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Help: Policy, Systems, Environmental Change

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PSE Glossary

All bold words within the PSE module are listed here with their definition. For questions about the PSE module, visit the PPMRS Contact page.


Active Classrooms

Classrooms in which physical activity is integrated into the learning environment. For example, an active classroom could replace desk chairs with stability balls as a seating option to increase physical activity. [top]

Alliance for a Healthier Generation Healthy Schools

Schools that have received the Healthy Schools Program National Recognition Award have made significant changes in the areas of healthy eating, physical activity, and staff wellness to combat childhood obesity and foster healthier communities. Award-winning schools can be found at Alliance for a Healthier Generation: The National Recognition Awards [Attn: Non-MDH link]. [top]

Bike Paths (i.e., Class I Bike Facilities)

Bikeways physically separate from motorized vehicular traffic. [top]

Breakfast Promotion: Activities that encourage and support students eating breakfast every day Bus Service: May include bus services that are operated by neighboring communities but serve your jurisdiction. [top]

Class I Bike Facilities

See: Bike Paths

Class II Bike Facilities

See: On-Street Bicycle Lanes

Clinics/Physician’s Offices

A small private or public health facility that is devoted to the care of outpatients. [top]

Coalitions: Groups of individuals representing diverse public- and/or private-sector organizations, factions, or constituencies working together to achieve a shared goal through coordinated use of resources, leadership and action. [top]

Co-curricular Physical Activity Programs: may include physical activity integrated into areas of the school or school program, such as activity in classrooms, gymnasiums, or outdoor activity spaces. [top]

Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA): A community farm operation in which members cover the costs of the farm’s operation and share in the farm’s harvest. [top]

Complete Streets: Complete streets are designed and operated to enable safe access for all users. Pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and transit riders of all ages and abilities must be able to safely move along and across a complete street, as defined by the National Complete Streets Coalition [Attn: Non-MDH link]. [top]

Comprehensive Wellness Policy: A set of policies for an institution that provides opportunities for healthy living across a broad spectrum of outcomes, including supports for physical health (healthy eating, physical activity, tobacco use cessation, etc.) and mental health. [top]

Eating Occasion: A single meal or snack. [top]

Environmental Change: Changes to the economic, social, or physical environments. Examples include: incorporating walking paths and recreation areas into new community development designs, and making low-fat choices available in cafeterias (DHPE, 2001). [top]

Extracurricular Physical Activity Programs: may include programs and events offered by the YMCA, church groups, Boys and Girls Clubs, community athletic leagues, and other public of private organizations. [top]

Farm Stand: Multiple or single vendors that are not part of a farmer’s market. [top]

Farm-to-School Initiatives: Initiatives that bring food from local farms to schools and offer experiential education opportunities on topics such as composting, planting school gardens, cooking demonstrations, and farm tours. [top]

Farmer Day: A full work day (8 hours) spent by a farmer (vendor) at a licensed farmers’ market or licensed farm stand (excluding craft vendors and preparatory food vendors). Total number of annual farmer days for a given farmer market is based on the number of days the farmer market is open in a year multiplied the number of farm vendors at the market on a given day. For example, a farmer’s market that is open 52 days per year and has 15 farm vendors each day would equal 780 farmer days. [top]

Farmers Market: A public market at which farmers and often other vendors sell produce directly to consumers. [top]

Health Care Facilities: Any institution that provides health treatments, including hospitals, clinics/physician’s offices, and skilled nursing facilities/long-term care facilities [top]

Healthy Concessions: School concessions that include foods and beverages with low energy-density and low content of calories, sugar, fat, and sodium. [top]

Healthy Corner Store Initiatives: Initiatives that promote the sale of healthy, fresh, affordable foods in small neighborhood stores in underserved communities [top]

Healthy Fundraising Activities: Fundraising activities that include foods and beverages with low energy-density and low content of calories, sugar, fat, and sodium. [top]

Healthy Lunch and Snack Options: Lunch and snack options that include foods and beverages with low energy-density and low content of calories, sugar, fat, and sodium. [top]

Healthy Vending: Vending options that include foods and beverages with low energy-density and low content of calories, sugar, fat, and sodium. [top]

Healthier Foods: Foods and beverages with low energy-density and low content of calories, sugar, fat, and sodium (Institute of Medicine, 2005). [top]

Hospitals: Any institution that provides health care by offering treatment with specialized staff and equipment. [top]

Largest School District: The school district within your jurisdiction that serves the greatest number of your jurisdiction’s school age residents. [top]

Less Healthy Foods and Beverages: Foods and beverages with high content of calories, fat, sugar, and sodium, and low content of nutrients, including protein, vitamins A and C, niacin, riboflavin, thiamin, calcium, and iron (Institute of Medicine, 2005). [top]

Local Government Facilities: Facilities owned, leased, or operated by the local government (including facilities that may be owned of leased by the local government but operated by contracted employees). For the purposes of this project and according to established ICMA definitions, local government facilities may include facilities in the following categories:

  • Administrative/Office Facilities: include general office buildings, court buildings, data processing facilities, sheriff’s offices (NOT detention facilities), 911 centers, social service intake centers, day care/preschool facilities, historical buildings, and other related facilities.
  • 24-hour “Dormitory-Types” Facilities: Include facilities that are generally in operation 24 hours per day, 7 days a week, such as fire houses ( and their equipment bays), women’s shelters, men’s shelters, and group housing facilities for children, seniors, and physically/mentally challenged people. Do not include regular public housing.
  • Health Care Facilities: include hospitals, clinics, morgues and related facilities.
  • Recreation/Community Center Facilities: include senior centers, community centers, gymnasiums, water parks, ice arenas, indoor play parks and other similar recreation centers, including concessions stands at these facilities.
  • Detention Facilities: include jails, adult detention centers, juvenile detention centers, and related facilities.
  • Other Facilities: include water treatment plants, airports, schools, and all other facilities operated and maintained by your jurisdiction that do not explicitly fall into the categories listed above. [top]

Menu Labeling: Posting calorie content and nutrition information in a clear and conspicuous manner, such as posting information for standard menu items directly on menus or menu boards. [top]

Mixed Use Zoning: Zoning that combines residential land use with one of more of the following types of land use: commercial, institutional, or other public use. [top]

Multi-Unit Housing: Buildings with 4+ units. This can include apartment buildings with rental units and condo or townhouse units that are attached in some manner, but are owned or rented. [top]

National Complete Streets Coalition: See: Complete Streets

Network Distance: Shortest distance between two locations by way of the public street network. [top]

Non-Motorized Transportation: Includes both walking and biking. Students who ride the school bus or are driven to school by their parents or in a carpool would be excluded. [top]

Nutrition Standards: A list of criteria that determine which foods and beverages may or may not be offered in a particular setting, such as schools or any local government facilities. For the purpose of this project, nutrition standards may be defined locally or adopted from national standards such as the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (2005) of the Institute of Medicine’s Nutrition Standards for Foods in Schools (2007). [top]

On-Street Bicycle Lanes (i.e., Class II Bike Facilities): Portions of a roadway that have been designated by striping, signing, and pavement markings for the preferential or exclusive use of bicyclists. [top]

Outdoor Public Recreational Facility: A facility that is listed in the local jurisdiction’s facility inventory and has at least one physical activity promoting amenity (e.g. walking/hiking trail, bicycling trail, open play field/play area). [top]

Policies: Laws, regulations, and formal and informal rules. Examples include: laws and regulations that restrict smoking in public buildings, worksites that provide time off during work hours for physical activity, and school wellness policies (DHPE, 2001). [top]

Portion Size: Amount of a single food item served in a single eating occasion, such as a meal or a snack. Portion size is the amount of food offered to a person in a restaurant, in the packaging of prepared foods, or the amount a person chooses to put on his or her plate. One portions of a food item can contain several servings. [top]

Pricing Strategies: may include discounts on healthier foods, selling healthier food at a lower profit margin, and/or banning surcharge on healthier foods. [top]

Public Recreation Facility Entrance: Geographic (GIS) coordinated of the entrance to a recreational facility; if such coordinates are not available- street address of the facility. [top]

Public Service Venue: Facilities and settings open to the public that are managed under the authority of government entities (e.g., schools, child care centers, community recreational facilities, city and county buildings, prisons, and juvenile detention centers). [top]

Screen Time: Television, computer, or video game time, excluding video games that involve physical activity. [top]

Skilled Nursing Facilities/Long-Term Care Facilities: A place of residence for people who require constant nursing care and require significant assistance with activities of daily living. [top]

Staple Foods Ordinances: Ordinances that promote the sale of food items intended for home preparation and consumption, including meat, poultry, fish, bread, and breadstuffs, cereals, vegetables, fruits, fruit and vegetable juices, and dairy products. [top]

Sugar-Sweetened Beverages: Non-diet carbonated soft drinks, sodas, fruit drinks/ades, teas, sports drinks, and flavored/sweetened milk. [top]

Supermarkets: Large, corporately- owned food store. According to the North American Industry Classification Code (NAICC), businesses that are classified as “supermarkets and other grocery stores” recorded in the business license (numeric codes include “1258 44511” and “1259 445110”). [top]

Systems Change: Change that impacts all elements of an organization, institution, or system; may include a policy or environmental change strategy. Examples: an entire school district implements a healthy lunch menu options program in all school cafeterias in the district; a local public health department implements a healthy meeting policy, allowing only healthy snacks and beverages at all meetings that take place at the health department. [top]

Tobacco-Free Grounds: Smoking or other forms of tobacco use are prohibited on facility grounds, including parking lots. [top]

Transit Stops: A bus stop, light rail stop, or subway station. [top]

Underserved Areas: Within metropolitan areas, underserved areas include any census tract in which the median income for tract is no greater than 90 percent of the median income for the metropolitan area or in which minorities comprise at least 30 percent of the tract’s population and the tract median income is no greater than 120 percent of metro-area median income. Within non-metropolitan areas, underserved areas include any census tract in which the median income for the tract is greater than 95 percent of the median income for the metropolitan area or in which minorities comprise at least 30 percent of the tract’s population and the tract median income is no greater than 120 percent of metro-area median income. [top]

USDA Healthier U.S. Schools Challenges: USDA established the Healthier US School Challenges to recognize schools that are creating healthy school environments by promoting good nutrition and physical activity. Schools are certified as Bronze, Silver, or Gold Schools, based on specified criteria. Find more information at: HealthierUS School Challenge. [top]

Voluntary Smoke-Free Housing Policies: Adopted directly by the building owner/manager or the condominium/townhouse association and not required by any form of government. [top]

Wellness Policy: The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 (Public Law 108-265) is a requires that all schools/districts participating in federally funded school meal programs to develop and implement a school wellness policy that addresses nutrition and physical activity. More information is available at: Section 204 of Public Law 108-265—June 30, 2004 (PDF: 14KB / 2 pages) [Attn: Non-MDH link]. Minnesota-specific information can be found at: Minnesota Dept. of Education: Local Guide for Wellness Policy (PDF: 331KB / 17 pages) [Attn: Non-MDH link]. [top]

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PSE Training

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PPMRS Policy, Systems, and Environmental Change Questions
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History

  • Implemented in 2009 to collect baseline data before the Statewide Health Improvement Program (SHIP) was implemented
  • Adapted from CDC's Recommended Community Strategies and Measurements to Prevent Obesity in the United States (released July 2009)

Purpose of PSE Module

  • Movement towards this type of work in health promotion
  • State and national climate is favorable for this type of work
  • To understand how local public health departments are engaging with this type of work
  • For baseline assessment of policies, systems and environments at the local level
  • To measure change over time for SHIP and other Policy, Systems and Environmental Change work (PSE) work

Walk-Through of PSE Module

  • In 2013, 30 strategies will be open for data collection
  • Answer either yes or no for all strategies that are open for data collection (question ‘a’ under each number)
  • Organized by risk factors (obesity, tobacco) and setting (community, schools, worksites, health care)

Reminders

  • This module is a required section of PPMRS
  • Answer the questions whether or not you have Statewide Health Improvement Program (SHIP) funding
  • Questions ask about Local Public Health (LPH), but the system has changed, please report for the CHB
  • Answer “yes” only on strategies in which your CHB was involved OR if your CHB has already passed a policy under that strategy
    ► You may know of work done in obesity prevention that the CHB was NOT involved in. If the CHB was NOT involved, answer “no” to the strategy
  • Report on work during the last calendar year
  • Questions that ask about the largest school district and school Wellness Policy are closed for data collection this year
  • Do not need to respond to questions immediately preceded by the statement “Not to be answered at this time”
    ► Some statements list a range of questions not to be answered
  • Include PSE work that was completed with and without SHIP funds
  • Words that are bolded are defined in the Policy, Systems and Environmental Change Glossary
  • There are no questions under Obesity, Physical Activity & Nutrition – HEALTHCARE but please open and complete the section for each of the other risk factors and settings

Questions

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