PhotoVoice: Engaging School Communities in Wellness Efforts.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2-1-2018

Abstract

Children spend the majority of weekday waking hours at school. Schools provide students with food and opportunities for physical activity, and serve as a key environment to facilitate healthy behaviors.1, 2 In 2004, the US Federal Government passed the Child Nutrition and Women, Infants and Children (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children) Reauthorization Act, mandating all schools participating in the National School Lunch Program to develop and implement a school wellness policy by the 2006–2007 school year.3 The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act4 and the Final Rule of 20165 added requirements to support school wellness efforts. During the 2010–2011 school year, 55% of students were enrolled in a school district whose wellness policy did not meet all federal requirements.6 Two barriers to writing and implementing effective wellness policies noted by school board members, school wellness advocates, and state public health nutrition directors were the need to educate and gain support from non-staff stakeholders and the lack of adequate tools to assist schools in their wellness efforts. PhotoVoice was a participatory research methodology that used photography to document and showcase strengths and weaknesses to advocate for change.7, 8 PhotoVoice was used to advocate for neighborhood safety, rural childhood obesity prevention, and smoking policies.8, 9, 10, 11 This GEM focuses on the PhotoVoice: School Wellness curriculum,12 which was developed to raise awareness of and engagement in school wellness efforts.

Publication Title

Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior

Volume

50

Issue

2

First Page

203

Last Page

205

PMCID

29128321

DOI of Published Version

10.1016/j.jneb.2017.09.015

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS