How effective is the health‐promoting school approach in building social capital in primary schools?

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe a study which investigated the relationship between the “health-promoting school” (HPS) approach and social capital and tested the proposition that the implementation of an HPS intervention leads to a significant improvement in HPS features and social capital. Design/methodology/approach – In this paper a prospective intervention study design was used and involved the comparison of an intervention population group and a comparison population group matched for school size, urban location, school type and socio-economic status. The paper shows that the intervention group used the holistic HPS approach to promote resilience, whereas the comparison group did not use the HPS approach. In the intervention schools, 262 staff in the pre-intervention phase, and 288 staff in the post-intervention phase responded to the survey. In the control schools, 156 staff in the pre-intervention phase, and 261 in the post-intervention phase responded. The HPS Scale derived from the Ottawa Charter and the Social Capital Scale derived from the Social Capital Index were used at the school community level. Findings – The findings of this paper show that there was a statistically significant relationship between HPS indicators and social capital. The evidence indicates that an HPS approach to build social capital is effective. Practical implications – The results in this paper indicate that social capital embedded in the HPS structure has the capacity to substantially affect relationships that people have with one another and the school psychosocial environment. Originality/value – This paper provides health educators with resource strategies to promote social capital within the HPS program framework.