Methodology for evaluation of complex school-based health promotion interventions.

There is a need for careful examination of large volumes of collected (structured and unstructured) information related to school-based evaluation. There is also no published, comprehensive framework/s for evaluating complex interventions in Irish primary schools. The aim of this paper is to outline a methodology for process evaluation of an Irish primary school-based physical activity (PA) and nutrition intervention. Evaluation followed the three themes outlined by the British Medical Research Council: implementation, context, and mechanism of impact that we further divided into six dimensions. Methodological tools included questionnaires, PA logs, reflective journals, write and draw, and semi-structured interviews. We triangulated findings across these multiple tools to assess each dimension. We designed a unique framework to enable comparisons and offer researchers a template for evaluating complex health promotion interventions in primary schools. We present a methodology for evaluating a complex school-based health promotion intervention. The framework we propose integrates process and outcome data. It aims to enhance future result interpretation and facilitate informed comparisons among intervention schools.
Competing Interests: Declarations. Conflict of interest: On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest. Ethical approval: Ethical approval was granted via Cork Institute of Technology’s Research Ethics Committee. All participants provided signed assent and parental consent to participate in the study. The study was performed in accordance with the ethical standards as laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Consent for publication: Not applicable.
(© 2024. The Author(s).)