Achieving Consensus on Principles of Good Practice for School Health in Independent Schools: A Delphi Study

Although the 8 components of the coordinated school health (CSH) framework have been implemented to various degrees in the nation's public schools, principles of good practice (PGPs) to guide health promotion efforts in independent schools do not exist. The purpose of this study was to generate PGPs and rate their feasibility of implementation.

A modified Delphi process was used to generate PGPs for school health in independent schools and develop consensus regarding their feasibility of implementation. A working group of 6 independent school health professionals (ISHPs) was convened to propose draft PGPs based on the CSH framework. The proposed PGPs were then reviewed by a national and geographically diverse expert panel of 10 school health researchers and 23 ISHPs that completed 3 Delphi rounds to achieve consensus on the PGPs. Of 33 participants originally invited to participate, 27 completed the Delphi process.

A total of 27 panelists rated 67 PGPs, provided 399 comments, and achieved consensus using interquartile range on 56 (84%) of the proposed PGPs, 41 of which were rated feasible and 15 somewhat feasible.

This study has generated empirical support for the feasibility of PGPs for school health in independent schools.