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Bridging the Gap Between Research and School Health Programs

Posted on: Friday, 24 February 2006, 06:00 CST

By Clark, Jeffrey K; Brown, Kelli McCormack

The educational success of today's student has been inexorably linked to their health status and has been noted in national documents, such as Healthy People 2010 and America 2000: An Educational Strategy.1,2 Likewise, the success of coordinated school health programs are linked to research. School administrators are continually challenging the viability of school health education and coordinated school health programs.1 As the need for accountability increases, so does the need for research showing that coordinated school health positively impacts academic achievement.4

In 1984, a joint issue of Health Education and the Journal of School Health published the "Proceedings of The National Conference on School Health Education Research in the Heart, Lung, and Blood Areas." The proceeding described the current state of the art in school health education and identified current problems and future directions of school health education research.5 Several training issues were identified that underlie the status and progress of health education research. One of the issues identified was that individuals from diverse fields and settings are involved in research in the schools. Further, it was recommended that

"Priority should be given to supporting research programs in school health education that involve relevant school teachers and administrators ... School health education practitioners working in the schools should be trained to interpret new health and education research findings in order to continually update and improve their school health education programs."5(pp81-82)

The Institute of Medicine's Schools and Health: Our Nation's Investment recommended "an active research agenda on comprehensive school health programs should be pursued in order to fill critical knowledge gaps; increased emphasis should be placed on basic research and outcome evaluation and on the dissemination of these research and outcome findings."6(pp289-290)

Werch stated "recent review [of literature] have shown much of [our] research is lacking in terms of sophistication, breadth and quality."7 While McDermott suggested that 1 of the 7 deadly sins of [school] health education researchers is "we lack a concept of research excellence."8 Although we have made progress in school health research, there is considerable need to build the base of evidence-based knowledge regarding school health programs and to provide an environment in which school health research is of high quality, yet meaningful and useful. It is our hope that the Commentary articles on research methodology will contribute to the school health research environment.

THE ROLE OF THE RESEARCH COUNCIL

The membership of the American School Health Association has relied upon the Research Council to provide a number of services. As outlined in the Operating Code, the purpose of the Research Council shall be

1. To assist the American School Health Association in the improvement of the school health program through research.

2. To stimulate and promote high quality individual and group research on all phases of school health.

3. To encourage an interdisciplinary approach to research in school health.

4. To serve as a medium for presentation and discussion of research needs and designs, projects, procedures.

5. To work with other groups, especially the councils within the ASHA, in relating research efforts and results to the attainment of Association goals.9

The Research Council has been able to provide these services through a variety of venues. For example, at the 75th Annual Conference in Albuquerque, the Research Council partnered with the School Nurse section to provide direction to school nurses in developing a research agenda. The Research Council also sponsors a number of sessions at the annual conference each year. While these and other services provide an outlet for research, there have been limited opportunities that provide assistance to the membership regarding the art and practice of school health research (research methodology).

BRIDGING THE GAP

Many practitioners see research as an intimidating or difficult process.10 As a result, they may be reluctant to participate in research. Many researchers may not understand the needs of the school health practitioner. Despite this gap between researchers and practitioners, research and evaluation have become a vital part of providing effective school health education." Lancaster suggested 4 major gaps between practice and research; they were (1) a communication gap, (2) an accessibility gap, (3) a credibility gap, and (4) an expectations gap.12

These gaps may not be as wide as one would expect since research methods are readily applied in many of the responsibilities of a health educator. Research methods are essential to conducting needs assessments. Data collection, instrument development, and data analysis are just a few of the many skills needed to assess individual and community needs for school health education. The development and implementation of scientific-based curricula also requires abilities that readily carry over to conducting research. Perhaps the most obvious connections between research skills and the abilities of a school health educator lie in the evaluation of effective school health educational programs. While it should be emphasized that research and evaluation are not identical, many of the tasks involved are similar. One of the important differences between research and evaluation are their respective purpose and locus of control.13

In either case, whether the results of program evaluation or the published research findings, the results are used by decision makers in making critical school health decisions, as well as to inform the research community. Often the person(s) responsible for making important decisions about the health of students are the professionals involved in the many components of the coordinated school health program. It is these same individuals that have access to important data, but are unable to utilize these data for a variety of reasons.

ROLE OF COMMENTARIES ON RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The reluctance to participate in school health research can be due to a variety of reasons or potential gaps between practitioner and researcher. It is these needs and/or gaps that the Research Council hopes to fill and/or bridge though the Commentary column. To broaden our efforts to support school health research, the Research Council will facilitate publishing a series of articles that provide commentary for researchers in school health, as well as articles that provide practical, how-to suggestions and lessons learned for basic issues in school and adolescent health research. The Research Council has solicited manuscripts from both practitioners and researchers to address specific research issues. The manuscripts will be solicited by a subcommittee of the Research Council and then forwarded to the editor of the Journal of School Health, for final review. We have developed a wide range of school health research topics including, but not limited to, Institutional Review Board procedures, partnering with universities, school health research agenda, and school health nurses and research issues. The Research Council subcommittee will solicit column ideas from the general membership and will review unsolicited manuscripts. We envision this column not only providing a service to the American School Health Association membership but also providing a piece of the bridge for excellence in evidence-based school and adolescent health research and evaluation.

References

1. US Department of Health and Human Services. Healthy People 2010: Understanding and Improving Health. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Barlett Publishers; 2000.

2. US Department of Education. America 2000: An Educational Strategy. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office; 1991.

3. Symons CW, Cinelli B, James TS, Groff P. Bridging student health risks and academic achievement through comprehensive school health programs. J Sch Health. 1997;67:2220-2227.

4. National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Coordinated school health programs make a difference. Chronic Disease Notes and Reports. 2001;14:6.

5. Stone EJ. Proceedings of the National Conference on School health education research in the heart, lung, and blood Areas. J Sch Health. 1984;54:1-88.

6. Allensworth D, Larson E, Nicholson L, Wyche J. Schools & Health: Our Nation's Investment. Washington, DC: Committee on Comprehensive School Health Programs in Grades K-12, Division of Health Sciences Policy, Institute of Medicine, National Academy Press; 1997.

7. Werch C. What use, the American Academy of Health Behavior? Am J Health Behav. 2000;25:3-5.

8. McDermott RJ. Health education research: evolution or revolution (or maybe both)? J Health Educ. 2000:31:264-271.

9. American School Health Association. Research Council Code of Operations. Kent, Ohio: American School Health Association; 1989.

10. Price JH, Telljohann SK, King KA. School nurses' perceptions of and experience with school health research. J Sch Health. 1999;69:58-62.

11. Lancaster B, Roe K. Observations of the past decade's efforts to bridge the gaps between health promotion and health promotion research and practice. Health Promot Pract. 2000;1:3\1-37.

12. Lancaster B. Closing the gap between research and practice. Health Educ Q. 1992;19:408-411.

13. Iverson DC. Program evaluation versus research: more differences than similarities. In: Cortege P, Middleton K, eds. The Comprehensive School Health Challenge: Promoting Health Through Education, Vol. II. Santa Cruz, Calif: ETR Associates; 1994.

Jeffrey K. Clark, HSD, FASHA, Professor, (jclark@bsu.edu), Department of Physiology and Health Science, Ball State University, Muncie, IN 47306; and Kelli McCormack Brown, PhD, CHES, FASHA, FAAHE, Professor, (kmbrown@grad.usf.edu). University of South Florida, College of Public Health, MDC 56, 13201 Bruce B. Downs Blvd. Tampa, FL 33612-3805.

Copyright American School Health Association Jan 2006

Source: Journal of School Health, The

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