Educators' perceived barriers and facilitators to implementing a school-based nutrition, physical activity, and civic...

Strong Teens for Healthy Schools (STHS) is a middle school program that focuses on improving healthy eating habits, physical activity, and engages students in civic engagement projects to promote healthy environments within schools. As a novel approach to school-based health interventions, this program faces numerous intervention implementation challenges.

To assess potential barriers and facilitators to implementing STHS, interviews with Texas Cooperative Extension staff (n = 20) and middle school staff (n = 15) were conducted prior to implementing the program to inform program delivery. Participants (89% female, 71% white, mean age 41 ± 9.2 years old) reviewed sections of the curriculum and provided feedback in semi-structured interviews. Open inductive coding, followed by deductive categorization of codes within the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research framework, grouped responses into themes.

Themes found in the response were: (1) Trainings should emphasize using STHS in a structured setting and highlight the core components of the curriculum to ensure consistent delivery. (2) Variations in capabilities may affect how information is delivered by implementers, as well as how it is received by students. (3) Participants discussed how the physical infrastructure required for STHS could be a challenge in some school contexts. (4) The STHS curriculum received positive feedback for its design, relative advantage compared to other curricula, and evidence-base. (5) Local partners' attitudes and conditions may affect the adoption and implementation of STHS.

Overall, participants supported implementation of the STHS but noted several potential challenges that could be addressed prior to implementation.