Journal article
Building school-based social capital through 'We Act - Together for Health' - a quasi-experimental study
National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark1
Division of Risk Assessment and Nutrition, National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark2
Research Group for Risk Benefit, National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark3
University of London4
Department of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, Technical University of Denmark5
Statistics and Data Analysis, Department of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, Technical University of Denmark6
Steno Diabetes Centre7
Social capital has been found to be positively associated with various health and well-being outcomes amongst children. Less is known about how social capital may be generated and specifically in relation to children in the school setting. Drawing on the social cohesion approach and the democratic health educational methodology IVAC (Investigation - Vision - Action - Change) the aim of this study was to examine the effect of the Health Promoting School intervention 'We Act - Together for Health' on children's cognitive social capital.
A quasi-experimental controlled pre- and post-intervention study design was conducted with 548 participants (mean age 11.7 years). Cognitive social capital was measured as: horizontal social capital (trust and support in pupils); vertical social capital (trust and support in teachers); and a sense of belonging in the school using questions derived from the Health Behaviour in School Children study.
A series of multilevel ordinal logistic regression analyses was performed for each outcome to estimate the effect of the intervention. The analyses showed no overall significant effect from the intervention on horizontal social capital or vertical social capital at the six-month follow-up. A negative effect was found on the sense of belonging in the school.
Gender and grade appeared to be important for horizontal social capital, while grade was important for sense of belonging in the school. The results are discussed in relation to We Act's implementation process, our conceptual framework and methodological issues and can be used to direct future research in the field.
The study finds that child participation in health education can affect the children's sense of belonging in the school, though without sufficient management support, this may have a negative effect. With low implementation fidelity regarding the Action and Change dimension of the intervention at both the school and class level, and with measurement issues regarding the concept of social capital, more research is needed to establish a firm conclusion on the importance of the children's active participation as a source for cognitive social capital creation in the school setting. https://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN85203017.
| Language: | English |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | BioMed Central |
| Year: | 2018 |
| Pages: | 1141 |
| ISSN: | 14712458 |
| Types: | Journal article |
| DOI: | 10.1186/s12889-018-6026-0 |
| ORCIDs: | Stjernqvist, Nanna Wurr , Sabinsky, Marianne , Trolle, Ellen , Thyregod, Camilla and 0000-0003-0525-7254 |
Children Health promoting school Intervention Multi-level logistic regression Quasi-experimental design School Sense of belonging Social capital
Child Female Humans Interpersonal Relations Male Peer Group Program Evaluation Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 School Health Services School Teachers Social Capital Social Support Trust children health promoting school intervention multi-level logistic regression quasi-experimental design school sense of belonging social capital
