Implementation of the HealthKick intervention in primary schools in low-income settings in the Western Cape Province, South Africa: a process evaluation

dc.contributor.authorde Villiers, Anniza
dc.contributor.authorSteyn, Nelia P
dc.contributor.authorDraper, Catherine E
dc.contributor.authorHill, Jillian
dc.contributor.authorDalais, Lucinda
dc.contributor.authorFourie, Jean
dc.contributor.authorLombard, Carl
dc.contributor.authorBarkhuizen, Gerhard
dc.contributor.authorLambert, Estelle V
dc.date.accessioned2015-08-25T13:47:12Z
dc.date.available2015-08-25T13:47:12Z
dc.date.issued2015-08-22
dc.date.updated2015-08-21T18:02:25Z
dc.description.abstractAbstract Background The HealthKick intervention, introduced at eight primary schools in low-income settings in the Western Cape Province, South Africa, aimed to promote healthy lifestyles among learners, their families and school staff. Eight schools from similar settings without any active intervention served as controls. Methods The Action Planning Process (APP) guided school staff through a process that enabled them to assess areas for action; identify specific priorities; and set their own goals regarding nutrition and physical activity at their schools. Educators were introduced to the APP and trained to undertake this at their schools by holding workshops. Four action areas were covered, which included the school nutrition environment; physical activity and sport environment; staff health; and chronic disease and diabetes awareness. Intervention schools also received a toolkit comprising an educator’s manual containing planning guides, printed resource materials and a container with physical activity equipment. To facilitate the APP, a champion was identified at each school to drive the APP and liaise with the project team. Over the three-years a record was kept of activities planned and those accomplished. At the end of the intervention, focus group discussions were held with school staff at each school to capture perceptions about the APP and intervention activities. Results Overall uptake of events offered by the research team was 65.6 % in 2009, 75 % in 2010 and 62.5 % in 2011. Over the three-year intervention, the school food and nutrition environment action area scored the highest, with 55.5 % of planned actions being undertaken. In the chronic disease and diabetes awareness area 54.2 % actions were completed, while in the school physical activity and sport environment and staff health activity areas 25.9 and 20 % were completed respectively. According to educators, the low level of implementation of APP activities was because of a lack of parental involvement, time and available resources, poor physical environment at schools and socio-economic considerations. Conclusions The implementation of the HealthKick intervention was not as successful as anticipated. Actions required for future interventions include increased parental involvement, greater support from the Department of Basic Education and assurance of sufficient motivation and ‘buy-in’ from schools.
dc.identifier.apacitationde Villiers, A., Steyn, N. P., Draper, C. E., Hill, J., Dalais, L., Fourie, J., ... Lambert, E. V. (2015). Implementation of the HealthKick intervention in primary schools in low-income settings in the Western Cape Province, South Africa: a process evaluation. <i>BMC Public Health</i>, http://hdl.handle.net/11427/13782en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationde Villiers, Anniza, Nelia P Steyn, Catherine E Draper, Jillian Hill, Lucinda Dalais, Jean Fourie, Carl Lombard, Gerhard Barkhuizen, and Estelle V Lambert "Implementation of the HealthKick intervention in primary schools in low-income settings in the Western Cape Province, South Africa: a process evaluation." <i>BMC Public Health</i> (2015) http://hdl.handle.net/11427/13782en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationde Villiers, A., Steyn, N. P., Draper, C. E., Hill, J., Dalais, L., Fourie, J., ... & Lambert, E. V. (2015). Implementation of the HealthKick intervention in primary schools in low-income settings in the Western Cape Province, South Africa: a process evaluation. BMC public health, 15(1), 818.
dc.identifier.ris TY - Journal Article AU - de Villiers, Anniza AU - Steyn, Nelia P AU - Draper, Catherine E AU - Hill, Jillian AU - Dalais, Lucinda AU - Fourie, Jean AU - Lombard, Carl AU - Barkhuizen, Gerhard AU - Lambert, Estelle V AB - Abstract Background The HealthKick intervention, introduced at eight primary schools in low-income settings in the Western Cape Province, South Africa, aimed to promote healthy lifestyles among learners, their families and school staff. Eight schools from similar settings without any active intervention served as controls. Methods The Action Planning Process (APP) guided school staff through a process that enabled them to assess areas for action; identify specific priorities; and set their own goals regarding nutrition and physical activity at their schools. Educators were introduced to the APP and trained to undertake this at their schools by holding workshops. Four action areas were covered, which included the school nutrition environment; physical activity and sport environment; staff health; and chronic disease and diabetes awareness. Intervention schools also received a toolkit comprising an educator’s manual containing planning guides, printed resource materials and a container with physical activity equipment. To facilitate the APP, a champion was identified at each school to drive the APP and liaise with the project team. Over the three-years a record was kept of activities planned and those accomplished. At the end of the intervention, focus group discussions were held with school staff at each school to capture perceptions about the APP and intervention activities. Results Overall uptake of events offered by the research team was 65.6 % in 2009, 75 % in 2010 and 62.5 % in 2011. Over the three-year intervention, the school food and nutrition environment action area scored the highest, with 55.5 % of planned actions being undertaken. In the chronic disease and diabetes awareness area 54.2 % actions were completed, while in the school physical activity and sport environment and staff health activity areas 25.9 and 20 % were completed respectively. According to educators, the low level of implementation of APP activities was because of a lack of parental involvement, time and available resources, poor physical environment at schools and socio-economic considerations. Conclusions The implementation of the HealthKick intervention was not as successful as anticipated. Actions required for future interventions include increased parental involvement, greater support from the Department of Basic Education and assurance of sufficient motivation and ‘buy-in’ from schools. DA - 2015-08-22 DB - OpenUCT DO - 10.1186/s12889-015-2157-8 DP - University of Cape Town J1 - BMC Public Health LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2015 T1 - Implementation of the HealthKick intervention in primary schools in low-income settings in the Western Cape Province, South Africa: a process evaluation TI - Implementation of the HealthKick intervention in primary schools in low-income settings in the Western Cape Province, South Africa: a process evaluation UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/13782 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/13782
dc.identifier.urihttp://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-015-2157-8
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationde Villiers A, Steyn NP, Draper CE, Hill J, Dalais L, Fourie J, et al. Implementation of the HealthKick intervention in primary schools in low-income settings in the Western Cape Province, South Africa: a process evaluation. BMC Public Health. 2015; http://hdl.handle.net/11427/13782.en_ZA
dc.language.rfc3066en
dc.publisher.departmentDivision of Human Nutritionen_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 License*
dc.rights.holderde Villiers et al.
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0*
dc.sourceBMC Public Healthen_ZA
dc.source.urihttp://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcpublichealth/
dc.subject.otherHealthKick interventionen_ZA
dc.subject.otherNutritionen_ZA
dc.titleImplementation of the HealthKick intervention in primary schools in low-income settings in the Western Cape Province, South Africa: a process evaluation
dc.typeJournal Articleen_ZA
uct.type.filetype
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceArticleen_ZA
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