The Role of Professional Development and Technical Assistance in Supporting Implementation of COVID-19 Prevention Strategies in K-12 Schools.

Context: Schools vary in their capacity to implement recommended strategies to prevent infectious diseases, such as COVID-19. Professional development (PD) and technical assistance (TA) are well-established tools used to strengthen school capacity and infrastructure for healthier school environments.

Objective: The authors examined the relationship between PD and TA received by districts and schools and their implementation of COVID-19 prevention strategies during the 2020-2021 school year.

Scoping Review of Family and Community Engagement Strategies Used in School-Based Interventions to Promote Healthy Behaviors.

Background: School efforts to promote health among students are more successful when families and community members are involved.

Methods: We conducted a scoping review to summarize and categorize family and community engagement strategies used in US school and out-of-school time (OST) interventions to address physical activity (PA) and nutrition in kindergarten through 12th grade students.

Results: The National Network of Partnership Schools' Six Keys to Success framework was useful in organizing the types of family and community engagement strategies used in included interventions.

Supporting School Staff: Insights From Employee Health and Well-Being Programs.

Background: The workplace is an important setting for health protection, health promotion, and disease prevention programs. In the school setting, employee health and well-being programs can address many physical and emotional concerns of school staff. This systematic review summarizes evidence-based approaches from employee health and well-being interventions supporting nutrition and physical activity (PA) in a variety of workplace settings.

The Health Education Teacher Instructional Competency Framework: A Conceptual Guide for Quality Instruction in School Health.

Background: Teacher instructional competency, the set of essential knowledge and skills needed to guide teaching practice, is critical to the successful implementation of school health education. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the Health Education Teacher Instructional Competency (HETIC) framework, a new conceptualization describing teacher characteristics, essential knowledge, and essential skills, which can influence instructional practice and improve student learning outcomes in health education.

Methods: Data from 17 publicly available guidance documents, professional standards, published reports, and empirical studies relevant to the fields of public education, school health education, and sexual health education were abstracted and analyzed using qualitative thematic content analysis.

Presidential youth fitness program implementation: An antecedent to organizational change.

Introduction: Grounded in organizational change theory, the purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of the Presidential Youth Fitness Program (PYFP) and its association with healthy cultures within schools.

Methods: Using a qualitative approach, data were collected through interviews, site visits and artifacts across 374 schools. An explanatory collective case study approach was used to identify key events related to implementation.

Development of the Fitness Education Index: A Scale of Organizational Level Capacity.

: Fitness education is essential for children's health, but determining the effectiveness of instruction related to health-related fitness is difficult. The present study developed and confirmed the validity of a 20-item scale, adapted from the School Health Index (Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention [CDC], 2014), to evaluate the success of fitness education portion of the Presidential Youth Fitness Program (PYFP) across a sample of 785 teachers. : The initial subset (n = 373) represented 353 schools and was used for conducting an exploratory factor analysis.

Teacher Physical Education Practices and Student Outcomes in a Sample of Middle Schools Participating in the Presidential Youth Fitness Program.

Obesity and lack of physical activity among children and adolescents are public health problems in the United States. This Presidential Youth Fitness Program (PYFP) evaluation measured program implementation in 13 middle schools and its effect on physical education practices, student fitness knowledge, and student physical activity and fitness levels. PYFP, a free program with the potential to positively affect student health and fitness outcomes, was designed to improve fitness education practices that are easily integrated into existing physical education programs.

Early Outcomes of State Public Health Actions' School Nutrition Strategies.

Introduction: Since 2013, the State Public Health Actions to Prevent and Control Diabetes, Heart Disease, Obesity and Associated Risk Factors and Promote School Health (State Public Health Actions) program has been implemented to support and reinforce healthy choices and healthy behaviors among the US population. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Division of Population Health's School Health Branch has been a critical component, ensuring that state health departments support schools in adopting nutrition standards and creating a supportive nutrition environment. The objective of this article was to describe early outcomes of the school nutrition strategies of State Public Health Actions.

Evaluating Cross-Cutting Approaches to Chronic Disease Prevention and Management: Developing a Comprehensive Evaluation.

We provide an overview of the comprehensive evaluation of State Public Health Actions to Prevent and Control Diabetes, Heart Disease, Obesity and Associated Risk Factors and Promote School Health (State Public Health Actions). State Public Health Actions is a program funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to support the statewide implementation of cross-cutting approaches to promote health and prevent and control chronic diseases. The evaluation addresses the relevance, quality, and impact of the program by using 4 components: a national evaluation, performance measures, state evaluations, and evaluation technical assistance to states.

Barriers and Facilitators to Sustaining School Health Teams in Coordinated School Health Programs.

Coordinated school health (CSH) programs address multiple factors related to students' overall health, thereby increasing their physical and mental readiness to learn. A formative evaluation of three school districts in 2010-2011 examined strategies for sustaining the school health teams (SHTs) that lead CSH efforts. Qualitative data from 39 interviews and 13 focus groups revealed facilitators and barriers for sustaining SHTs.

Paternal influences on adolescent sexual risk behaviors: a structured literature review.

Background And Objective: To date, most parent-based research has neglected the role of fathers in shaping adolescent sexual behavior and has focused on mothers. The objective of this study was to conduct a structured review to assess the role of paternal influence on adolescent sexual behavior and to assess the methodological quality of the paternal influence literature related to adolescent sexual behavior.

Methods: We searched electronic databases: PubMed, PsychINFO, Social Services Abstracts, Family Studies Abstracts, Sociological Abstracts, and the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature.

Results of evaluability assessments of local wellness policies in 6 US school districts.

Background: A US federal mandate that school districts devise and implement local wellness policies (LWPs) has potential widespread impact on the nutritional content of foods and beverages available in schools and on the amount of physical activity that students engage in; however, evidence concerning the mandate's effectiveness is limited. This study describes the content of LWPs of 6 US school districts and steps taken toward their implementation and evaluation.

Methods: During visits to 6 school districts, we interviewed 88 school and community representatives about the content of their district's LWPs and how the LWPs were being implemented and evaluated.

The use of portfolios in coordinated school health programs: benefits and challenges to implementation.

Background: Coordinated school health programs (CSHP) frequently struggle with how to adequately evaluate implementation. The CSHP framework provides flexibility in how it is implemented; however, this flexibility makes it a challenge to effectively evaluate. Portfolios have been used as a technique for evaluating progress and achievement.