Assessing the Effects of a Statewide Training Initiative on Local School Wellness Policies
The Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE) developed a 5-year initiative to strengthen wellness policies across their state by offering regional wellness workshops and providing coaches to work with individual districts. KSDE also developed the Wellness Impact Tool (WIT), a self-report measure districts use to document their practices at each school level related to Nutrition, Nutrition Promotion, Physical Activity, and Integrated School-Based Wellness. Kansas districts completed the WIT annually over a 5-year period. The current study evaluates the KSDE wellness initiative by examining the changes in WIT scores over time and by school level, and testing whether greater engagement with wellness supports (i.e., workshops attended and coaching sessions received) predicts higher WIT scores.
Full citation: McKee SL, Xu R, Schwartz MB. Assessing the Effects of a Statewide Training Initiative on Local School Wellness Policies [published online ahead of print, 2022 Jan 19]. Health Promot Pract. 2022;15248399211070808. https://www.doi.org/10.1177/15248399211070808.