School climate and the institutionalization of the CATCH program.
School climate refers to various physical and psychosocial structures that shape schools' social and physical environments. The Child and Adolescent Trial for Cardiovascular Health (CATCH) study provided an opportunity to study how aspects of school climate are associated with continued implementation of the CATCH program. Nutrient analysis of menus, observations of physical education (PE) classes, and teacher and staff self-reports were used to measure CATCH program components. Results of this study indicate that aspects of school climate were associated with continued implementation of the CATCH classroom component but not the CATCH food service or PE components. These findings have implications for how we plan for the progression of innovative school health promotion programs from the initial trial stage to institutionalization. Measures of school climate may be useful in determining a school's readiness to adopt and implement an innovative health promotion curriculum.
Parcel
Guy S
GS
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, School of Public Health, Houston 77030, USA. guy.s.parcel@uth.tmc.edu
Perry
Cheryl L
CL
Kelder
Steven H
SH
Elder
John P
JP
Mitchell
Paul D
PD
Lytle
Leslie A
LA
Johnson
Carolyn C
CC
Stone
Elaine J
EJ
D000293:Adolescent; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002648:Child; D002664:Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D003479:Curriculum; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D005522:Food Services; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015279:Organizational Culture; D010806:Physical Education and Training; D016730:Program Development; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012572:School Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012931:Social Environment; D013995:Time; D014481:United States