"We've Had to Build the Plane as We Flew It.": Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on School-Based Weight Management Interventions

Document Type

Article

Subject Area(s)

Animals; COVID-19; Child; Cross-Sectional Studies; Diptera; Humans; Pandemics (prevention & control); Pediatric Obesity (epidemiology, prevention & control); SARS-CoV-2; Schools; United States (epidemiology)

Abstract

Background:

In response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, elementary and secondary schools in the United States transitioned to remote learning to slow viral spread and protect students and school officials. This move interrupted academic education and school-based health interventions focused on physical activity (PA) and healthy eating behaviors to help combat childhood obesity. Little is known on how these interventions were affected by COVID-19.

Methods:

This concurrent multimethodological study incorporated two independent components: qualitative descriptive semistructured interviews with public school administrators and quantitative descriptive cross-sectional needs assessment survey of public school personnel.

Results:

Three themes were identified from interviews with school administrators (N = 28): changes in school-based interventions addressing PA and healthy eating behaviors, changes in academic delivery affecting PA and healthy eating behaviors, and needs of school administrators. From the survey (N = 1311), 635 (48.4%) participants indicated that schools' abilities to address PA and healthy eating behaviors were negatively impacted by COVID-19. The majority (n = 876, 66.8%) of participants strongly agreed or agreed that the pandemic would affect future school-based interventions related to PA and healthy eating behaviors.

Conclusions:

While schools are prime locations for delivering school-based weight management interventions related to childhood obesity, participants reported the pandemic had overall negative impacts on interventions addressing PA and healthy eating behaviors. Understanding these impacts is essential to adapting school-based interventions to changes from COVID-19 so students may receive health information and access health promotion interventions in remote learning environments and during social distancing.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1089/chi.2021.0037

APA Citation

Camp-Spivey, L. J., Newman, S. D., Stevens, R. N., & Nichols, M. (2021). “We’ve Had to Build the Plane as We Flew It.”: Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on School-Based Weight Management Interventions. Childhood Obesity, 17(8), 497–506.https://doi.org/10.1089/chi.2021.0037

Rights

© 2026 by SAGE Publications

Link to Record

Share

COinS