1. Conceptual basis of this reportThis is a featured page

The conceptual basis of this report is as follows:
  1. Research evidence and two decades of practice in school health promotion that suggests that comprehensive approaches that link synergistic, multi-level and holistic responses to clusters of interrelated youth behaviours and contextual factors can lead to coordinated school health programs and services delivered by a variety of agencies and professionals that create and maintain health-promoting schools that not only support health and positive social development among youth but can also support school safety, more community-school cooperation and more effective schooling. There are several models of such comprehensive and coordinated approaches; we have organized them into five essential elements:
    • Appropriate policies that are implemented/enforced and evaluated regularly
    • Instructional strategies that include appropriate curricula, effective teaching, high quality materials and other supports
    • Accessible health and other support services delivered in youth-friendly ways in, through or near schools
    • Activities and programs such as parent involvement, youth engagement and community development that increase the social support for healthy behaviours and development
    • Assurance that the physical environment of the school and its surroundings, as well as practical resources such as safe and convenient transportation, are available to support health, social development and learning.

  2. Recent research indicating that ongoing system, agency, school, community and professional capacities are required in school health promotion programs are to be sustainable. The Rapid Assessment and Action Planning tool from the World Health Organization (2003) has been adapted for this purpose. These key capacities cover these eight areas:
    • Explicit policy and managerial support for inter-ministry and multisectoral cooperation,
    • Use of formal and informal mechanisms of cooperation,
    • Assigned staff and infrastructure support,
    • Mechanisms and processes to transfer knowledge,
    • Ongoing workforce development and pre-service training,
    • Explicit processes to identify and managing emerging or synergisitc health and social issues,
    • Regular monitoring and reporting of the health, social behaviours and connectedness, of children and youth to their parents, schools and the community, and monitoring of local agency policies, programs and capacities and monitoring of the health literacy, knowledge and skills of students as well as preparation of some students for health careers
    • Explicit plan for sustainability, program evaluation and evolution.

  1. Research and practice about effective health promotion suggest that:
    • social determinants should be addressed directly,
    • specific sub-populations (eg children of addicts, FASD children) be identified,
    • decisions about selecting and adapting programs and other interventions should be based research evidence
    • data about prevalence and about conditions/factors that influence behaviour should be collected regularly and used effectively in program planning and evaluation
    • investments in promotion and prevention should be increased and gradually shifted awy from treatment and crisis response
    • well-planned and well supported efforts to engage all stakeholders and several sectors should be implemented and evaluated
    • the public, communities, parents and students should be engaged in all stages of the activities § realistic expectations about outcomes in health, health literacy/learning and social development/behaviours should be established and monitored.

  1. Systems theory and ecological approaches to health promotion that suggest that perspectives, disciplines and other grounded theories such as diffusion of innovations, organizational development, and other such theories can identify and understand the characteristics. These include:
    • The core functions of any system should be carefully analyzed and understood (ie educational achievement is the primary consideration for all schools and must be taken into account)
    • Detailed aspects of the characteristics of open, loosely-coupled and bureaucratic systems will have an influence on adoption, implementation and institutionalization. These include specific items such as adopter concerns, organizational culture, professional norms etc)
    • Diffusion of innovations theory should be used to plan, implement and evaluate the progress of selected policies, programs and practices
    • Organizational development, education change research, capacity building and continuous improvement strategies should be mapped out prior to implementing specific interventions so that subsequent change is sustainable and effective

These concepts reflect an evolution in our thinking about effective school health promotion that can be depicted as follows. The evolution occurs across the horizontal and down the vertical axis as shown below as the practitioners become more skilled and knowledgeable:


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dmccall 		Latest page update: made by dmccall , Apr 19 2008, 2:58 PM EDT (about this update About This Update dmccall Moved from: Home - dmccall

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