Abstract
ObjectiveTo examine how body mass index assessments are conducted in schools and whether student comfort with assessments varies by students’ perceived weight status, weight satisfaction, or privacy during measurements. MethodsIn-person cross-sectional surveys with diverse fourth- to eighth-grade students (n = 11,510) in 54 California schools in 2014–2015 about their experience being weighed in the prior school year. ResultsHalf of the students (49%) reported being weighed by a physical education teacher and 28% by a school nurse. Students were more comfortable being weighed by nurses than physical education teachers (P = 0.01). Only 30% of students reported privacy during measurements. Students who were unhappy with their weight (P <0.001) and those who perceived themselves as overweight (P <0.001) were less comfortable being weighed than their peers. Conclusions and ImplicationsStudent weight dissatisfaction, higher perceived weight status, and being female were associated with discomfort with school-based weight measurements. Prioritizing school nurses to conduct weight measurements could mitigate student discomfort, and particular attention should be paid to students who are unhappy with their weight to avoid weight stigmatization.
Highlights
In approximately half of the schools in the US, school staff measure students’ height and weight annually to assess students’ body mass index (BMI),[1] thereby assessing health risk
Despite half of the schools in the US assessing students’ BMI, we have a limited understanding of the student experience of getting weighed in schools.[1]
We demonstrated significant associations between student discomfort and being weighed by PE teachers compared with school nurses, and that student weight dissatisfaction, higher perceived weight status, and being female were associated with discomfort with school-based weight measurements
Summary
In approximately half of the schools in the US, school staff measure students’ height and weight annually to assess students’ body mass index (BMI),[1] thereby assessing health risk. Despite the widespread use of BMI assessments in schools, few studies have reported on who conducts measurements, the level of student privacy, and how comfortable students are with the measurements. A handful of validation studies examining school staff’s accuracy in conducting anthropometric measurements have provided details on who conducted the assessments,[2−5] but no studies have reported on who conducts assessments in day-to-day practice, which may have implications on both the accuracy of the measurement data and students’ comfort with the measurements. The goal of the present research was to determine who conducts weight measurements in schools, the degree of privacy of such assessments, and whether student comfort with these measurements varies by who conducts them, the students’ perceived weight status, weight satisfaction, and privacy during measurements, and parent-reported sex. This research leverages data collected for a statewide study of BMI screening and reporting in California schools
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