Development of a collaborative model to improve school health promotion in the Netherlands

Abstract

In recent decades, school health promotion programs have been developing into whole-school health approaches. This has been accompanied by a greater understanding among health promoters of the core-business of schools, namely education, and how health promotion objectives can be integrated into this task. Evidence of the positive impact of school health promotion on health risk behavior of students is increasing. This article focuses on the processes and initial results of developing a collaborative model tailored for whole-school health in the Netherlands, named schoolBeat. The Dutch situation is characterized by fragmentation, a variety of health and welfare groups supporting schools, and a lack of sound integrated youth policies. A literature review, observations, and stakeholder consultation provided a clear picture of the current situation in school health promotion, and factors limiting a comprehensive and needs-based approach to school health. This revealed that a health promotion team within a school is fundamental to an effective approach to tailored school health promotion. A respected member of school staff should chair this team. To strengthen the link with the school care team, the school care coordinator should be a member of both teams. To provide coordinated support to all schools in a region, participating organizations decided to share advisory tasks. These tasks are included in the regular health promotion work of their staff. This means working with one advisor representing all school-health organizations per school, and using a comprehensive overview of possible support and projects promoting health. Empowering schools in needs assessments and comprehensive school health promotion is an important element of the developed approach. This article concludes with an examination of emerging issues in evaluating collaborative school health support during the first 18 months of development, and implementation and future perspectives regarding sustainable collaboration and quality improvement.

School satisfaction and social relations: Swedish schoolchildren’s improvement suggestions

“…Further, the SchoolBeat model, like this study, supports an interactive cycle of research and action, involving interaction between participating schools and research staff, and conclusions are drawn from the data collected. Hence, the way data reported to the collaboration partners can influence the interpretation and direction of decision-making (Leurs et al 2005). Moreover, Waters et al (2009) describe a developmental, ecological and health promotion intervention theory that can facilitate the identification of interpersonal and organizational aspects of a school environment, which in turn may satisfy individual needs of feeling independent, competent and connected and may improve health and well-being outcomes for adolescents.…”

School development in Austria and implementation factors for health promotion

“…On a structural level it has been described as expensive while only delivering midrange results. Moreover, with its four levels of administrative hierarchy the educational system is considered to be relatively complex (Lassnigg et al 2007;Specht and Sobanski 2012). Similar to other European countries, there have been a number of reforms in Austria in reaction to the first cross-country comparative studies in the field of education (Altrichter et al 2014).…”

Effects of transfer-oriented curriculum on multiple behaviors in the Netherlands

“…see (Leurs, et al, 2005b)], there are increasing calls for integrative approaches to health promotion. Such approaches focus on integration at the content level of health promotion by systematically connecting various health behavior domains, so that a single intervention program may impact on multiple behaviors simultaneously (Paulussen et al, 1998;Catalano et al, 2002;Flay, 2002;Greenberg et al, 2003;Prochaska, 2008).…”