Objective Sedentary behaviours, physical inactivity, and poor diets in Canadian children are a major public health problem. Comprehensive school health (CSH) recognizes the importance of school and home collaboration; however, it is unknown how health behaviours promoted in school are adopted at home. The purpose of this research was to explore student perceptions of the translation of an intervention taking a CSH approach in Alberta, Canada, into the home environment. Methods The guiding method was focused ethnography, using photovoice as the data generation strategy. Grades 5 and 6 students were purposively sampled (n = 25), and asked to take photos of what CSH looks like in their home environment. Subsequent one-on-one interviews were conducted as part of the photovoice process to gain a deeper understanding of student perceptions. Results Two main themes emerged: students embraced the CSH philosophy, and students are driving change to create a healthy home culture. The underlying concept of leadership and independence was necessary for students to impact their health and the health of family members. Results demonstrated that students are catalyzing positive changes in the home environment by supporting changes in the home food environment, trying new things, facilitating improvements to healthy eating and active living, and monitoring unhealthy behaviours. Conclusion This study illustrates students' abilities to positively impact the home environment as a result of their involvement in CSH. Student leadership and independence should be promoted and emphasized in CSH to facilitate transition of health behaviours into the home environment.
Objective: The school and home environments play a significant role in shaping the health behaviours of children. Understanding students’ home environments is essential for teachers to recognise and meet their students’ needs, while collaborative partnerships between the school and home have been shown to result in academic success and improved behaviour management. This study explores the unique features of photovoice as a student-centred approach to understanding the links between the school and home environments, and its feasibility to be implemented independently by teachers in the classroom. Design: Descriptive qualitative method. Setting: A Project Promoting healthy Living for Everyone in Schools (APPLE Schools) is a school-based health promotion project being conducted in 70 school communities across northern Alberta, Northwest Territories, and Manitoba, Canada. Method: One-on-one interviews with teachers who were involved in an initial photovoice project ( n = 3) and researcher field notes from observations conducted over a period of 8 months were used. Data were analysed using latent content analysis. Results: Strengths, limitations and future directions of photovoice were identified. The strengths of using photovoice included genuine student participation, strengthened communication between the school and home, and the ability to address multiple learning domains. Limitations were cost, privacy and parental support. Teachers shared promising ideas about photovoice being used for health promotion advocacy. Conclusion: Photovoice can be used by teachers as tool to strengthen the relationship between the home and the school environments. Future use of photovoice in schools is encouraged.
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