Integrating a school-based health intervention in times of high-stakes testing: lessons learned from full court press

Lessons Learned in Conducting Community Participatory School-Based Health Research on an American Indian Reservation

BACKGROUND

Describing lessons learned from using a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach to conduct school-based child health research in a tribal community is an important contribution to the literature.

OBJECTIVES

To identify how CBPR principles shaped the process of conducting a school-based child health intervention, and to describe lessons learned.

METHODS

The study evaluates how CBPR principles guided a mixed-methods, school-based child health intervention to increase physical activity (PA).

RESULTS

Nine key lessons are identified, associated with CBPR principles.

CONCLUSIONS

This information can help researchers understand how to successfully navigate the challenges and opportunities of conducting CBPR-guided research in the context of a small, short-term project, including leadership turnover, multiple Institutional Review Board (IRB)s, and study design approaches amidst schools policy changes. Collectively, understanding the lessons learned through the perspective of CBPR principles may help others conduct meaningful research with schools and children in tribal communities.

The relationship between use of school-based health centers and student-reported school assets

PURPOSE

To examine the relationship between student-reported, school-based health center utilization and two outcomes: (1) caring relationships with program staff; and (2) school assets (presence of caring adults, high behavioral expectations, and opportunities for meaningful participation) using a school district-wide student survey. These relationships were also explored across schools.

METHODS

Using student-reported data from a customized version of the California Healthy Kids Survey from the San Francisco Unified School District (n = 7,314 students in 15 schools), propensity scoring methods were used to adjust for potential bias in the observed relationship between student utilization of services and outcomes of interest.

RESULTS

Estimates generally pointed to positive relationships between service utilization and outcome domains, particularly among students using services ≥10 times. Exploratory analyses indicate that these relationships differ across schools.

CONCLUSIONS

Use of school-based health centers appears to positively relate to student-reported caring relationships with health center staff and school assets. Future research is needed to confirm the robustness of these observed relationships.

Process evaluation of a positive youth development program in Hong Kong based on different cohorts

There are only a few process evaluation studies on positive youth development programs, particularly in the Chinese context. This study aims to examine the quality of implementation of a positive youth development program (the Project P.A.T.H.S.: Positive Adolescent Training through Holistic Social Programmes) and investigate the relationships among program adherence, process factors, implementation quality, and perceived program success. Process evaluation of 97 classroom-based teaching units was conducted in 62 schools from 2005 to 2009. Findings based on different cohorts generally showed that there were high overall program adherence and implementation quality. Program adherence and implementation process were highly correlated with quality and success of the program. Multiple regression analyses further showed that both implementation process and program adherence are significant predictors of program quality and success. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.