Finnish parental involvement ethos, health support, health education knowledge and participation: results from a 2-year school health intervention

Abstract

A 2-year, participatory action research school health study focused on developing components for home-school partnerships to support children's health learning process. Two intervention schools implemented strengthened health and collaboration-orientated activities; two control schools followed the national core curriculum without extracurricular activities. The parents of fourth-grade pupils (10-11 years at baseline) completed questionnaires before intervention in spring 2008 (N = 348) and after intervention in spring 2010 (N = 358). A two-way analysis of variance was conducted to determine whether time (2008/2010) and group (intervention/control) influenced parents' perceptions and experiences of parental involvement, health education and health support received from the school. Compared with controls, the intervention schools' parents experienced greater involvement ethos (Cohen's d = 0.57, P < 0.001), increased knowledge of health education (Cohen's d = 0.60, P = 0.02) and health support (Cohen's d = 0.35, P = 0.02). Health education participation among parents increased only partially during the intervention (Cohen's d = -0.12, P = 0.193). School health interventions based on schools' needs may have the potential to influence positively the relationship between home and school and increase the visibility of health education. The study was undertaken within the Schools for Health in Europe program.