The process evaluation of It's Your Move!, an Australian adolescent community-based obesity prevention project

Abstract

BackgroundEvidence on interventions for preventing unhealthy weight gain in adolescents is urgently needed. The aim of this paper is to describe the process evaluation for a three-year (2005-2008) project conducted in five secondary schools in the East Geelong/Bellarine region of Victoria, Australia. The project, 'It's Your Move!' aimed to reduce unhealthy weight gain by promoting healthy eating patterns, regular physical activity, healthy body weight, and body size perception amongst youth; and improve the capacity of families, schools, and community organisations to sustain the promotion of healthy eating and physical activity in the region.MethodsThe project was supported by Deakin University (training and evaluation), a Reference Committee (strategic direction, budgetary approval and monitoring) and a Project Management Committee (project delivery). A workshop of students, teachers and other stakeholders formulated a 10-point action plan, which was then translated into strategies and initiatives specific to each school by the School Project Officers (staff members released from teaching duties one day per week) and trained Student Ambassadors. Baseline surveys informed intervention development. Process data were collected on all intervention activities and these were collated and enumerated, where possible, into a set of mutually exclusive tables to demonstrate the types of strategies and the dose, frequency and reach of intervention activities.ResultsThe action plan included three guiding objectives, four on nutrition, two on physical activity and one on body image. The process evaluation data showed that a mix of intervention strategies were implemented, including social marketing, one-off events, lunch time and curriculum programs, improvements in infrastructure, and healthy school food policies. The majority of the interventions were implemented in schools and focused on capacity building and healthy eating strategies as physical activity practices were seen by the teachers as already meeting students' needs.ConclusionsWhile substantial health-promoting activities were conducted (especially related to healthy eating), there remain further opportunities for secondary schools to use a whole-of-school approach through the school curriculum, environment, policies and ethos to improve healthy eating, physical activity and healthy body perceptions in youth. To achieve this, significant, sustained leadership will be required within the education sector generally and within schools specifically.

Expanding a successful community-based obesity prevention approach into new communities: Challenges and achievements

“…Perhaps a formalised agreement between project officers, school staff/stakeholders and researchers would have been beneficial for HPC:BAEW. Lessons learnt from IYM suggest that teacher and student involvement in the formative stages of a project are critical in gaining access to schools and lead to further capacity building [29]. This current study is consistent with our previously published research, highlighting the challenges to incorporating health promotion programmes into an already overcrowded curriculum, and the need for extensive planning and teacher willingness to integrate content into lesson plans [29].…”

“…Previous schoolbased studies emphasise that secondary schools are complex organisations making it a challenge to incorporate new activities due to competing programmes within the curriculum, lunch time activities and other initiatives targeting students and staff [29]. Similarly, primary schools can face issues such as lack of time; lack of teacher motivation; the programme replacing important curricula; scheduling issues and lack of facilities [30].…”

“…Student engagement in the project is integral to the overall success of activities of the programme [29]. Senior students can be effective programme leaders (i.e.…”

Averting Uncertainty: A Practical Guide to Physical Activity Research in Australian Schools

“…Fourth, administrators or teachers may perceive the motivation and demands of research projects to be incompatible with the ideology or operation of schools (Petosa & Goodman, 1991). Fifth, there may be a perception within schools that adequate structures already exist that stifles the introduction of new policy initiatives around physical activity (including physical activity research) (Mathews, Moodie, Simmons, & Swinburn, 2010).…”

The development of the “Water Campaign”

“…SMk has led to successful childhood obesity prevention interventions (UK Government, 2010;Evans et al, 2010;Huhman et al, 2010;Stead et al, 2007;Mathews et al, 2010). A major strength of SMk is its "client-oriented" focus, resulting not only in tailored interventions but also in improved intervention reception and acceptance (Borys et al, 2012;French et al, 2010;Griffiths et al, 2008).…”