Monitoring and evaluating school nutrition and physical activity policies.

Given the increase in the number of Canadian jurisdictions with school nutrition and/or physical activity policies, there is a need to assess the effectiveness of such policies. The objectives of this paper are to 1) provide an overview of key issues in monitoring and evaluating school nutrition and physical activity policies in Canada and 2) identify areas for further research needed to strengthen the evidence base and inform the development of effective approaches to monitoring and evaluation. Evaluation indicators, data sources and existing tools for evaluating nutrition and physical activity are reviewed.

Policy options to support healthy eating in schools.

Objectives: School nutrition policies offer a promising avenue by which to promote healthy eating and reduce the risk of chronic disease. This article reviews policy components that could support healthy eating, examines their evidence base and suggests directions for future research.

Method: Information was drawn from research and other literature written in English between 1994 and 2008.

Sternal wound reconstruction: management in different cardiac populations.

Poststernotomy mediastinitis is a feared complication for patients undergoing cardiac surgery associated with high rates of morbidity and mortality. Approximately 15% of patients will ultimately be readmitted for a recurrent sternal wound infection. The objective of this study is to review a large single surgeon experience with sternal wound patients managed with a variety of soft tissue flaps to assess mitigating factors, involved organisms, and treatment protocols as related to specific cardiac populations.

A province-wide school nutrition policy and food consumption in elementary school children in Prince Edward Island.

Objective: Although the majority of Canadian provinces have indicated that they have adopted new school nutrition policies, there have been few if any systematic evaluations of these policies. In Prince Edward Island, a nutrition policy for elementary schools was adopted province-wide in 2006. In the present study, we assessed the nutritional benefits of the new policy by examining changes in student food consumption prior to and one year following implementation of the policy.

Weight management and fruit and vegetable intake among US high school students.

Background: Consumption of fruits and vegetables is often recommended to promote healthy weight. The purpose of this study was to examine associations between fruit and vegetable intake and common weight management behaviors among US high school students who were trying to lose or stay the same weight.

Methods: Data from the 1999, 2001, and 2003 national high school Youth Risk Behavior Surveys were combined and the analyses stratified by gender (females, N = 16,709; males, N = 10,521).

Development of a School Nutrition-Environment State Policy Classification System (SNESPCS).

Background: As policy strategies are rapidly being developed to address childhood overweight, a system was developed to systematically and reliably classify state policies related to the school nutrition environment. This study describes the development process, the inter-rater reliability to code state policies enacted as of December 2003, and the variability in state policies related to the school nutrition environment.

Methods: The development of the School Nutrition Environment State Policy Classification System (SNESPCS) included a comprehensive review of published literature, reports from government and nongovernmental sources, input from an expert panel, and select experts.

Issues in implementing school nutrition policies.

The implementation of school nutrition policies poses a challenge to dietitians as they work with schools to increase the availability of nutritious foods. An analysis of the implementation of the Food and Nutrition Policy for New Brunswick Schools, proclaimed by the department of education in 1991, revealed four factors that influenced implementation: selling food for profit, student choice, interpretation of the policy, and the approach to implementation. From 1997 to 1999, data were obtained from 50 participants at the provincial, district, and school levels through semi-structured interviews; supporting evidence was obtained through a review of pertinent documents.