CRUCIAL ROLE OF PARENTS’ ENGAGEMENT IN SCHOOL-BASED HEALTH EDUCATION

<p class="cvGsUA direction-ltr align-justify para-style-body" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="a_GcMg font-feature-liga-off font-feature-clig-off font-feature-calt-off text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none">Health education programs implemented in schools in Serbia should be improved methodologically with special emphasis on intersectoral action and inter-organizational partnerships at all levels, which implies identifying the role of children, teachers, parents, and all community representatives. </span><span class="a_GcMg font-feature-liga-off font-feature-clig-off font-feature-calt-off text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none">The aim of our study was to define and analyze the role of parent engagement in school-based health education in Serbia in order to clarify and propose possible improvements. </span><span class="a_GcMg font-feature-liga-off font-feature-clig-off font-feature-calt-off text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none">The focus group gathered nine health and non-health professionals in 2022 in order to interactively discuss the previously defined topics related to health education in schools. The focus group was recorded, transcribed verbatim, coded, and analyzed by three research team members. In this qualitative study, a thematic analysis approach was implemented for data analysis. </span><span class="a_GcMg font-feature-liga-off font-feature-clig-off font-feature-calt-off text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none">Focus group participants stressed the advantages of analyzed programs, as well as weaknesses, regarding parental engagement in school-based health education. Parents are not involved in designing health education programs planned for their children, and are only sporadically involved in program activities. The evaluation of “Health-promoting schools’ programs” showed that parental role was recognized theoretically, but there seems to be a lack of practical application, i.e., the active involvement of parents, which is also the result of our research. </span><span class="a_GcMg font-feature-liga-off font-feature-clig-off font-feature-calt-off text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none">Activities regarding strengthening the school-based health education should be directed to advocating a parental role in all phases of health education programs’ development and implementation.</span></p>