Teacher training as a behavior change process: principles and results from a longitudinal study.
For students to realize the benefits of behavior change curricula for disease prevention, programs must be implemented effectively. However, implementation failure is a common problem documented in the literature. In this article, teacher training is conceptualized as a behavior change process with explicit teacher motivation components included to help effect the intended behavior (i.e., implementation). Using this method, the Hutchinson Smoking Prevention Project, a randomized controlled trial in school-based smoking prevention, conducted 65 in-service programs, training nearly 500 teachers (Grades 3-10) from 72 schools. Implementation was monitored by teacher self-report and classroom observations by project staff. The results were favorable. All eligible teachers received training, virtually all trained teachers implemented the research curriculum, and 89% of observed lessons worked as intended. It is concluded that teacher training conceptualized as a behavior change process and including explicit teacher motivation components can promote effective implementation of behavior change curricula in public school classrooms.
Kealey
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Hutchinson Smoking Prevention Project, Division of Public Health Sciences, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA 98109-1024, USA. kkealey@fhcrc.org
Peterson
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Gaul
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Dinh
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D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002648:Child; D003479:Curriculum; D005178:Faculty; D015438:Health Behavior; D006266:Health Education / Q000458:organization & administration*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007318:Inservice Training / Q000458:organization & administration*; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D009042:Motivation; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D016730:Program Development / Q000379:methods; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012572:School Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012907:Smoking / Q000523:psychology*; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D014861:Washington