IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i17p9387-d629784.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Australian School Stakeholders’ Perceived Strategies for Preventing Adolescent Obesity

Author

Listed:
  • Kakale Buru

    (College of Medicine and Dentistry, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD 4811, Australia)

  • Theophilus I. Emeto

    (College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD 4811, Australia)

  • Aduli E. O. Malau-Aduli

    (College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD 4811, Australia)

  • Bunmi S. Malau-Aduli

    (College of Medicine and Dentistry, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD 4811, Australia)

Abstract

Adolescent obesity is a complex multifactorial disease with a combination of environmental, behavioral, psychosocial, biological, cultural and genetic determinants. It remains a global public health issue that presents a major challenge to chronic disease prevention and health into adulthood. Schools have a rich opportunity to improve youth health and tackle obesity, yet they face barriers in fulfilling this function. This study investigated school stakeholders’ beliefs and perceptions of the barriers and enablers currently experienced by schools, as well as their recommendations towards preventing adolescent obesity. A sequential explanatory mixed-methods study design was utilised with surveys administered for the quantitative phase and individual interviews for the qualitative phase. Descriptive statistics and inductive thematic analyses were utilised for the survey and interview data, respectively. Triangulation of findings from the quantitative and qualitative phases aided in the better understanding and integration of the overall results. In total, 60 school stakeholders (52 subject teachers, 3 senior teachers and 5 heads of department) from both independent and public high schools in Queensland, Australia responded to the survey, while 14 respondents participated in the interviews. The main perceived causes of obesity were poor eating habits and sedentary lifestyle. Highlighted barriers were busy timetables, shortage of trained staff and funding, lack of robustness in the introduction and implementation of school interventions and insufficient motivation of learners to participate in obesity prevention programs. Enabling factors included parental support, easy access to fitness equipment during recess, supportive government policies, provision of healthier school tuck shop menu options and elimination of sugary drinks from vending machines. A model for the prevention of adolescent obesity was developed based on participants’ perceptions. Tripartite collaboration between the school, government and parents was perceived as fundamental to preventing adolescent obesity. Strategies targeting nutrition, physical activity and overall health, including parental education on health, formal health talks in schools by health professionals and better-targeted advertisement encouraging healthy lifestyle choices, were identified as essential for improved adolescent health outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Kakale Buru & Theophilus I. Emeto & Aduli E. O. Malau-Aduli & Bunmi S. Malau-Aduli, 2021. "Australian School Stakeholders’ Perceived Strategies for Preventing Adolescent Obesity," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(17), pages 1-22, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:17:p:9387-:d:629784
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/17/9387/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/17/9387/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Braveman, P.A. & Cubbin, C. & Egerter, S. & Williams, D.R. & Pamuk, E., 2010. "Socioeconomic disparities in health in the united States: What the patterns tell us," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 100(S1), pages 186-196.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lowe, Kate & Mosby, Kim, 2016. "The conceptual mismatch: A qualitative analysis of transportation costs and stressors for low-income adults," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 1-8.
    2. Odeyemi Gbenga A., 2015. "Understanding the Dynamics between Income and Health: Evidence Form African’s Richest and Poorest Countries," Journal of Public Policy & Governance, Research Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 2(2), pages 56-67.
    3. Rafael A. Alamilla & Navin Kaushal & Silvia M. Bigatti & NiCole R. Keith, 2025. "Comparing Barriers and Facilitators to Physical ActivityAmong Underrepresented Minorities: Preliminary Outcomes from a Mixed-Methods Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 22(2), pages 1-28, February.
    4. Lasse J. Jessen & Sebastian Koehne & Patrick Nüß & Jens Ruhose, 2024. "Socioeconomic Inequality in Life Expectancy: Perception and Policy Demand," CESifo Working Paper Series 10940, CESifo.
    5. Malavika A Subramanyam & Ana V Diez-Roux & J Richard Pilsner & Eduardo Villamor & Kathleen M Donohue & Yongmei Liu & Nancy S Jenny, 2013. "Social Factors and Leukocyte DNA Methylation of Repetitive Sequences: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(1), pages 1-7, January.
    6. Caitlin Brown & Martin Ravallion, 2023. "Inequality and Social Distancing during the Pandemic," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 21(3), pages 679-702, September.
    7. Rucker C. Johnson, 2018. "Addressing Racial Health Disparities: Looking Back to Point the Way Forward," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 680(1), pages 132-171, November.
    8. Factor, Roni & Kawachi, Ichiro & Williams, David R., 2011. "Understanding high-risk behavior among non-dominant minorities: A social resistance framework," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(9), pages 1292-1301.
    9. Yeshambel T Nigatu & Tara Elton-Marshall & Hayley A Hamilton, 2023. "Changes in household debt due to COVID-19 and mental health concerns among adults in Ontario, Canada," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 69(3), pages 774-783, May.
    10. Savannah Larimore & Mosi Ifatunji & Hedwig Lee & Jane Rafferty & James Jackson & Margaret T. Hicken, 2021. "Geographic Variation in Reproductive Health Among the Black Population in the US: An Analysis of Nativity, Region of Origin, and Division of Residence," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 40(1), pages 33-59, February.
    11. Nancy P Gordon & Matthew P Banegas & Reginald D Tucker-Seeley, 2020. "Racial-ethnic differences in prevalence of social determinants of health and social risks among middle-aged and older adults in a Northern California health plan," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(11), pages 1-18, November.
    12. Metzler, Marilyn & Merrick, Melissa T. & Klevens, Joanne & Ports, Katie A. & Ford, Derek C., 2017. "Adverse childhood experiences and life opportunities: Shifting the narrative," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 141-149.
    13. Mengdi Liu & Xin Zhao, 2025. "Adding to the Woes: Heterogeneous Effects of Air Pollution on Pandemic Patients," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(4), pages 655-676, April.
    14. Barr, Ashley Brooke, 2015. "Family socioeconomic status, family health, and changes in students' math achievement across high school: A mediational model," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 27-34.
    15. Abdulkarim M. Meraya & Nilanjana Dwibedi & Xi Tan & Kim Innes & Sophie Mitra & Usha Sambamoorthi, 2018. "The dynamic relationships between economic status and health measures among working‐age adults in the United States," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(8), pages 1160-1174, August.
    16. Sanginabadi, Bahram, 2021. "Oil and Mortality," OSF Preprints j2xqw, Center for Open Science.
    17. Besiki L. Kutateladze & Victoria Z. Lawson, 2017. "A New Look at Inequality: Introducing and Testing a Cross-Sectional Equality Measurement Framework in New York City," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 132(3), pages 993-1022, July.
    18. Lauren M. Dutra & Matthew C. Farrelly & James Nonnemaker & Brian Bradfield & Jennifer Gaber & Minal Patel & Elizabeth C. Hair, 2019. "Differential Relationship between Tobacco Control Policies and U.S. Adult Current Smoking by Poverty," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(21), pages 1-16, October.
    19. Goetschius, Leigh G. & Henderson, Morgan & Han, Fei & Mahmoudi, Dillon & Perman, Chad & Haft, Howard & Stockwell, Ian, 2023. "Assessing performance of ZCTA-level and Census Tract-level social and environmental risk factors in a model predicting hospital events," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 326(C).
    20. Héctor Pifarré i Arolas & Christian Dudel, 2019. "An Ordinal Measure of Population Health," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 143(3), pages 1219-1243, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:17:p:9387-:d:629784. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.