A review of the sustainability and impact of a healthy lifestyles programme in primary schools 2-5 years after the intervention phase.

Abstract

There has been an emphasis on schools to promote healthy lifestyles and many intervention programmes have attempted this. Most programmes are evaluated at the time and/or shortly afterwards. This is a review of the impact and sustainability of the Health for Life programme 2-5 years after the initial phase. It captures the experiences of the senior school staff who delivered the programme through semi-structured interviews. Senior teachers recognized the importance of promoting healthy lifestyles in primary schools. They reported positively on aspects of the programme, in particular its flexibility and how it enabled schools to develop a new relationship with parents and how schools have sustained the initial programme. They discussed the main barriers to intervention and how they could be mitigated. Delivering a sustainable healthy lifestyle primary schools programme which has an impact is feasible but challenging for school staff. To maximize the likelihood of delivery, interventions must be championed by a member of the Senior Leadership Team, embedded in the curriculum, hands-on, easy to manage, and flexible to the needs of individual schools but requires support (financial, training and advisory). With these conditions the sustainability and impact of the programme was significant.