Elsevier

Preventive Medicine

Volume 37, Supplement 1, December 2003, Pages S97-S106
Preventive Medicine

Regular article
School climate and implementation of the Pathways study

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2003.08.010Get rights and content

Abstract

Background

Pathways was a multisite school-based study to prevent obesity in American Indian school children by encouraging healthy eating and physical activity.

Methods

Over the 3-year study, a total of 290 in-depth interviews were conducted with school administrators, food service managers, classroom teachers, and physical education instructors in all 21 intervention schools to examine support and barriers for Pathways. Analysis included qualitative assessment of key themes using NUD*IST and quantitative modeling of the impact of a school climate score on implementation of intervention components.

Results

Overall, teachers, food service managers, and physical education instructors were supportive of the Pathways interventions. School administration and lack of family participation were perceived barriers at some schools. Attitudes toward the program ranged from neutral to positive during the first year, with about two-thirds giving positive ratings, with greater variation in successive years. Overall, the mean score was 3.5 on a 5-point scale (1 = very negative, 5 = very positive). School climate score was positively associated with classroom curriculum and student exposure indices, but not with family attendance, food service, or physical activity implementation indices. The latter two indices were associated with site.

Conclusions

An assessment of school climate through interviews is useful in understanding successes and failures in a school-based health intervention and can predict implementation success for some programs.

Introduction

This paper examines the relationship between school climate and the implementation of the Pathways program. As reported in this supplement, the intervention was able to affect knowledge and other psychosocial parameters, such as food choice intentions and physical activity self-efficacy, decrease dietary fat and total caloric intake, and reduce fat in school meals. However, Pathways results showed no significant affect on physical activity and did not lead to a significant reduction in percentage body fat, the primary outcome, in intervention children compared to control children.

The intervention and measurement strategies were designed to reflect key constructs from Social Learning Theory (SLT) [1]. One of the defining constructs of this theory is reciprocal determinism, which posits a dynamic interaction among the person, his/her behavior, and the environment in which the behavior is performed. Consonant with our use of SLT, it was decided to explore the contribution of environmental factors to the implementation of Pathways through an examination of school climate. The school climate data were intended to help us understand why various components were or were not implemented in full and promote exploration of potential barriers to successful implementation and sustainability (Fig. 1).

Section snippets

Background of school climate measurement

School climate can be defined as the characteristics that distinguish one school from another and that affect the behavior of people within the school. A school's climate is dynamic, based on the perceptions of its members, and is influenced by a school's formal and informal organization, staff morale, and the leadership of the school. Staff stability, administrative support, and appropriate financial and human resources are components of a school's climate [2], [3]. These factors can affect

Methods

The Pathways measure of school climate was initially a qualitative assessment, created to specifically appraise intervention schools as they related to the four components of the intervention: classroom curriculum, food service, physical activity, and family. No standardized instruments for assessing school climate for a health program existed so in-depth interviews were conducted by trained Pathways research staff. In this assessment principals, classroom teachers, physical education teachers,

Study schools

The results presented below are summarized across Pathways sites. Each of the participating tribes differs from the other in terms of history, culture, geography, and other factors. The schools themselves vary greatly from one another. Participating schools were public schools, Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) schools, tribal contract schools, or private parochial schools. Smaller parochial schools frequently had a lot of parent involvement, whereas BIA boarding schools tended to be distant from

Associations between school climate findings and study outcomes

There were several sources of variability in the attitudes of school staff and others toward Pathways. Attitudes varied by year of intervention and by the type of interviewee. Generally, less variation in attitudes toward Pathways occurred during the first year of intervention, when the majority of interviewees were neutral or positive. In successive years, a greater proportion of attitudes were seen in other categories. Administrators expressed the most positive responses overall, whereas food

Acknowledgements

We express our deepest appreciation and sincere thanks to the students, parents, leaders, school staff/administration, and American Indian communities in the following locations: Gila River Indian Community (Akimel O'odham), Tohono O'odham Nation, Navajo Nation (Dine); Oglala Sioux Tribe (Oglala Lakota), Rosebud Sioux Tribe (Sicangu Lakota), San Carlos Apache Tribe (Dee'), and White Mountain Apache Tribe (Ndee'), and to all the staff who assisted in the development, implementation, and

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