Creating Evidence-Based Policy for School-Based Prevention: Policymaker, Educator, and Student Perspectives on Opportunities and Challenges

Despite increasing momentum focused on improving students’ physical and emotional health in schools – including initiatives focused on addressing childhood obesity, preventing bullying, and building social and emotional skills – such efforts are often implemented in silos, without recognition of their interconnections. Understanding how stakeholders are thinking about health school environments including the connections between issues is the first critical step to establishing a more holistic framework, such as Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC). The present study represents one element of a larger effort to extend and advance the WSCC framework, and to support the development of effective, integrated healthy schools policies that promote health equity for all students.

In-depth, semi-structured focus groups and key-informant interviews were conducted to explore the perspectives of a diverse set of stakeholders—including state school board members, educators, and students— in order to identify: (1) their respective and overlapping needs and priorities, and (2) the optimal strategies and conditions for promoting healthy school environments through policies that address those needs and priorities.

This presentation will address key themes that emerged from these conversations, and discuss how these findings can be leveraged to coordinate school-based health and prevention efforts through policy.