The Alberta Teachers’ Association

The Role of Health Promotion Coordinators

Who are the health promotion coordinators and what do they do?

In January 2007, Alberta Health and Wellness provided funding for the Healthy Weights Initiative (HWI) to promote healthy weights for children and youth. One component of this initiative was the creation of health promotion coordinator (HPC) positions to support the initiative across the province.

Currently, 23 HPCs from Alberta Health Services (AHS) work in 16 locations throughout Alberta to meet the needs of local school jurisdictions. While work around the province varies, all HPCs focus on supporting healthy weights among school-aged children through the promotion of healthy eating, active living and well-being. HPCs have a wide range of knowledge and skills, including backgrounds in nutrition, kinesiology, education and community development.

Health promotion coordinators work with school jurisdictions in Alberta to

• create healthy school environments by suggesting assessment tools and helping schools through the process;
• develop a plan and put it into action;
• provide PD opportunities related to healthy eating, active living and well-being;
• develop and implement health and wellness policies;
• interpret the Alberta Nutrition Guidelines for Children and Youth for use where children live, learn and play;
• connect schools and communities to resources that support healthy school environments;
• take part in committees that focus on healthy eating, active living and well-being; and
• provide information on funding opportunities that support school health.

Why are healthy school communities important to student success?

Healthy students are better learners, and successful students are healthier people over the long-term. This interdependent relationship means that both health- and education-sector partners can achieve their goals through the development of healthy school communities. Creating school environments that support healthy behaviours is an important contributor to overall student success. 

Consider the following points:

• Research demonstrates strong relationships between healthy behaviours and stronger academic outcomes, including grades, classroom performance, scores on standardized tests and graduation rates (Basch 2010; Lavin, Shapiro and Weill 1992; IUHPE 2000; WHO Expert Committee on Comprehensive School Health Education and Promotion 1997; Symons et al 1997).

Healthier students are more likely to have higher attendance rates, lower dropout rates, higher participation in extracurricular activities and fewer disciplinary issues than less-healthy students. These students are also more likely to have higher levels of self-esteem, self-efficacy and school contentment and stronger aspirations related to postsecondary education (IUHPE 2000; WHO Expert Committee on Comprehensive School Health Education and Promotion 1997; Symons et al 1997; Kristjansson et al 2009).

The opportunity exists to improve the health of Alberta students and improve their learning capacity and overall success. The following highlights key health behaviours among Albertan and Canadian children and youth: 

• In 2004, 21.8 per cent of Albertans aged 2–17 years were overweight or obese (Shields 2005).

The majority of Canadian children and youth do not eat adequate amounts of vegetables and fruit, as recommended in Eating Well with Canada’s Food Guide (Garriguet 2007).

• Just under 35 per cent of Albertan children aged 6–11 years are physically active for less than seven hours per week, and 25.3 per cent of youth aged 12–19 years are inactive during their leisure time (Statistics Canada 2004, 2007).
• Canadians aged 6–19 years are sedentary for 8.6 hours per day or 62 per cent of their waking hours (Colley et al 2011).
• Depression is estimated to affect 6–10 per cent of children aged 6–12 years and 8 per cent of adolescents in Canada (CMHA-Edmonton 2005).

How do you create a healthy school community?

Comprehensive School Health (CSH) is an internationally recognized approach for creating healthy school communities. HPCs and their partners from schools and school jurisdictions use the CSH approach to plan, organize and manage school health initiatives and integrate such initiatives within the broader infrastructure of the school community. Research shows that CSH is most effective for improving health behaviours related to nutrition, physical activity, mental health and resiliency, all of which significantly influence student success (Stewart-Brown 2006; Lister-Sharp et al 1999).

The CSH approach provides a process for addressing school health issues in a holistic manner through the consideration of four distinct but interrelated pillars (Joint Consortium for School Health 2008):

• Social and Physical Environment includes structural elements of school settings that influence health and wellness, as well as the quality of relationships between students, staff and families and the emotional well-being of students.
• Teaching and Learning includes the activities, practical opportunities and provincial curriculum where students gain age-appropriate knowledge and skills needed to improve their health.
• Healthy School Policy includes administrative practices that promote student wellness and respectful, welcoming, inclusive and caring school environments.
• Partnerships and Services include connections between the school and families, working relationships between the school and community organizations, and community and school-based services that support student health, such as counselling and referral pathways.

Harmonized actions related to all four pillars support students in reaching their full potential as learners (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. There are four distinct but interrelated areas to address when building healthy school communities. Taking action in all four areas will lead to a healthy environment for student success.

What have HPCs done to assist in the creation of healthy Alberta school communities?

Since 2007, HPCs have partnered with schools and school jurisdictions across Alberta to create healthier school environments. The actions taken by HPCs and their education partners to support healthy school communities include the following:

• Providing PD opportunities for teachers and other school staff at school district PD days.
• Developing and implementing policies related to student health and wellness in 24 school jurisdictions across the province.
• Creating networks of health champions from multiple schools. Members of these networks work together to complete school health assessments, develop and implement action plans based on the needs of individual school communities, and share success stories. 
• Obtaining funds from the Alberta Healthy School Community Wellness Fund and other granting agencies to support projects to improve healthy eating, active living and well-being within school communities. 
• Planning, implementing and evaluating many types of CSH initiatives and events, including school or community gardens, cooking clubs for students or families, healthy fundraising projects, daily physical activity initiatives, special events or conferences for members of school communities, and healthy canteen/cafeteria makeovers. 

Success Story: Partnering to create healthy eating environments in schools

The following example provides a more detailed account of an HPC partnership with a Calgary school jurisdiction.

In 2008, Calgary Catholic School District partnered with HPCs to make healthy eating a top priority in its schools. The district’s healthy choices committee was expanded to include district-level staff, principals and community representatives from AHS and Be Fit for Life. Committee members helped more than 30 schools form health action teams of teachers, students, parents and community members. An HPC and the project coordinator from the school district helped the teams to assess their school health environments, identify priority issues and come up with actions to address these issues.

The healthy choices committee used input from teachers, students, principals and parents to develop a districtwide nutrition policy based on the Alberta Nutrition Guidelines for Children and Youth. To help schools introduce the policy, the HPC and other members of the committee provided training and education sessions to school principals and noon-hour assistants; worked with a vending company to ensure that healthy foods and beverages were stocked in vending machines; and started a program for schools that wanted to order healthy food products for their canteens or cafeterias and had the food products delivered directly to the school.

Where can I find out more about the HPCs and CSH?

For more information about creating healthy school communities and to access support from an HPC in your area, please contact the Healthy Weights Team at HealthyWeightsTeam@albertahealthservices.ca.

References

Basch, C. 2010. “Healthier Students Are Better Learners: A Missing Link in School Reforms to Close the Achievement Gap.” Equity Matters Research Review No. 6. New York: Campaign for Educational Equity, Teachers College, Columbia University.

Canadian Mental Health Association, Edmonton Region (CMHA-Edmonton). 2005. Depression in Youth. Edmonton, Alta: CMHA-Edmonton.

Colley, R. R., D. Garriguet, I. Janssen, C. L. Craig, J. Clark and M. S. Tremblay. 2011. “Physical Activity of Canadian Children and Youth: Accelerometer Results from the 2007 to 2009 Canadian Health Measures Survey.” Health Reports 22, no. 1: 1–9.

Garriguet, D. 2007. “Canadians’ Eating Habits.” Health Reports 18, no. 2: 17–32.

International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE). 2000. The Evidence of Health Promotion Effectiveness: Shaping Public Health in a New Europe. Paris: IUHPE.

Joint Consortium for School Health. 2008. What Is Comprehensive School Health? http://eng.jcsh-cces.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=40&Itemid=62 (accessed January 20, 2012).

Kristjansson, A. L., I. D. Sigfusdottir, J. P. Allegrante and A. R. Helgason. 2009. “Adolescent Health Behavior, Contentment in School, and Academic Achievement.” American Journal of Health Behavior 33, no. 1: 69–79.

Lavin, A. T., G. R. Shapiro and K. S. Weill. 1992. “Creating an Agenda for School‐Based Health Promotion: A Review of 25 Selected Reports.” Journal of School Health 62, no. 6: 212–28.

Lister-Sharp, D., S. Chapman, S. Stewart-Brown and A. Sowden. 1999. “Health Promoting Schools and Health Promotion in Schools: Two Systematic Reviews.” Health Technology Assessment 3, no. 22: 1–207.

Shields, M. 2005. Measured Obesity: Overweight Canadian Children and Adolescents. Nutrition: Findings from the Canadian Community Health Survey Issue No. 1. Ottawa: Statistics Canada.

Statistics Canada. 2004. Table 105-2003: Children’s Participation in Physical Activities, in Hours Per Week, by Sex, Household Population Aged 6 to 11, Canadian Community Health Survey Cycle 2.2, Canada and Provinces, Occasional. Ottawa: Statistics Canada.

———. 2007. Table 105–0501: Health Indicator Profile, Annual Estimates, by Age Group and Sex, Canada, Provinces, Territories, Health Regions (2007 Boundaries) and Peer Groups, Occasional. Ottawa: Statistics Canada.

Stewart-Brown, S. 2006. What Is the Evidence on School Health Promotion in Improving Health or Preventing Disease and, Specifically, What Is the Effectiveness of the Health Promoting Schools Approach? Copenhagen: World Health Organization.

Symons, C. W., B. Cinelli, T. C. James and P. Groff. 1997. “Bridging Student Health Risks and Academic Achievement Through Comprehensive School Health Programs.” Journal of School Health 67, no. 6: 220–27.

World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee on Comprehensive School Health Education and Promotion. 1997. Promoting Health Through Schools. WHO Technical Report Series 870. Geneva: WHO.

___________________________

Ellen Pearce (Moffatt) and Meg Irwin are Healthy Weights Initiative health promotion coordinators.