Commentaries

Bridging the Gap Between Research andSchool Health ProgramsJeffrey K. Clark, Kelli McCormack Brown

The educational success of today’s student has beeninexorably linked to their health status and has been

noted in national documents, such as Healthy People 2010and America 2000: An Educational Strategy.1,2 Likewise,the success of coordinated school health programs arelinked to research. School administrators are continuallychallenging the viability of school health education andcoordinated school health programs.3 As the need foraccountability increases, so does the need for researchshowing that coordinated school health positively impactsacademic achievement.4

In 1984, a joint issue of Health Education and the Jour-nal of School Health published the ‘‘Proceedings of TheNational Conference on School Health Education Researchin the Heart, Lung, and Blood Areas.’’ The proceedingdescribed the current state of the art in school health educa-tion and identified current problems and future directionsof school health education research.5 Several training issueswere identified that underlie the status and progress ofhealth education research. One of the issues identified wasthat individuals from diverse fields and settings areinvolved in research in the schools. Further, it was recom-mended that

‘‘Priority should be given to supporting research pro-grams in school health education that involve relevantschool teachers and administrators . School health edu-cation practitioners working in the schools should betrained to interpret new health and education researchfindings in order to continually update and improve theirschool health education programs.’’5(pp81-82)

The Institute of Medicine’s Schools and Health: OurNation’s Investment recommended ‘‘an active researchagenda on comprehensive school health programs shouldbe pursued in order to fill critical knowledge gaps;increased emphasis should be placed on basic research andoutcome evaluation and on the dissemination of theseresearch and outcome findings.’’6(pp289-290)

Werch stated ‘‘recent review [of literature] have shownmuch of [our] research is lacking in terms of sophistica-tion, breadth and quality.’’7 While McDermott suggestedthat 1 of the 7 deadly sins of [school] health education re-searchers is ‘‘we lack a concept of research excellence.’’8

Although we have made progress in school health research,there is considerable need to build the base of evidence-based knowledge regarding school health programs and toprovide an environment in which school health research isof high quality, yet meaningful and useful. It is our hopethat the Commentary articles on research methodology willcontribute to the school health research environment.

THE ROLE OF THE RESEARCH COUNCILThe membership of the American School Health Asso-

ciation has relied upon the Research Council to providea number of services. As outlined in the Operating Code,the purpose of the Research Council shall be

1. To assist the American School Health Association inthe improvement of the school health programthrough research.

2. To stimulate and promote high quality individual andgroup research on all phases of school health.

3. To encourage an interdisciplinary approach to re-search in school health.

4. To serve as a medium for presentation and discussionof research needs and designs, projects, procedures.

5. To work with other groups, especially the councilswithin the ASHA, in relating research efforts and re-sults to the attainment of Association goals.9

The Research Council has been able to provide theseservices through a variety of venues. For example, at the75th Annual Conference in Albuquerque, the ResearchCouncil partnered with the School Nurse Section to pro-vide direction to school nurses in developing a researchagenda. The Research Council also sponsors a number ofsessions at the annual conference each year. While theseand other services provide an outlet for research, therehave been limited opportunities that provide assistance tothe membership regarding the art and practice of schoolhealth research (research methodology).

BRIDGING THE GAPMany practitioners see research as an intimidating or

difficult process.10 As a result, they may be reluctant toparticipate in research. Many researchers may not under-stand the needs of the school health practitioner. Despitethis gap between researchers and practitioners, researchand evaluation have become a vital part of providingeffective school health education.11 Lancaster suggested 4major gaps between practice and research; they were

Jeffrey K. Clark, HSD, FASHA, Professor, (jclark@bsu.edu), Depart-ment of Physiology and Health Science, Ball State University, Muncie,IN 47306; and Kelli McCormack Brown, PhD, CHES, FASHA, FAAHE,Professor, (kmbrown@grad.usf.edu), University of South Florida, Collegeof Public Health, MDC 56, 13201 Bruce B. Downs Blvd, Tampa,FL 33612-3805.

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(1) a communication gap, (2) an accessibility gap, (3)a credibility gap, and (4) an expectations gap.12

These gaps may not be as wide as one would expectsince research methods are readily applied in many of theresponsibilities of a health educator. Research methodsare essential to conducting needs assessments. Data col-lection, instrument development, and data analysis arejust a few of the many skills needed to assess individualand community needs for school health education. Thedevelopment and implementation of scientific-based cur-ricula also requires abilities that readily carry over to con-ducting research. Perhaps the most obvious connectionsbetween research skills and the abilities of a school healtheducator lie in the evaluation of effective school healtheducational programs. While it should be emphasized thatresearch and evaluation are not identical, many of thetasks involved are similar. One of the important differen-ces between research and evaluation are their respectivepurpose and locus of control.13

In either case, whether the results of program evalua-tion or the published research findings, the results areused by decision makers in making critical school healthdecisions, as well as to inform the research community.Often the person(s) responsible for making important de-cisions about the health of students are the professionalsinvolved in the many components of the coordinatedschool health program. It is these same individuals thathave access to important data, but are unable to utilizethese data for a variety of reasons.

ROLE OF COMMENTARIES ONRESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The reluctance to participate in school health researchcan be due to a variety of reasons or potential gapsbetween practitioner and researcher. It is these needs and/or gaps that the Research Council hopes to fill and/orbridge though the Commentary column. To broaden ourefforts to support school health research, the ResearchCouncil will facilitate publishing a series of articles thatprovide commentary for researchers in school health, aswell as articles that provide practical, how-to suggestionsand lessons learned for basic issues in school and adoles-cent health research. The Research Council has solicitedmanuscripts from both practitioners and researchers toaddress specific research issues. The manuscripts will besolicited by a subcommittee of the Research Council and

then forwarded to the editor of the Journal of SchoolHealth, for final review. We have developed a wide rangeof school health research topics including, but not limitedto, Institutional Review Board procedures, partnering withuniversities, school health research agenda, and schoolhealth nurses and research issues. The Research Councilsubcommittee will solicit column ideas from the generalmembership and will review unsolicited manuscripts. Weenvision this column not only providing a service to theAmerican School Health Association membership butalso providing a piece of the bridge for excellence inevidence-based school and adolescent health research andevaluation. j

References1. US Department of Health and Human Services. Healthy People

2010: Understanding and Improving Health. Sudbury, Mass: Jones andBarlett Publishers; 2000.

2. US Department of Education. America 2000: An Educational Strat-egy. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office; 1991.

3. Symons CW, Cinelli B, James TS, Groff P. Bridging student healthrisks and academic achievement through comprehensive school health pro-grams. J Sch Health. 1997;67:2220-2227.

4. National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promo-tion. Coordinated school health programs make a difference. Chronic Dis-ease Notes and Reports. 2001;14:6.

5. Stone EJ. Proceedings of the National Conference on School healtheducation research in the heart, lung, and blood Areas. J Sch Health.1984;54:1-88.

6. Allensworth D, Larson E, Nicholson L, Wyche J. Schools & Health:Our Nation’s Investment. Washington, DC: Committee on ComprehensiveSchool Health Programs in Grades K-12, Division of Health SciencesPolicy, Institute of Medicine, National Academy Press; 1997.

7. Werch C. What use, the American Academy of Health Behavior?Am J Health Behav. 2000;25:3-5.

8. McDermott RJ. Health education research: evolution or revolution(or maybe both)? J Health Educ. 2000:31:264-271.

9. American School Health Association. Research Council Code ofOperations. Kent, Ohio: American School Health Association; 1989.

10. Price JH, Telljohann SK, King KA. School nurses’ perceptions ofand experience with school health research. J Sch Health. 1999;69:58-62.

11. Lancaster B, Roe K. Observations of the past decade’s efforts tobridge the gaps between health promotion and health promotion researchand practice. Health Promot Pract. 2000;1:33-37.

12. Lancaster B. Closing the gap between research and practice.Health Educ Q. 1992;19:408-411.

13. Iverson DC. Program evaluation versus research: more differencesthan similarities. In: Cortese P, Middleton K, eds. The ComprehensiveSchool Health Challenge: Promoting Health Through Education, Vol. II.Santa Cruz, Calif: ETR Associates; 1994.

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