A survey of the health of Victorian primary school principals

Abstract

In recent years responsibility for the administration of schools internationally has shifted from education departments towards self‐governing schools. This trend has resulted in major changes to the role of school principals. Such changes in role may impact on the psychological and physical health of principals, but there has been very little research into this population. A survey of the health and wellbeing of a representative sample of 50 principals of State primary schools in Victoria, Australia is reported. Subjects completed questionnaires measuring health‐related behaviour and stress and arousal levels and participated in comprehensive health appraisals. Principals reported better smoking patterns than the population as a whole. Despite a higher socioeconomic status than the population as a whole, the health status of the principals was not apparently better. Principals reported higher stress levels and worse physical health than a group of white‐collar employees of similar socioeconomic status.

Impact of a health promotion program on the health of primary school principals

“…Before discussing these results in detail, the strengths of the study need to be recognised. First, the post-test retention rate for the questionnaire was exceptionally high (99 percent), with few similar rates having been reported previously for 12-month periods (Green and Small, 1997). This may Notes: a For continuous variables: T = time main effect.…”

“…Of the three subjects who had individual consultations with the psychologist, one had two sessions, and the remainder had only one session. There were no differences between attendees and non-attendees for the dietitian, psychologist and nutrition seminar on the basis of age, gender or seniority (Green and Small, 1997). The referral pattern from the initial counselling session to the dietitian and the psychologist was reflected in attendees.…”

“…Attendees at the nutrition seminar had better diet patterns at pre-test than nonattendees (t (48) = 2.0, p = 0.05) and attendance had no apparent effect on diet or healthrelated variables (Green and Small, 1997).…”

“…Assistant principals could be expected to be younger, although these data were not available, and are more likely to be female (47 percent compared to 34 percent for the entire principal class). Higher participation rates in health promotion programs are often reported for older employees (Green and Small, 1997).…”

“…Although the INT group was selected to match the demographic characteristics of the entire population and the CON group were selected from the remainder of respondents, the groups did not differ on the basis of demographic characteristics (Table I). The two groups did not differ at pre-test on any behavioural or attitudinal data (Green and Small, 1997). Physical data could not be compared because they were not collected for the CON group.…”