Perceived Barriers to Digitising School-Based Obesity Intervention: An Exploratory Study

Background: Schools serve as a focal point in which to engage students and school communities, including teachers, parents and other healthcare providers (e.g. nutritionists), in implementing obesity interventions. Bringing them together is beneficial to ensuring healthy eating among schoolchildren and to creating healthy school environments. However, there are barriers and success factors related to the implementation of such an intervention. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the barriers and success factors to school-based obesity interventions to improve obesity implementation.

Methods: An exploratory case study with multiple units of analysis was conducted, including interviews, document analyses and a survey. The interview sessions involved six participants, including teachers and nutritionists. The survey was conducted among 121 participants involving 30 teachers, 78 parents and 13 school canteen operators. Pattern-matching techniques were employed to formulate the results.

Results: The barriers consisted of the school system, parental awareness, staff availability, and children's compliance. The success factors included the teachers' role, the nutritional approach used, compliance with the healthy school canteen guidelines, and strong collaboration with the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) and other agencies.

Conclusion: It is necessary to digitise an obesity intervention module with some improvements, including strengthening the broader school community's role and integrating nutrition education with technology to improve implementation.