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School Health Index (SHI)
Glossary
A | B | C | D | E |
F
| G | H | I | J | K | L | M |
N | O | P | Q | R | S |
T
| U | V | W | X | Y | Z
A
Actions
Steps to take to improve areas you have identified as weaknesses.
After analyzing the module scores and using them to identify your
school's strengths and weaknesses, you can use the information
to brainstorm possible actions for improving the weak areas.
Asthma
One of the five topics included in the SHI. Asthma is a prevalent
chronic respiratory disease characterized by periodic episodes of
increased inflammation and narrowing of the small airways. Symptoms
may include wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, and difficulty
breathing. Asthma is a leading cause of school absences. Asthma
cannot be cured, but it can be controlled. Schools can do their
part to control asthma by becoming more "asthma-friendly"–
that is, by adopting policies and procedures and coordinating student
services to better serve students with asthma.
B
C
Commitment
One of the measures used for determining or ranking the priority
level of an action. The level of commitment assigned to an action
indicates the dedication towards that action by school
administration and staff, the community, and you.
Coordinator
The facilitator of the SHI process. A coordinator can be someone
who is a part of the school or someone external—for example, a
retired health educator, community-based dietitian, professor at
a local university, graduate student, or a volunteer at a community-based
health organization.
Cost
One of the measures used for determining or ranking the priority
level of an action. The cost indicates the financial resources required
to implement an action.
Counseling, psychological, and social services
One of the eight components of CDC's model of a Coordinated School
Health Program (CSHP). The SHI is centered around this model. Counseling,
psychological, and social services are provided to improve students'
mental, emotional, and social health. These services include individual
and group assessments, interventions, and referrals. Organizational
assessment and consultation skills of counselors and psychologists
contribute not only to the health of students but also to the health
of the school environment. Counseling, psychological, and social
services are provided by professionals such as certified school
counselors, psychologists, and social workers.
Cross-cutting questions
Questions that apply to all health topic areas and are included
in a module regardless of the topics that you select.
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D
E
F
Family and community involvement
One of the eight components of the CDC's model of a Coordinated
School Health Program (CSHP). The SHI is centered around this model.
Family and community involvement is an integrated school, family,
and community approach for enhancing the health and well-being of
students. School health advisory councils, coalitions, and broadly-based constituencies for school health can build support for school
health program efforts. Schools actively solicit family involvement
and engage community resources and services to respond more effectively
to the health-related needs of students.
Feasibility
One of the measures used for determining or ranking the priority
level of an action. The feasibility ranking assigned to an action
indicates how likely it is that the school will be able to implement
the action.
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G
H
Health education
One of the eight components of CDC's model of a Coordinated School
Health Program (CSHP). The SHI is centered around this model. Health
education is a planned, sequential, K-12 curriculum that addresses
the physical, mental, emotional, and social dimensions of health.
The curriculum is designed to motivate and assist students to maintain
and improve their health, prevent disease, and reduce health-related
risk behaviors. It allows students to develop and demonstrate increasingly
sophisticated health-related knowledge, attitudes, skills, and practices.
The comprehensive health education curriculum includes a variety
of topics such as personal health, family health, community health,
consumer health, environmental health, sexuality education, mental
and emotional health, injury prevention and safety, nutrition, prevention
and control of disease, and substance use and abuse. Health education
is provided by qualified, trained teachers.
Health promotion for staff
One of the eight components of CDC's model of a coordinated school
health program (CSHP). The SHI is centered around this model. Health
promotion for staff are opportunities for school staff to improve
their health status through activities such as health assessments,
health education, and health-related fitness activities. These opportunities
encourage school staff to pursue a healthy lifestyle that contributes
to their improved health status, improved morale, and a greater
personal commitment to the school's overall coordinated health program.
This personal commitment often transfers into greater commitment
to the health of students and creates positive role modeling.
Health services
One of the eight components of CDC's model of a Coordinated School
Health Program (CSHP). The SHI is centered around this model. Health
services are provided to appraise, protect, and promote student
health. These services are designed to
- ensure access or referral to primary health care services or
both,
- foster appropriate use of primary health care services,
- prevent and control communicable disease and other health problems,
- provide emergency care for illness or injury,
- promote and provide optimum sanitary conditions for a safe school
facility and school environment, and
- provide educational and counseling opportunities for promoting
and maintaining individual, family, and community health.
Health services are provided by qualified professionals, such as
physicians, nurses, dentists, health educators, and other allied
health personnel.
Health topics
Health topics determine the questions that will be included in
your SHI and therefore customize your SHI. The following topics
are currently available: safety, physical
activity, nutrition, tobacco
use, and asthma. Additional health
topics will be added in the future.
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I
J
K
L
M
Module
The eight SHI modules are structured around CDC's eight-component
model of a Coordinated School Health Program (CSHP) as follows:
-
School Health and Safety Policies
and Environment
- Health Education
- Physical Education and Other Physical
Activity Programs
- Nutrition Services
- Health Services
- Counseling, Psychological, and Social
Services
- Health Promotion for Staff
- Family and Community Involvement
N
Nutrition
One of the five health topics included in the SHI. Nutrition involves
healthy eating, which is associated with reduced risk of many diseases,
including the three leading causes of death—heart disease,
cancer, and stroke. Healthy eating in childhood and adolescence
is important for proper growth and development and can prevent obesity,
dental caries, iron deficiency anemia, and other health problems.
Nutrition services
One of the eight components of CDC's model of a Coordinated School
Health Program (CSHP). The SHI is centered around this model. Nutrition
services involve access to a variety of nutritious and appealing
meals that accommodate the health and nutrition needs of all students.
School nutrition programs reflect the U.S. Dietary Guidelines for
Americans and other criteria to achieve nutrition integrity. The
school nutrition services offer students a learning laboratory for
classroom nutrition and health education and serve as a resource
for linkages with nutrition-related community services. Qualified
child nutrition professionals provide these services.
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O
P
Password
Confidential password that you link to your team name for logging
onto the system. Your password should not exceed 10 characters.
Physical activity
One of the five health topics included in the SHI. Physical activity reduces
the risk of premature mortality in general and of coronary heart
disease, hypertension, colon cancer, and diabetes mellitus in particular.
Regular physical activity in childhood and adolescence improves
strength and endurance, helps build healthy bones and muscle, helps
control weight, reduces anxiety and stress, increases self esteem,
and may improve blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
Physical education and other physical activity
programs
One of the eight components of CDC's model of a Coordinated
School Health Program (CSHP). The SHI is centered around this model.
Physical education is a planned, sequential, K-12 curriculum that
provides cognitive content and learning experiences in a variety of
activity areas, such as basic movement skills; physical fitness;
rhythm and dance; games; team, dual, and individual sports; tumbling
and gymnastics; and aquatics. Through a variety of planned physical
activities, quality physical education should promote each students
optimum physical, mental, emotional, and social development,
including sports that all students enjoy and can pursue throughout
their lives. Physical education is provided by qualified trained
teachers.
Policy
Policies can be developed at the school level or at the school
district or state level and implemented at the school level. Policies
include legal codes, rules, standards, administrative orders, guidelines,
mandates, and resolutions.
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Q
R
S
Safety
One of the five health topics included in the SHI. Safety relates
to preventing unintentional injuries and violence, which are leading
causes of death and disability among children, adolescents, and
young adults. Two-thirds of all deaths among adolescents are due
to either unintentional injuries or violence. Major causes of unintentional
injuries include motor-vehicle crashes, drowning, poisoning, fires
and burns, falls, sports- and recreation-related injuries, firearm-related
injuries, choking, suffocation, and animal bites. Types of violence
are homicide, suicide, assault, sexual violence, rape, child maltreatment,
dating and domestic violence, and self-inflicted injuries. Children
and adolescents engage in many behaviors that increase their risk
of injury, including not using seat belts, driving after drinking
alcohol, carrying weapons, and engaging in physical fights.
School health and safety policies
and environment
One of the eight components of CDC's model of a Coordinated School
Health Program (CSHP). The SHI is centered around this model. Healthy
school environment is the physical and aesthetic surroundings and
the psychosocial climate and culture of the school. Factors that
influence the physical environment include the school building and
the area surrounding it, any biological or chemical agents that
are detrimental to health, and physical conditions such as temperature,
noise, and lighting. The psychological environment includes the
physical, emotional, and social conditions that affect the well-being
of students and staff.
School level
The grade level in your school—elementary, middle, or high
school. You must choose a school level when creating your SHI.
Scorecard
Your responses to SHI items will be automatically tallied and appear
on a scorecard. Module scorecards display your score for the module.
The overall scorecard displays your score for all the modules.
SHI name
The name you assigned to your SHI when you created it, for example,
LeHigh Health Plan. A SHI name cannot be more than 20 characters
long.
Strengths
The areas in which you scored high (e.g., 3's and 2's) on your
scorecard.
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T
Tobacco use
One of the five health topics included in the SHI. Tobacco use,
including cigarette smoking, cigar smoking, and smokeless tobacco
use, is the single leading preventable cause of death in the United
States.
Team
The group of people who will be working on the SHI. The team consists
of individuals who are part of the school, such as the principal,
students, nurse, parents and teachers; and individuals outside the
school, such as local health department staff members.
Team name
The name you assigned to your team, such as LeHigh Tigers. The
team name should not exceed 20 characters.
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U
V
W
Weaknesses
The areas in which you scored low (e.g., 1's and 0's) on your scorecard.
X
Y
Z
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