Prevalence of school policies, programs, and facilities that promote a healthy physical school environment

Am J Public Health. 2003 Sep;93(9):1570-5. doi: 10.2105/ajph.93.9.1570.

Abstract

Objectives: We examined the extent to which schools in the United States have health-promoting policies, programs, and facilities.

Methods: We analyzed data from the School Health Policies and Programs Study 2000.

Results: We found that public schools (vs private and Catholic schools), urban schools (vs rural and suburban schools), and schools with larger enrollments (vs smaller schools) had more health-promoting policies, programs, and facilities in place. On average, middle schools had 11.0 and middle/junior and high schools had 10.4 out of a possible 18 policies, programs, and facilities.

Conclusions: Although some schools had many healthy physical environment features, room for improvement exists. Resources are available to help schools improve their health-promoting policies, programs, and facilities.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Child
  • Child Welfare*
  • Environment Design*
  • Food Services / standards
  • Health Promotion / organization & administration*
  • Health Promotion / statistics & numerical data
  • Humans
  • Maintenance / standards
  • Organizational Policy*
  • Rural Population
  • Safety*
  • Schools / organization & administration*
  • Schools / statistics & numerical data
  • Suburban Population
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • United States
  • Urban Population