MRC MSc student

Level of study: B.Psych

Title: A Process Evaluation of Schools Self Assessment Regarding Healthy Lifestyle.

International studies of populations around the world have indicated a rise in the incidence of obesity among adults and children. Significant evidence exists which indicates that obesity which begins in infancy and childhood persists through adulthood, since body mass index (BMI) levels in childhood are strongly indicative of adult obesity. Obesity in children is not only related to diabetes, but these children might have great difficulty with high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, orthopedic problems, sleeping habits, as well as self-esteem and peer-relationships.

Schools have been recognized as an establishment for health promoting activity with the theoretical advantages of influencing health-related beliefs and behaviours early in the ‘health career’ before they are established as adult patterns. Influencing children in their formative years is a potential instrument for influencing the up-and-coming culture and health beliefs of society.

The HealthKick Programme; “Kick-starting diabetes prevention through improved Physical activity and Nutrition in Primary Schools”, is the intervention phase of a larger primary school based project and aims to assist schools in creating a health promoting environment. The first phase of the project entailed a thorough formative assessment of a random sample of 100 schools from the Metropole North and Overberg/Breederivier Educational Management Development Centres in the Western Cape Province.  The first step in Phase 2 of the project is to guide the intervention schools through a self-assessment process. At the end of this process each school will decide on an action plan to be embarked on in the next two and half years. The intervention schools will be provided with a ‘Resource Kit’ to assist them in addressing the identified problems areas. 

Specific aims of the project are:

• To determine how principals and teachers experienced the process of conducting a school health self-assessment. A series of mini-questionnaires and focus groups, at various points during the intervention will be conducted with all grade 4-6 teachers out of 16 randomly selected schools out of an original sample of 100 schools in the Metropole North and Overberg/Breederivier EMDCs.
• To determine how the self-assessment process contributed towards creating a healthier environment in schools, qualitative data will be compared to baseline information which will be repeated each year of the intervention.
• The results will inform recommendations i.e. to improve the self-assessment guide developed for the project, as well as expanding the self-assessment programme to other schools.

Supervisor: Dr Nelia Steyn & Dr Anniza De Villiers, MRC Unit: Chronic Diseases of Lifestyle. Study Institution: University of the Western Cape