Parents' Knowledge, Support, and Opinions of School Wellness Policies in Rural Elementary Oklahoma Schools

Abstract

In 2004, the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act was passed by Congress requiring all school districts participating in National School Lunch programs to develop school wellness policies. This act was further strengthened with the passing of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, expanding the scope of school wellness policies. The policies are to include goals on all areas of student wellness including nutrition education, meal standards, physical activity and PE, in addition to implementation, evaluation, and communication goals. With elementary aged students being naturally dependent on their parents, parent knowledge and support of school wellness policies is vital for success. The purpose of this study was to gain insight on parents’ knowledge, support, and opinions of school wellness policies and the school’s role in obesity prevention in rural areas throughout Oklahoma. To obtain this information, telephone interviews were conducted using a scripted questionnaire. There were 463 individuals who fully completed the telephone interview. Close-ended response frequencies were tabulated and calculated as a percentage of the total. Open-ended responses were examined for similarities and grouped into themes. Chi square statistics and student t-tests were conducted to examine differences amongst the variables. Results indicated that parents were knowledgeable of the existence of school wellness policies but lacked familiarity with 35.4% of respondents being not at all familiar. Parents are in support of the school playing a role in the promotion of reduced obesogenic behavior through providing healthy meals and requiring regular physical activity. Parents were more in favor of schools requiring physical activity for obesity prevention versus providing healthy foods and limiting others (p=0.006). School wellness policies need to be educative, informative, and realistic. There needs to be increased communication between the school and the parents about school wellness policies to increase parent familiarity. School wellness policies are mandated in order to promote healthy lifestyles and to address the current childhood obesity epidemic. Strong school wellness policies that are well communicated and involve the parents are recommended as a means to address the growing child obesity epidemic in the state of Oklahoma.