School personnel's knowledge and perceptions of school wellness policy implementation

Purpose/Objectives The purpose of this study was to describe a school district's experience of implementing its School Wellness Policy (SWP) and examine school personnel's knowledge and perceptions of the SWP implementation. Methods Thirty-one school personnel from five elementary schools in a school district in Texas were recruited, including fourth grade teachers, physical education (PE) teachers, cafeteria managers, school counselors, school principals, school nurses, an assistant principal, and a life skills coach. Semi-structured interviews were conducted. A thematic content analysis was performed in three steps: coding, thematic categorization, and interpretation. To ensure credibility of findings and interpretations of the data, triangulation and member checking were employed. The school district's website was also accessed for information and documents about SWP implementation. Results Five major themes emerged from examining participants' knowledge and perceptions of the SWP development and implementation in the school district investigated: (1) belief that more stakeholders should be involved in the policy making and updating processes, (2) awareness that a SWP existed and knowledge that the SWP addressed the school environment, (3) notice of the actual impact of SWP on school environment, (4) perceived impact on child health, and (5) perceived keys to SWP effectiveness. Applications to Child Nutrition Professionals Results from the this study highlighted the need of improving SWP implementation in three key areas: (1) examining the influence of policy at the local level, (2) clarifying the policy implementation procedures to campus level personnel, and (3) assessing the impact of the policy by accounting for the influence of other policies addressing similar issues. Keywords: School Wellness Policy, implementation, school personnel, case study.