A holistic school-based intervention for improving health-related knowledge, body composition, and fitness in elementary school students: an evaluation of the HealthMPowers program

Table 5 Mean (SD) scores in self-reported scores for school policies and practices, from 2011–2012 to 2012–2013, for the cohort of 22 schools starting the HealthMPowers program in 2011–2012 and providing data on student knowledge and behavior, fitness measurements (BMI, PACER test), HealthMPowers resource usage, and school policies and practices

	Student health programming	Physical education & physical activity	Staff wellness	Family engagement	School health team	School environment	Overall school
Baseline*	30.1 (9.3)	27.8 (9.2)	13.2 (4.3)	12.1 (5.3)	10.1 (6.3)	18.2 (7.4)	111.5 (31.8)
2011-2012 (post)	34.4 (6.0)	26.6 (4.9)	18.9 (4.9)	16.7 (4.8)	15.3 (6.2)	19.3 (5.7)	131.2 (20.3)
2012-2013	38.8 (8.1)	34.2 (7.2)	18.6 (4.5)	19.9 (5.5)	17.2 (6.8)	25.8 (8.3)	154.5 (26.7)
P-value (baseline to 2012–2013) ^†	0.0021	0.0057	*0.0008*	*<0.0001*	0.0012	0.0025	*<0.0001*

*Baseline measurement is taken in 2011–2012 before the school begins implementing the HealthMPowers resources. Schools self-rate each year during the fall and again during the spring, describing their policies and practices. These are then scored against a target zone. Domains measured include student health programming (e.g., whether students are engaged in regular health education), physical education and activity (e.g., frequency with which PE class is offered), staff (e.g., whether health is discussed at staff meetings), family (e.g., whether families are provided with health information), School Health Team (e.g., whether a team has been convened, has had meetings), and school environment (e.g., has made policy or environmental changes such as removing vending machines selling sugar-sweetened beverages). Scores are totaled to come up with an overall assessment of how well the school’s policies and practices promote health.
^†Paired two-sample t test. Alpha = 0.0005.

ISSN: 1479-5868