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Creating a Health Promoting School Environment: Lessons from a Healthy School’s Programme Presented by Dr Sinéad McNally and Gráinne Smith (CDI) T he Institute of Public Health Conference, QUB 11 th October 2012. Presentation Aims. Introduce CDI;

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  1. Creating a Health Promoting School Environment: Lessons from a Healthy School’s Programme Presented byDr Sinéad McNally and Gráinne Smith (CDI) The Institute of Public Health Conference, QUB11th October 2012

  2. Presentation Aims • Introduce CDI; • Outline the context for health promotion in schools and describe CDI’s Healthy School’s Programme (HSP); • Describe the main outcomes of, and the challenges faced in implementing, the HSP; • Outline recommendations for overcoming these challenges.

  3. Overview of CDI • A community led initiative; • Strategy developed by an inter-agency Consortium of 23 people; • Jointly funded by the DYCA and the AP: €15m over 5 years; • Seven evidence-informed interventions identified following three years of consultation; • Eight independent evaluations.

  4. Healthy School’s Programme • One of CDI’s seven interventions; • A whole-school approach to health promotion (Lahiff, 2008); • Objectives: • To Improve children's physical and psychological well-being; • To improve access to and uptake of health care services through effective referral systems; • To promote greater involvement of parents and families in their children’s health.

  5. Healthy School’s Programme • Implemented in five primary schools in Tallaght West (children aged 4-12); • Two Coordinators employed by schools to deliver a manualised programme; • Inter-agency Steering Committee established; • Work programme focused on HSP activities and Speech and Language Therapy.

  6. Short-term Outcomes • Independent evaluation of the programme using a quasi-experimental design: • Comiskey, O’Sullivan, Quirke, Wynne, Kelly and McGilloway (2012). The Healthy School’s Programme Evaluation. Dublin: Childhood Development Initiative (CDI) • No significant differences between the intervention and comparison schools; • No significant short term impact on improving Health Related Quality of Life; reducing depressive symptoms; reducing rates of children who were obese (BMI); rates of school absenteeism over time.

  7. Longer-term Outcomes • Establishment of school-based committees to sustain the focus on health promotion; • The schools have begun the process of change that is required to become a WHO defined ‘health promoting school’ (WHO, 1997); • Improved understanding within schools of HSE/specialist services - ‘demystifying’; • Masters programme developed in response to increasing teacher capacity.

  8. Recommendations • Bringing about change is challenging; • A strategic, whole-school approach to planning undertaken by schools. Informed by a self-evaluation and inclusive of the views of the entire school community i.e. staff, parents, children, and services; • Manualised approach seems to be useful but needs careful consideration.

  9. Recommendations • Help schools make structural-level changes i.e. in policy development, teacher capacity building, service level agreement development: • More likely to bring about sustainable change within schools; • Provide and encourage leadership: schools already time-burdened and resource-stretched so support from the DES and DH. Also need to meet health and well-being needs that arise in schools and requires a local area service response.

  10. Conclusion • Development of a health promoting school is recognised internationally as a challenging process that requires time, enthusiasm, and support; • The HSP was an ambitious health promoting school’s initiative; • With some adaptation and higher level support, it has the potential to become an evidenced-based national health promoting schools initiative (Comiskey et al, forthcoming).

  11. References • Comiskey, O’Sullivan, Quirke, Wynne, Kelly and McGilloway (2012). The Healthy School’s Programme Evaluation. Dublin: Childhood Development Initiative (CDI) • Lahiff, J. (2008). TWCDI Healthy School’s Manual. CDI Publication • WHO (1997). Promoting Health through School’s. Report of a WHO Expert Committee on Comprehensive School Health Education and Promotion. WHO Technical Report Series 870, Geneva

  12. Acknowledgments • We would like to thank: • All those who took part in the HSP and the evaluation; • The research team from TCD; • Our funders, DCYA and AP; • The CDI team.

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