Citation

Buffington A, McKee C, Ragsdale K, Blanchard TC, Baggett D, Southward LH. J. Sch. Health 2014; 84(5): 285-293.

Affiliation

Family and Children Research Unit, Social Science Research Center, Mississippi State University, 1 Research Boulevard, Mississippi State, MS 39762. anne.buffington@ssrc.msstate.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, American School Health Association, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/josh.12152

PMID

24707922

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Annual evaluations of the Mississippi Healthy Students Act of 2007 (MHSA) were conducted during 2009-2011 (years 1-3) among 4 stakeholder groups: (1) parents of public school students, (2) adolescents, (3) state-level policymakers (ie, legislators and other state officials), and (4) public school officials (ie, superintendents and school board members).

METHODS: We examine results from the first state-wide surveys conducted among purposive samples of superintendents (N = 314) and school board members (N = 689) on childhood obesity as it related to MHSA. These school officials were surveyed in years 1-3 to determine their knowledge or attitudes toward MHSA and support of potential policies, such as reporting results of student body mass index (BMI) assessments to parents.

RESULTS: Through the 3 years of the study, school officials were supportive of MHSA across a number of variables, although superintendents were consistently more supportive of current policies as compared with school board members.

CONCLUSIONS: Results underscore the current and potential role of school officials relative to the process of fully implementing MHSA within all public school districts in Mississippi. Implications and 3 cases that illustrate diverse ways that school districts have chosen to implement effective school-based health initiatives are discussed.

Language: en