Department of Human Nutrition, Foods and Exercise, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061, USA.
Am J Prev Med. 2012 Sep;43(3):304-8. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2012.05.009.
Public school policies related to physical activity and nutrition recently have become the focal point for policymakers to evaluate the effect of regulations on the childhood obesity epidemic. State school board associations have begun to provide school districts templates for wellness policies, and little research exists that evaluates the effect of a template on the strength and comprehensiveness of these policies.
To determine the strength and comprehensiveness of school wellness policies developed using a standard template when compared to those that do not.
In 2011, a random sample of wellness policies from school districts in Virginia (ten locally developed wellness policies and ten template-based policies) was coded using a previously validated audit tool for strength and comprehensiveness. Data were reduced to a scale ranging from 0 to 1, with higher scores representing stronger and more-comprehensive policies, and compared using t-tests.
Overall, only 17% of school wellness policies met all federal requirements. On average, locally developed policies met five of six federal requirements, whereas VSBA policies met four of six, t(2, 21)=2.161, p<0.05. Both types of policies were ranked on a scale from 0 (weakest) to 1 (strongest); both types were weak (M=0.16±0.13) and only mildly comprehensive (M=0.37±0.16). There was a difference in policy comprehensiveness and strength between locally developed policies and template-based policies. Locally developed policies were stronger, t(2, 21)= -1.82, p<0.05, and more comprehensive, t(2, 21)= -2.5, p<0.05, than template-based policies.
In this sample, locally developed policies were stronger than template-based policies. If replicated in large studies, these findings suggest that further research is needed about how best to support schools that wish to develop school wellness policies.
最近，与体育活动和营养相关的公立学校政策已成为政策制定者评估法规对儿童肥胖流行影响的焦点。州学校董事会协会已开始为学区提供健康政策模板，而很少有研究评估模板对这些政策的强度和全面性的影响。
确定使用标准模板制定的学校健康政策与不使用模板的政策相比，其强度和全面性如何。
2011 年，弗吉尼亚州随机抽取了学区的健康政策样本（十份本地制定的健康政策和十份基于模板的政策），使用先前验证的审计工具对其强度和全面性进行编码。数据被简化为 0 到 1 的范围，得分越高表示政策越强且越全面，并使用 t 检验进行比较。
总体而言，只有 17%的学校健康政策符合所有联邦要求。平均而言，本地制定的政策符合六个联邦要求中的五个，而 VSBA 政策符合六个中的四个，t(2, 21)=2.161，p<0.05。两种类型的政策都在 0（最弱）到 1（最强）的范围内进行排名；两者都很弱（M=0.16±0.13）且仅略有全面性（M=0.37±0.16）。本地制定的政策和基于模板的政策之间在政策全面性和强度方面存在差异。本地制定的政策更强，t(2, 21)=-1.82，p<0.05，且更全面，t(2, 21)=-2.5，p<0.05，比基于模板的政策。
在本研究中，本地制定的政策比基于模板的政策更强。如果在大型研究中得到复制，这些发现表明，需要进一步研究如何最好地支持希望制定学校健康政策的学校。
