virginia (ten locally developed wellness policies and ten template-based policies) was coded using a previously validated audit tool for strength and comprehensiveness. Data were reduced to a scale ranging from 0 to 1, with higher scores representing stronger and more-comprehensive policies, and compared using t-tests. Overall, only 17% of school wellness policies met all federal requirements. On average, locally developed policies met five of six federal requirements, whereas VSBA policies met four of six, t(2, 21)=2.161, p