Statistics show that 17% of children ages 2-19 are obese, almost tripling since 1980 (CDC, 2013). Research on childhood obesity (CO) has ranged from purely descriptive to experimental, with various entities examining the worth of programs for school-aged children that attempt to combat this epidemic. However, when so much needs to be done and the issue may appear complicated, responsibility for solving the problem may be unclear, especially if various groups have much different responsibilities overall. Ascertaining how school personnel perceive the problem may be vitally important before attempting to attack it to ensure that everyone is on the same page. The purpose of this study was to investigate perceptions of three groups of school personnel who have direct contact with children in schools: PE teachers, classroom teachers, and school nurses.
Method:
Physical educators, classroom teachers, and nurses (N=105) completed an on-line questionnaire designed to measure: a) their perceived involvement in combating CO, b) whether their efforts to combat CO made a difference, c) how strongly they felt CO was a problem, d) their perceptions of others’ involvement and how much others should be involved, and e) their perceived barriers to combatting CO.
Analysis/Results:
MANOVA and univariate tests showed that PE teachers rated their own involvement higher than nurses or classroom teachers rated theirs (p < .000). PE teachers and classroom teachers rated their efforts to make a difference higher than did nurses (p < .000). Nurses perceived CO as a bigger problem than PE teachers and classroom teachers (p= .01). Descriptive rankings showed that all three groups rated PE teachers as having the most involvement in combatting CO, with parents having the least involvement. Each group felt parents should take the most responsibility, followed by cafeteria planners, and doctors. Interestingly, none of the three groups rated their own responsibility as being in the top three. The barrier that was rated high by all three groups “was not wanting to single out individual students.” PE teachers and nurses rated limited time with children as their greatest barrier.
Conclusions:
Although all groups believed CO to be a problem, they showed differences in perceived responsibilities. Before any problem is tackled, ownership of the problem must be accepted. It is important that school personnel believe that they have a stake in combatting childhood obesity and also believe that they have some amount of control in initiating behavioral change.