Identifying common metrics for evaluating school-based healthy lifestyles programs in seven countries: introduction to workshop proceedings.

BACKGROUND

The worldwide childhood obesity pandemic highlights the need to instill healthy lifestyle habits in children and youths, in particular fostering and facilitating healthy eating behaviors and a high degree of physical activity. To achieve this it's important to strengthen local program evaluation capacity.

OBJECTIVE

To summarize the proceedings of the seven-country School-Based Healthy Lifestyles Program Evaluation Workshop held in Granada, Spain, on 13-14 September 2013 under the auspices of the Mondelēz International Foundation.

METHODS

Synthesis of workshop proceedings including illustrative participants' quotes.

RESULTS

All seven countries' programs were successful at developing and presenting their Program Impact Pathway (PIP) analysis at the workshop. All countries found their PIP analyses useful and improved them based on feedback received at the workshop.

CONCLUSIONS

As illustrated by the participants' quotes the PIP analyses proved to be very useful in leading to in-depth critical thinking and discussion about ways to improve the programs' processes, oversight, and outcomes.