"HealthKick": Formative assessment of the health environment in low-resource primary schools in the Western Cape Province of South Africa

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorde Villiers, Annizaen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorSteyn, Neliaen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorDraper, Catherineen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorFourie, Jeanen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorBarkhuizen, Gerharden_ZA
dc.contributor.authorLombard, Carlen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorDalais, Lucindaen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorAbrahams, Zulfaen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorLambert, Estelleen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2015-11-18T04:01:08Z
dc.date.available2015-11-18T04:01:08Z
dc.date.issued2012en_ZA
dc.description.abstractBACKGROUND: This study evaluated the primary school environment in terms of being conducive to good nutrition practices, sufficient physical activity and prevention of nicotine use, with the view of planning a school-based health intervention. METHODS: A sample of 100 urban and rural disadvantaged schools was randomly selected from two education districts of the Western Cape Education Department, South Africa. A situation analysis, which comprised an interview with the school principal and completion of an observation schedule of the school environment, was done at all schools. RESULTS: Schools, on average, had 560 learners and 16 educators. Principals perceived the top health priorities for learners to be an unhealthy diet (50%) and to far lesser degree, lack of physical activity (24%) and underweight (16%). They cited lack of physical activity (33%) and non-communicable diseases (NCDs; 24%) as the main health priorities for educators, while substance abuse (66%) and tobacco use (31%) were prioritised for parents. Main barriers to health promotion programmes included lack of financial resources and too little time in the time table. The most common items sold at the school tuck shops were crisps (100%), and then sweets (96%), while vendors mainly sold sweets (92%), crisps (89%), and ice lollies (38%). Very few schools (8%) had policies governing the type of food items sold at school. Twenty-six of the 100 schools that were visited had vegetable gardens. All schools reported having physical activity and physical education in their time tables, however, not all of them offered this activity outside the class room. Extramural sport offered at schools mainly included athletics, netball, and rugby, with cricket and soccer being offered less frequently. CONCLUSION: The formative findings of this study contribute to the knowledge of key environmental and policy determinants that may play a role in the health behaviour of learners, their parents and their educators. Evidently, these show that school environments are not always conducive to healthy lifestyles. To address the identified determinants relating to learners it is necessary to intervene on the various levels of influence, i.e. parents, educators, and the support systems for the school environment including the curriculum, food available at school, resources for physical activity as well as appropriate policies in this regard.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationde Villiers, A., Steyn, N., Draper, C., Fourie, J., Barkhuizen, G., Lombard, C., ... Lambert, E. (2012). "HealthKick": Formative assessment of the health environment in low-resource primary schools in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. <i>BMC Public Health</i>, http://hdl.handle.net/11427/15093en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationde Villiers, Anniza, Nelia Steyn, Catherine Draper, Jean Fourie, Gerhard Barkhuizen, Carl Lombard, Lucinda Dalais, Zulfa Abrahams, and Estelle Lambert ""HealthKick": Formative assessment of the health environment in low-resource primary schools in the Western Cape Province of South Africa." <i>BMC Public Health</i> (2012) http://hdl.handle.net/11427/15093en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationde Villiers, A., Steyn, N. P., Draper, C. E., Fourie, J. M., Barkhuizen, G., Lombard, C. J., ... & Lambert, E. V. (2012). “HealthKick”: Formative assessment of the health environment in low-resource primary schools in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. BMC public health, 12(1), 794.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Journal Article AU - de Villiers, Anniza AU - Steyn, Nelia AU - Draper, Catherine AU - Fourie, Jean AU - Barkhuizen, Gerhard AU - Lombard, Carl AU - Dalais, Lucinda AU - Abrahams, Zulfa AU - Lambert, Estelle AB - BACKGROUND: This study evaluated the primary school environment in terms of being conducive to good nutrition practices, sufficient physical activity and prevention of nicotine use, with the view of planning a school-based health intervention. METHODS: A sample of 100 urban and rural disadvantaged schools was randomly selected from two education districts of the Western Cape Education Department, South Africa. A situation analysis, which comprised an interview with the school principal and completion of an observation schedule of the school environment, was done at all schools. RESULTS: Schools, on average, had 560 learners and 16 educators. Principals perceived the top health priorities for learners to be an unhealthy diet (50%) and to far lesser degree, lack of physical activity (24%) and underweight (16%). They cited lack of physical activity (33%) and non-communicable diseases (NCDs; 24%) as the main health priorities for educators, while substance abuse (66%) and tobacco use (31%) were prioritised for parents. Main barriers to health promotion programmes included lack of financial resources and too little time in the time table. The most common items sold at the school tuck shops were crisps (100%), and then sweets (96%), while vendors mainly sold sweets (92%), crisps (89%), and ice lollies (38%). Very few schools (8%) had policies governing the type of food items sold at school. Twenty-six of the 100 schools that were visited had vegetable gardens. All schools reported having physical activity and physical education in their time tables, however, not all of them offered this activity outside the class room. Extramural sport offered at schools mainly included athletics, netball, and rugby, with cricket and soccer being offered less frequently. CONCLUSION: The formative findings of this study contribute to the knowledge of key environmental and policy determinants that may play a role in the health behaviour of learners, their parents and their educators. Evidently, these show that school environments are not always conducive to healthy lifestyles. To address the identified determinants relating to learners it is necessary to intervene on the various levels of influence, i.e. parents, educators, and the support systems for the school environment including the curriculum, food available at school, resources for physical activity as well as appropriate policies in this regard. DA - 2012 DB - OpenUCT DO - 10.1186/1471-2458-12-794 DP - University of Cape Town J1 - BMC Public Health LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2012 T1 - "HealthKick": Formative assessment of the health environment in low-resource primary schools in the Western Cape Province of South Africa TI - "HealthKick": Formative assessment of the health environment in low-resource primary schools in the Western Cape Province of South Africa UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/15093 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/15093
dc.identifier.urihttp://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-12-794
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationde Villiers A, Steyn N, Draper C, Fourie J, Barkhuizen G, Lombard C, et al. "HealthKick": Formative assessment of the health environment in low-resource primary schools in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. BMC Public Health. 2012; http://hdl.handle.net/11427/15093.en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisherBioMed Central Ltden_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Medicineen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Health Sciencesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.rightsThis is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licenseen_ZA
dc.rights.holder2012 de Villiers et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.en_ZA
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0en_ZA
dc.sourceBMC Public Healthen_ZA
dc.source.urihttp://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcpublichealth/en_ZA
dc.subject.otherprimary school environmenten_ZA
dc.subject.othergood nutrition practicesen_ZA
dc.subject.otherurban and rural disadvantaged schoolsen_ZA
dc.title"HealthKick": Formative assessment of the health environment in low-resource primary schools in the Western Cape Province of South Africaen_ZA
dc.typeJournal Articleen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceArticleen_ZA
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
de_Villiers_HealthKick_2012.pdf
Size:
221.73 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download
Collections
Journal Articles