Improving Student Wellness in New Brunswick
Funded by the Department of Wellness, Culture and Sport, and in collaboration with the Department of Education, the Health and Education Research Group of the University of New Brunswick and Université de Moncton have undertaken a joint effort to encourage and support school and community participation in the development of wellness activities.
The NB Student Wellness Survey 2006-07 was coordinated in a manner to encompass the Youth Smoking Survey 2006-07. Nearly 40,000 Anglophone and Francophone students provided data on health attitudes and behaviours regarding physical activity, healthy eating, tobacco-free living, and mental fitness.
By July 2007, participating schools were provided with their results in the form of feedback reports developed through the services of the University of Waterloo. These reports highlighted areas where schools could take action in partnership with students, parents and communities. By the Fall of 2007, each school district received feedback reports with consolidated district results.
In 2007-2008, HERG (in collaboration with Université de Moncton) coordinated a Provincial Elementary Wellness Survey. Twenty-three elementary schools, (a representative NB sample) participated in the 2007-2008 New Brunswick Elementary Student Wellness Survey, which included:
- Student Wellness Surveys (Grades 4 and 5)
- Direct Physical Measures (Grades 1, 3 and 5)
- Physical Activity Monitoring (Grade 5)
- Home Wellness Surveys (Parents of Kindergarten to Grade 5 students)
With content from both New Brunswick Student Wellness Surveys, HERG developed knowledge translation tools to encourage knowledge uptake and utilization of surveillance findings. The knowledge translation tools were designed with the end-user in mind.
To encourage integrated planning between health behaviour silos, the surveillance findings provided content for five themes:
- Mental fitness;
- Social relationships and influences;
- Environments;
- Healthy weights and lifestyles; and
- Tobacco and other problem substance use.
These themes provided the content for five provincial fact sheets. For Elementary schools, three themes emerged, including mental fitness, healthy weights and lifestyles, and social influences and environments. To encourage utilization of feedback reports, the surveillance findings provided content for over 30 learning strategies for use by teachers in grades 6-8.
The Health and Education Research Group continues to partner with the Department of Wellness, Culture and Sport and the Department of Education in planning a 2009-10 re-administration of the New Brunswick Student Wellness Survey to students in grades 6-12.
View the knowledge products that were developed by HERG or obtain more information on various HERG projects.
