Case Study: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Obesity Prevention Efforts in Schools

The Client
Williamsburg Community Health Foundation and Williamsburg-James City County Public Schools, Williamsburg, VA

The Public Health Challenge
In 2006, the Williamsburg-James City County Public Schools (WJCCPS) received a $2.3 million, multi-year grant from the Williamsburg Community Health Foundation (WCHF) for the School Health Initiative Project (SHIP), an intervention which focuses on increasing healthy eating and physical activity among students, parents, and staff. As part of SHIP's comprehensive programming, a registered dietician, outreach workers, student challenge clubs, staff wellness programs, physical education resource teachers, and summer camp partnerships all have come together to transform the school environment to increase healthy living.

In 2006, Health Resources in Action was hired to gauge the effectiveness of the program and its impact on attitudes and behaviors and determine how the program could work most effectively in the future.

The Strategy
To identify baseline health-related attitudes and behaviors among the WJCCPS community, Health Resources in Action's Research and Evaluation department conducted a survey in 2006 and analyzed the data from 4,800 students, 1,748 parents, and 766 school staff members. The team also analyzed height/weight data of 3rd, 6th, and 7th graders. After two years of the program, another wave of height/weight data was collected and a follow-up survey was conducted with students, parents and staff. HRiA is currently analyzing these data and comparing whether students' weight status as well as students', parents', and staff members' attitudes and behaviors around healthy eating and physical activity have significantly changed after two years of SHIP.

In addition, HRiA has conducted a comprehensive process evaluation of SHIP over the last two years. As part of this task, HRiA conducts focus groups and interviews during the school year to collect qualitative data from key stakeholders and end users of SHIP. The process evaluation's goal is to provide a snapshot of SHIP's activities, successes, challenges, and lessons learned during different periods of the initiative. This phase of evaluation can also highlight opportunities to enhance program development and implementation, an element that is important for both short-and long-term strategy development and planning.

The Impact
The findings from these studies provide insights into SHIP's successes and challenges, the ways in which it has impacted students', staff members', and parents' attitudes and behaviors, and the opportunities for the future in how to further transform the school environment to increase physical activity and healthy eating.

The HRiA Advantage
Health Resource in Action's Research and Evaluation department is able to assist the Williamsburg-James City County Public Schools in their program development and implementation by determining measureable outcomes, identifying issues or messages that resonate with the target audience, managing quantitative and qualitative data collection, analyzing and presenting data, and assessing program/project progress.