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

Camp-Spivey, Logan J; Newman, Susan D; Stevens, Robert N; Nichols, Michelle

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.