The Battle River Project: school division implementation of the health-promoting schools approach

Abstract

The Battle River Project (BRP) is a school division-level intervention in rural Alberta, Canada, built upon the health-promoting schools approach to health promotion. Using self-reported school and student-level data from administrators and students, the central aim of the BRP is to examine: ‘How can the school environment and health behaviours (healthy eating, physical activity and mental wellness) of children and youth be improved when a health-promoting schools model, the Ever Active Schools program, is implemented with school division support?’ Evidence used to inform school level changes included students’ demographic, behavioral, and psychosocial variables linked to school environment data, comprised of school demographics and administrator-assessed quality of policies, facilities, and programs related to physical activity. Each participating school and the division were provided with a tailored report of their schools’ results to reflect, plan and implement for positive health behavior change. The main lesson learned was that sharing school-specific evidence can operate as a catalyst for embedding health promoting policy and practices within the school and division culture. (Global Health Promotion, 2011; 18(1): pp. 39—42)

Keywords

evidence-based practice health promotion organizational case studies public health schools

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Stewart-Brown S.

What is the evidence on school health promotion in improving health or preventing disease and, specifically, what is the effectiveness of the health promoting schools approach?

WHO Regional Office for Europe, Health Evidence Network report. 2006; Mar 01; (cited 4 Dec. 2009); pp. 16-17. Available from: http://euro.who.int/document/e88185.pdf.

Ever Active Schools (homepage on the Internet). Edmonton: Ever Active Schools; c 1999-2009 (cited 4 Dec. 2009). The Battle River Project and the Health Assessment Tool for Schools. Available from: http://everactive.org/battle-river-projectandhttp://everactive.org/health-assessment-tool-for-schools.

Battle River School Division (homepage on the Internet). Camrose: Battle River School Division #31; c 2006 (cited 4 Dec. 2009). Documents and Policy. Available from: http://brsd.ab.ca/documents/policy/policy_21.htm.

Gleddie DL and Melnychuk NE An introduction to the Battle River Project: district implementation of a health promoting schools approach. PHE J. Forthcoming; 2010.

SHAPES (homepage on the Internet). Waterloo: University of Waterloo; c 1992-2009 (cited 4 Dec. 2009). About SHAPES. Available from: http://www.shapes.uwaterloo.ca/about.cfm .

REAL Kids Alberta (homepage on the Internet). Edmonton: University of Alberta; c 2008 (cited 4 Dec. 2009). Project Overview. Available from: http://www.realkidsalberta.ca/overview.php .