Impact analysis of the "Healthy School" program

Schools are an important setting for interventions to strengthen students' health. Students spend a considerable amount of time at school, and interventions in this setting give all children, regardless of their social background, equal opportunities. Accordingly, the province of Lower Austria, through the "Tut gut!" Gesundheitsvorsorge GmbH has been implementing the "Healthy School” program for middle school students since 2007. The program follows the WHO approach of the "Health Promoting School", and aims to create health promoting conditions in schools in order to foster the health of students, teachers, and other stakeholders long term. The impact analysis is intended to answer two central questions: 1) Do students from program schools improve intended outcomes related to nutrition, physical activity, and mental health over the observation period compared to students from non-program schools? 2) Do teachers from program schools compared to teachers from non-program schools improve intended outcomes, such as teacher motivation and engagement in implementing health promotion, positive relationships with teachers and students at school, and subjective health over the observation period? In addition, the evaluation will identify optimization needs in program design and implementation in the schools. In fall 2021 and June 2022, 5th and 7th grade students and teachers from approximately 35-40 program and non-program schools will be invited to participate in a quantitative online survey. In June 2022, school administrators and Healthy School officers will additionally be asked for information on the support provided by the program alongside details on the implementation of the program by means of a quantitative online survey. The project is being carried out in cooperation with "Tut gut!" Gesundheitsvorsorge GmbH with funds from the Lower Austrian Health and Social Fund (NÖGUS) in the period March 2021 to December 2022.