Critical Thinking on School Health Programs

1- Develop a plan of action to help the school improve the health of its students.

After the assessment, the following lists of problems were recognized as the key problems that faced the school: inactivity, obesity, and lack of knowledge of healthy food choices. The school health education programs should be data driven and evidence based.

Inactivity is caused by the school's lack of structured and scheduled physical exercise. Therefore, each class will have a three physical education c sessions lasting 45 minutes each week. All students will also be engaged in sports as a way of inducing the students to like physical exercises (Tugault-Lafleur, Black & Barr, 2017). All participants in sports activities and tournament would be rewarded.

Obesity is caused by partly lack of adequate physical, exercise and poor dietary regimes. The school's nurse and the dieticians would liaise to create a balanced diet for the school feeding. The school would also have a mandatory school lunch programs to provide a balanced diet and nutritious fruits to the school children to be played by the parent and subsidized by either the school or the government (Walton, 2003).

Lack of knowledge on healthy food choices is due to either ignorance or lack of basic dietary knowledge. The nurse will conduct a health promotion drive that will involve educating the students, and the staff on dietary measures, healthy food choices, and healthy lifestyles. The school nurse will also public a recipe book and dietary book or a pamphlet to be distributed to both student and staff. The books will provide tips on healthy eating and lifestyle (Weiler & Pigg, 2004).

2- Evaluate which methods of assessment (quantitative and qualitative), intervention, and evaluation will be most appropriate to help change this specific environment.

Meal observations are the most effective qualitative assessment methods. However, quantitative method of assessment to be used in the quantitative food frequency questionnaires (FFQ).

The most effective intervention method is health promotion. Being proactive is more effective than being reactive. Health promotion involves educating all the stakeholders on proper dietary measures and healthy lifestyle especially the importance of physical exercise and plays on development and health (Weiler & Pigg, 2004).

Evaluation methods will be multifaceted. The nurse will evaluate both process and outcomes. For example, the student health outcomes will be evaluated before and after three months of healthy diet implementation. The second evaluation method will be the service utilization measures such as the emergency room services utilization, the number of days students spend under hospitalizations and the number of students missing classes.

References

Tugault-Lafleur, C., Black, J., & Barr, S. (2017). A Systematic Review of Methods to Assess Childrens Diets in the School Context. Advances In Nutrition: An International Review Journal, 8(1), 63-79. http://dx.doi.org/10.3945/an.116.013144

Walton, R. (2003). Evaluating health promotion programs. Public Health, 117(6), 457. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0033-3506(03)00032-5

Weiler, R., & Pigg, R. (2004). The School Health Portfolio System: A New Tool for Planning and Evaluating Coordinated School Health Programs. Journal Of School Health, 74(9), 359-364. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1746-1561.2004.tb06629.x