Comprehensive School Health models offer a promising strategy to elicit changes in student health behaviours. To maximise the effect of such models, the active involvement of teachers and students in the change process is recommended.

The goal of this project was to gain insight into the experiences and motivations of teachers and students involved in a choice-based Comprehensive School Health model – Health Promoting Secondary Schools (HPSS).

School communities in British Columbia, Canada.

HPSS engaged teachers and students in the planning and implementation of a whole-school health model aimed at improving the physical activity and eating behaviours of high school students. The intervention components were specifically informed by self-determination theory. A total of 23 teachers and 34 school committee members participated in focus group interviews. The minutes of planning meetings were collected throughout the intervention process.

Analysis of the data revealed five themes associated with participants’ experiences and motivational processes: (a) lack of time for planning and preparation; (b) resources, workshops and collaboration; (c) teacher control impacts student engagement; (d) teacher job action inhibited implementation of HPSS action plans; and (e) choice-based design impacts participants’ experiences.

Findings from this study can facilitate future school-based projects by providing insights into student and teacher perspectives on the planning and implementation of school-based health promotion programmes and implementing choice-based educational change initiatives.