The Healthy Champions program in Pennsylvania schools: Assessment, awareness, and improvement of school wellness

Abstract

Schools are important environments for promotion of healthy behaviors to reduce childhood obesity; however, many barriers prevent schools from sustaining wellness programs. The goal of the Healthy Champions program was to assist schools with identifying areas for improvement through a nutrition and activity-focused assessment, and delivery of a customized score report and welcome kit with materials to promote healthful behavior change. In this study, we aimed to describe participation and assessment results for this program across a five-year period. Enrollment in the Healthy Champions program was open to private and public K-12 schools across Pennsylvania beginning in 2013. School staff completed an assessment that scored aspects of the wellness environment and was used to enroll schools in the program. Schools were awarded star status (0–5) based upon responses and provided a tailored response to improve ratings, and with re-enrollment, became a simple way for schools to track progress. From 2013 to 2018, 592 schools enrolled for at least one year, representing 58 out of 67 counties (87%) in Pennsylvania. Mean star status at baseline was 2.89 out of 5; however, schools enrolled for multiple years (51%) saw significant improvement in star status, independent of school size and rural/urban status.

Impact of Wellness Policy Review, Wellness Council Activity, and Student Health Objectives on Overall School Wellness Climate

“…Program enrollment began with the completion of a school wellness environment assessment. The assessment described by Francis et al 12 was revised for the 2019/2020 program year and beyond to have greater alignment with the holistic approach of the WSCC model. Revised assessment categories included (1) nutrition and physical activity, (2) psychological and social services, (3) school health environment, (4) school health and wellness policy, and (5) health promotion.…”

“…8,9 The CDC suggests schools assess their wellness environments and plan for improving student health. 10 The Healthy Champions program, launched in 2013 by Penn State PRO Wellness, 11 was designed to provide Pennsylvania K-12 schools with a simple, high-level, free mechanism for evaluating their school wellness environment, wellness infrastructure, and student/family engagement, as explained by Francis et al 12 This program supports participating schools with resources that align to the WSCC model. Schools enrolled in the program complete a brief assessment, based on WSCC components, and are provided a tailored report identifying areas for improvement.…”

Evaluating the Impact of Aevidum on Mental Health Knowledge, Attitudes, and Help-Seeking Behaviors in High School Students: A Mixed-Methods Study

“…Priority was given to schools with previous interest in Aevidum and/or a prior relationship with the research team. 15 , 16 Before the 2021-2022 academic year, schools were randomly assigned via covariate-constrained randomization to implement the Aevidum curriculum (n = 5) or the curriculum and club (n = 5). Curriculum only schools had the opportunity to start clubs the following academic year.…”

Investigating the effectiveness of an adapted professional development model in the adoption of school wellness initiatives

“…The Penn State PRO Wellness team has long-standing expertise in professional development with schools (Francis et al, 2019;Hivner et al, 2018Hivner et al, , 2019. To promote the adoption and utilisation of whole child wellness activities, the team has sought to utilise CDC Professional Development Practices (CDC, 2019).…”