Implementation of a Dutch school-based integrated approach targeting education, health and poverty—a process evaluation

Summary This study provides an evaluation of the implementation of a school-based integrated approach to improve academic outcomes by targeting children’s education, health, and poverty. A two-year municipal subsidy program was provided to four primary schools in a deprived urban neighborhood in Amsterdam. Schools were put in charge of the implementation and coordination of the program. The municipality and district authorities provided assistance. This study evaluated whether the program functioned as integrated approach, i.e., whether it targeted multiple domains and environments by involvin... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Elsenburg, L K
Abrahamse, M E
Harting, J
Dokumenttyp: Artikel
Erscheinungsdatum: 2021
Reihe/Periodikum: Health Promotion International ; volume 37, issue 1 ; ISSN 1460-2245
Verlag/Hrsg.: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Schlagwörter: Public Health / Environmental and Occupational Health / Health (social science)
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-27053971
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
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Link(s) : http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/heapro/daab028

Summary This study provides an evaluation of the implementation of a school-based integrated approach to improve academic outcomes by targeting children’s education, health, and poverty. A two-year municipal subsidy program was provided to four primary schools in a deprived urban neighborhood in Amsterdam. Schools were put in charge of the implementation and coordination of the program. The municipality and district authorities provided assistance. This study evaluated whether the program functioned as integrated approach, i.e., whether it targeted multiple domains and environments by involving various agencies and actors, and what factors facilitated or hampered this. It also yielded an overview of the initiatives implemented and the facilitators and barriers of successful implementation of initiatives. Principals’ perceptions served as the main input for this study. We thematically analyzed seven written customized plans for spending the subsidy (one to two per school), 15 transcripts of interviews with the principals (three to four per school) and the minutes of 16 meetings between principals, policy officers, and researchers. According to the principals, the schools had made great progress in the education domain and in improving the school’s pedagogical climate, but in the health and poverty domains less progress had been made. Apart from the municipality, relatively few external agencies and actors had been actively involved in the program, and progress in other environments than the school was hardly achieved. This study shows that functioning of the program as integrated approach was facilitated by connections between initiatives, and that hired, well-trusted third parties may be crucial to establish these connections. Lay summary This study evaluated whether a two-year municipal program to improve academic outcomes by targeting children’s education, health, and poverty, provided to primary schools in a deprived urban neighborhood, functioned as intended, and if so why, or if not, why not. The program ...