SYNTHESIS
The group topic agreed upon for project wiki was wellness. This synthesis paper discusses research which specifically addressed physical fitness and exercise as it pertains to overall wellness.
Not surprisingly, the research available for highlighting the benefits of exercise as it pertains to overall wellness is plentiful. However, when one begins to narrow that scope to physical fitness as it pertains to teachers and faculty members of our nation’s academic institutions, the research suggests that the benefits of physical fitness are not being fully recognized by the nearly 7 million employees of U.S. schools (Eaton, Marx, Bowie, 2007).
In every example of research the positive relationship between exercise and overall wellness was demonstrated. Some examples of the benefits of exercise discussed included increased work productivity, decreased absenteeism, increased job satisfaction and improvement in general well-being. Looking to the results of the School Health Policies and Programs Study of 2006 (Eaton, Marx, Bowie, 2007) there is a disturbing contrast in allocation of funds for health promotion activities: 73.8% of all school districts in the U.S. provided funding for CPR education while only 24.8% of districts funded physical fitness activities or fitness counseling.
The evidence of the importance of physical fitness and exercise as it pertains to overall wellness is indisputable. The fact that teachers make up a significant portion of our nation’s workforce and have the awe-inspiring task of educating America’s sons and daughters, highlights the importance of ensuring teacher wellness.
Some may suggest that now is a bad time to try and fund any additional initiatives in our nation’s schools when budget constraints are such a stark reality. The response to this should be twofold. First, research will point out that a healthy workforce can in fact provide financial gains for employers with increased work productivity, decreased absenteeism, and reduction in health care costs (Haines, Davis, Rancour, Robinson, Neel-Wilson, Wagner, 2007). The second response should address just how little funding is required if schools were to take advantage of existing resources available in most school districts. These resources often include walking or running tracks, gymnasiums, weight rooms and resident fitness expertise in the form of P.E. teachers and athletic coaches. Every school should designate a wellness committee which has the responsibility of planning and executing a fitness program for teachers and faculty throughout the academic year. These programs could include walking clubs, yoga, weight training or organized sports. Principals and superintendants need to recognize that if teachers and faculty members can be assembled for the myriad required administrative meetings they can also be assembled for wellness.
Finally, in most research examined for this project little was discussed about an additional potentially vital benefit to teacher wellness: student wellness. Given the alarming statistics on adolescent obesity in our nation one has to recognize the potential benefit of millions of students witnessing the positive behavior displayed when teachers engage in exercise programs aimed at achieving overall wellness. The time for our nation’s teachers and students to get out from behind the desk and begin the journey to physical well-being is now.
Annotated Bibliography
Blair, S.N. , Collingwood, T.R. , Reynolds, R., Smith, M. , & Hagen, D. (1984). Health promotion for educators. American Journal of Public Health, 74(2), 147-150.
In this quasi-experiment a random sample of 117 teachers from 4 schools were used. Three schools were used as the treatment schools and one as the control school. Teachers in the treatment schools participated in a 10-week wellness program emphasizing exercise, stress management and nutrition. Baseline testing was administered to all groups and then treatment groups began the 10-week program which included daily educational classes, bi-weekly seminars, and daily exercise sessions. Results: treatment school teachers increased their fitness knowledge, physical fitness level, and decreased their body fat percentages. Results also indicated improvement in general well-being, job satisfaction and self concept for the treatment group.
Fahlman, M.M., Hall, H.L., & Lock, R. (2006). Ethnic and socioeconomic comparisons of fitness, activity levels and barriers to exercise in high school females. Journal of School Health, 76(1), 12-17.
In this study 1,314 female high school students were surveyed to determine if individual measures of physical fitness, barriers to exercise or activity level differed based on ethnicity or socioeconomic status. A fifteen question survey was used to assess barriers to exercise and activity level while a FITNESSGRAM fitness test measured aerobic capacity and body mass index. Results showed significant differences between African Americans, Hispanics, and whites. These results suggest that students of minority and low socioeconomic groups should be given separate and different strategies regarding health and fitness. Limitations: the selected sample of female high school students was very small and therefore should not be presumed to have validity for all adolescents.
Eaton, D.K., Marx, E., & Bowie, S.E. (2007). Faculty and staff health promotion: results from the school health policies and programs study 2006. Journal of School Health, 77(8), 557-566.
This study describes the results of the 2006 School Health Policies and Programs Study (SHIPPS). This is a national study about state, district and school-level health insurance policies, health examinations, and off-site health promotion activities. The data was collected using computer-assisted telephone interviews and questionnaires. The results suggest that there is plenty of room for improvement in the planning and implementation of faculty and staff health promotion programs. Improvement in this area could potentially result in cost savings from reduced injuries, sick leave and health care costs of the 6.7 million faculty and staff employed in this country.
Haines, D.J., Davis, L., Rancour, P., Robinson, M., & Neel-Wilson, T. (2007). A pilot intervention to promote walking and wellness and to improve the health of college faculty and staff. Journal of American College Health, 55(4), 219-225.
This study evaluated the effectiveness of a 12-week walking program introduced to 120 college faculty and staff members. The study set out to determine whether the walking program had an effect on body mass index, blood pressure, blood glucose and cholesterol. The results showed a slight decrease in all categories after the 12 weeks. Of particular interest was a unanticipated results: many participants indicated increased health awareness, increased physical activity and diet improvement. In addition to the aforementioned, the study surmised that the 12-week walking program indirectly provided financial gains for the employer through increased work productivity, decreased absenteeism and improvements in health status.
Neck, C.P., & Cooper, K.H. (2000). The fit executive: exercise and diet guidelines for enhancing performance. Academy of Management Executives, 14(2), 272-83.
In this paper the authors attempt to demonstrate the importance of exercise and diet for the overall health and well-being of executives. It was pointed out early in the paper some of the challenges faced by today’s executivesin the form of travel requirements, long working hours, success of the company and responsibility for many people. The authors acknowledge the potential for confusion for these executives to choose a fitness program. There are multiple diet and exercise bestseller books as well as fitness fads. The paper attempts to reduce the confusion by highlighting two keys to fitness: exercise and diet. The three components of exercise which the paper describes are endurance, strength, and flexibility. The four aspects of diet described are the reduction of fat and cholesterol, the consumption of food high in fiber, high calcium intake and consumption of antioxidants. The paper references several studies highlighting the positive relationship between fitness and performance.
Davies, J., Davies, R., & Heacock, S. (2003). A wellness program for faculty. Educational Leadership, 60(8), 68-70.
This paper discusses the process of establishing a wellness program for a large, independent K-12 school in Florida. The paper also reports on the progress and problems faced during the three years the wellness program has been in place. The program developed was 6 dimensional: intellectual, physical, emotional, spiritual, social, and vocational. This model was used in order to create a more diversified program rather than just a physical activity based program. Some of the challenges discussed included resistance from some of the faculty who complained that the money spent on wellness could have gone toward salaries. The paper points to some of the successes of the program including a stable weight watchers group and the expansion of the yoga program.
Beets, M.W., & Pitetti, K.H. (2005). Contribution of physical education and sport to health-related fitness in high school students. Journal of School Health, 75(1), 25-26.
This study compared health-related fitness of high school students who participated in physical education (PE) and school sponsored sports (SSS) to students who only participated in PE. The 187 students were both male and female between 14 – 19 years old. The analysis used a 20-meter shuttle run, push-ups, the sit and reach and the body mass index. The study discussed some background data pointing out the relationship between participation in physical activity and the reduction of obesity and high blood pressure. The authors point out that physical activity in adolescents decreases significantly between the ages of 14 – 21. The results of the study showed that there was a definitive relationship between those students who participate in both PE and SSS and their superior performance on the 200 meter shuttle run. Limitations: the sample size used was one school from one region in the U.S. and cannot be applied across the nation. The findings for this study clearly demonstrated a positive relationship (for both males and females) between participation in school sponsored sports and increased cardiovascular fitness.
Johanns, K. (2009, December). Take a chance on wellness: educators across Texas focus on leading healthy lifestyles. Association of Texas Educators, 21-27.
In this article the author examines an elementary school in Austin, Texas which has begun to participate in a customized fitness program for teachers. Texas employs more than 630,000 public school employees and because of rising costs for health care the health and fitness of those employees has gained attention. The article discusses some potential benefits of a school wellness program as defined by the Directors of Health Promotion and Education (DHPE). These benefits include reduced health costs, lower absenteeism, and last but not least, positive wellness role models for an entire population of adolescent students. The article also highlighted some key components of this particular customized fitness program which included affordability, exclusive faculty membership and being offered on campus.