Using Teacher Goal Boards to Promote Healthy Eating and Physical Activity among Elementary Students

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to understand the potential impact on elementary students’ perceptions of, and intentions related to, healthy eating and physical activity when their classroom teacher sets and shares goals related to these health behaviors. Participants included 233 students and 16 teachers from grades 3‐6. Students completed a questionnaire before and after a six‐week intervention using Teacher Goal Boards. Each board was a laminated poster with space to write the teacher’s weekly physical activity, healthy eating, and life‐long learning goals. Teachers were asked to set a S‐M‐A‐R‐T goal in these three areas each week for six weeks and report progress to their students. Physical activity and healthy eating intentions, subjective norms, and injunctive norms all increased following the intervention with changes ranging from 2‐16%. More than two‐thirds of students wanted to be physically active following the intervention compared to half of students before the intervention. Approximately half of students intended to eat healthy foods after the intervention compared to only one‐third of students surveyed before the intervention. This study demonstrates that simple school‐based interventions that incorporate teachers modeling healthy behaviors may lead to meaningful increases in healthy lifestyle intentions and behaviors in children.

Teachers' characteristics predict students' guidance for healthy lifestyle: a cross-sectional study in Arab-speaking schools

“…Teachers are in a unique position to foster health promotion because they have direct access to large numbers of children. Therefore, there is great importance to create the environment that would help teachers to fulfill their position as a role model for healthy lifestyle, through appearance, practice and goal setting [ 51 ]. Teachers’ sub-optimal health behaviors and health perception might be an obstacle to this important role model position.…”