Investigating the effectiveness of webinars in the adoption of proven school wellness strategies

Objective: Recent federal legislation in the USA highlights the role schools play in student health by requiring the utilisation of wellness councils for policy development and oversight. One barrier to developing goodquality wellness policies and wellness culture is limited knowledge of resources among school professionals. This article describes an approach to webinar delivery to improve school wellness efforts. Design: Eight webinars, 30-60 minutes in length, were delivered on topics designed to enhance school wellness environments. Setting: Webinars were delivered using an online meeting software platform to school professionals, who participated from their respective school buildings remotely. Method: Webinars featured content experts for the selected topics and were promoted to school professionals and wellness organisations. Attendees were invited to participate in a post-webinar questionnaire regarding satisfaction with the session and intent to act on knowledge gained from participation. Results: Webinars reached 280 school and wellness professionals (teachers, administrators, nurses, etc.). Participants who completed post-webinar surveys (n = 78) rated the webinar's ability to enhance their knowledge in the respective topic area with an average score of 4.3 out of 5.0 (1 = poor, 5 = excellent). Most respondents (n = 69) intended to share the information gained with a colleague. Conclusion: Webinars provide a viable method of instruction and education for school personnel interested in strategies for improving a school's wellness environment. Further investigation is necessary to determine the best strategies for promoting webinar engagement. Future research should also explore the link between webinar participation and positive changes in school wellness environments.