A Qualitative Content Analysis of Local School Wellness Policies for Ohio Schools

Abstract

School wellness policies have the potential to combat childhood obesity by addressing goals for nutrition education, foods served on campus, and school-based activities. The purpose of this study was to examine the composition of school wellness policies, which would provide valuable information about how the school environment influences children’s dietary habits. A total of 43 online wellness policies were randomly selected from all school districts in the state of Ohio. Policies were obtained from districts’ websites and analyzed to identify the dominant themes of policy content, which included food service, competitive foods, nutrition education, and school-based activities. Policies varied from original to exact template use. Five policies did not address nutrition education, whereas more than half did not include school-based activities. The most commonly addressed topics in food service were free and reduced-price meals and the school lunch program. Additional subthemes most commonly addressed were food safety, vending machines, and classroom nutrition education. Concession stand sales, a la carte items, and product advertisement were addressed in the least amount of policies. For the mandated wellness policies to have a measureable impact on school environments, original, specific, and personalized wellness policies should be developed to ensure policies meet the needs of each individual school district.