A health promotion program for school personnel.

Though public schools traditionally have been concerned about the mental and physical health of children, programs that provide support for the health and well-being of school employees are rare. A health promotion program that focused on self-help in the areas of self-management, coping and adapting, exercise and fitness, and nutrition and well-being was designed for school employees. Before the program began, surveys of teachers and school administrators were conducted to document general well-being, health protective behaviors, and perceived occupational stress. A prevention-oriented educational program was implemented that provided for trained facilitators to influence small groups of employees to work together to maintain or improve their health. Results indicate that school employees who meet specified criteria can be trained to facilitate a health promotion program within the public school environment. Also, as a result of the facilitator training program, knowledge levels, attitudes, and certain health behaviors of participants are significantly influenced. However, feasibility will depend on a social process during which stakeholders are given opportunity to make decisions concerning implementation. An algorithm is useful to communicate the social process for decision making as it translates abstract principles of formative evaluation into concrete procedures that will assist planners in determining the feasibility of implementing the program in a school.