Measuring school capacity at health promoting schools: a validation study

Abstract Background In Germany, school-based prevention strategies are increasingly being implemented, which expand the prevention capacities of schools to empower them, to epidemiologically determine their prevention needs and then to implement need-oriented, evidence-based prevention programs. However, only a few instruments in the German language are available to assess school capacity for prevention and health promotion (PHP). We present an extended version of one such instrument and its psychometric properties. Methods We adapted an existing tool measuring community capacity to the school setting. The instrument covers five constructs: adoption of a science-based prevention strategy (index based on 21 items), inter-sectoral collaboration for PHP (10 items), integrated strategy for PHP (10 items), support for prevention (4 items), and social norms (8 items). As part of the quasi-experimental Weitblick study, 108 key informants from 20 schools have been interviewed since March 2024. We conducted reliability and correlation analyses, and calculated ICCs to assess school-level variation. Results Preliminary findings indicate acceptable to good internal consistency (α= .732 to .831). At the individual level, integrated strategy correlates significantly with inter-sectoral collaboration (r= .292**) and support for prevention (r= .473**). On the school level, it correlates significantly with support for prevention (r= .652**) and the adoption of a science-based prevention strategy (r= .668**). The following proportion of variance is explained by school-level differences: adoption of a science-based prevention strategy 94.8%, inter-sectoral collaboration 58%, integrated strategy 34.8%, support for prevention 40.2%, social norms 41%. Conclusions The results indicate that the instrument enables valid measurements of school capacity outcomes in the German context. Limitations are being discussed, and further analyses of these outcomes will follow (e.g., confirmatory factor analyses). Key messages • School capacity can be reliably measured using a multi-construct instrument. • The instrument reveals meaningful school-level variation that supports its use in evaluating whole-school prevention efforts.