Zoekresultaten

A multicomponent schoolyard intervention targeting children’s recess physical activity and sedentary behavior

Background: The aim of the study was to test the 12-month effects of a multicomponent physical activity (PA) intervention at schoolyards on morning recess PA levels of sixth- and seventh-grade children in primary schools, using accelerometry and additional global positioning system data. Methods: A quasi-experimental study design was used with 20 paired intervention and control schools. Global positioning system confirmatory analyses were applied to validate attendance at schoolyards during recess. Accelerometer data from 376 children from 7 pairs of schools were included in the final analyses. Pooled intervention effectiveness was tested by multilevel linear regression analyses, whereas effectiveness of intervention components was tested by multivariate linear regression analyses. Results: Children exposed to the multicomponent intervention increased their time spent in light PA (+5.9%) during recess. No pooled effects on moderate to vigorous PA were found. In-depth analyses of intervention components showed that physical schoolyard interventions particularly predicted a decrease in time spent in sedentary behavior during recess at follow-up. Intervention intensity and the school’s commitment to the project strengthened this effect. Conclusions: The multicomponent schoolyard PA intervention was effective in making children spend a larger proportion of recess time in light PA, which was most likely the result of a shift from sedentary behavior to light PA.

Interventions to improve the transition from home to a nursing home

Background and Objectives: The transition from home to a nursing home is a stressful event for both older persons and informal caregivers. Currently, this transition process is often fragmented, which can create a vicious cycle of health carerelated events. Knowledge of existing care interventions can prevent or break this cycle. This project aims to summarize existing interventions for improving transitional care, identifying their effectiveness and key components. Research Design and Methods: A scoping review was performed within the European TRANS-SENIOR consortium. The databases PubMed, EMBASE (Excerpta Medica Database), PsycINFO, Medline, and CINAHL (Cumulated Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature) were searched. Studies were included if they described interventions designed to improve the transition from home to a nursing home. Results: 17 studies were identified, describing 13 interventions. The majority of these interventions focused on nursing home adjustment with 1 study including the entire transition pathway. The study identified 8 multicomponent and 5 single-component interventions. From the multicomponent interventions, 7 main components were identified: education, relationships/communication, improving emotional well-being, personalized care, continuity of care, support provision, and ad hoc counseling. The study outcomes were heterogeneous, making them difficult to compare. The study outcomes varied, with studies often reporting nonsignificant changes for the main outcome measures. Discussion and Implications: There is a mismatch between the theory on optimal transitional care and current transitional care interventions, as they often lack a comprehensive approach. This research is the first step toward a uniform definition of optimal transitional care and a tool to improve/develop (future) transitional care initiatives on the pathway from home to a nursing home.

The Implementation of Multiple Lifestyle Interventions in Two Organizations, A Process Evaluation

Objective: To evaluate the implementation of a multicomponent lifestyle intervention at two different worksites. Methods: Data on eight process components were collected by means of questionnaires and interviews. Data on the effectiveness were collected using questionnaires. Results: The program was implemented partly as planned, and 84.0% (max 25) and 85.7% (max 14) of all planned interventions were delivered at the university and hospital, respectively. Employees showed high reach (96.6%) and overall participation (75.1%) but moderate overall satisfaction rates (6.8 ± 1.1). Significant intervention effects were found for days of fruit consumption (β = 0.44 days/week, 95% CI: 0.02 to 0.85) in favor of the intervention group. Conclusions: The study showed successful reach, dose, and maintenance but moderate fidelity and satisfaction. Mainly relatively simple and easily implemented interventions were chosen, which were effective only in improving employees’ days of fruit consumption.

Active Living: development and quasi-experimental evaluation of a school-centered physical activity intervention for primary school children

Background: The worldwide increase in the rates of childhood overweight and physical inactivity requires successful prevention and intervention programs for children. The aim of the Active Living project is to increase physical activity and decrease sedentary behavior of Dutch primary school children by developing and implementing tailored, multicomponent interventions at and around schools. Methods/design: In this project, school-centered interventions have been developed at 10 schools in the south of the Netherlands, using a combined top-down and bottom-up approach in which a research unit and a practice unit continuously interact. The interventions consist of a combination of physical and social interventions tailored to local needs of intervention schools. The process and short- and long-term effectiveness of the interventions will be evaluated using a quasi-experimental study design in which 10 intervention schools are matched with 10 control schools. Baseline and follow-up measurements (after 12 and 24 months) have been conducted in grades 6 and 7 and included accelerometry, GPS, and questionnaires. Primary outcome of the Active Living study is the change in physical activity levels, i.e. sedentary behavior (SB), light physical activity (LPA), moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), and counts-per-minute (CPM). Multilevel regression analyses will be used to assess the effectiveness of isolated and combined physical and social interventions on children’s PA levels. Discussion: The current intervention study is unique in its combined approach of physical and social environmental PA interventions both at school(yard)s as well as in the local neighborhood around the schools. The strength of the study lies in the quasi-experimental design including objective measurement techniques, i.e. accelerometry and GPS, combined with more subjective techniques, i.e. questionnaires, implementation logbooks, and neighborhood observations. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sanned/

The effect of a multicomponent exercise and nutrition program on sarcopenia related outcomes and protein intake in Surinamese older adults: Results of the ProMIO2.0 RCT

On the acquisition of classifiers in 5 – 6 year-old Deaf children

Posterpresentatie op Conferentie. Introduction: Classifiers are handshapes (sometimes combined with a specific orientation) that, when combined with the other parameters of movement and location form a ‘verb of motion or location’. There is a limited body of research available on the acquisition of classifiers by children. The available studies have focused on deaf children of deaf (DOD) parents, who are native signers. Results show that classifiers emerge at 3 years and approach an adult like level at the age of 9 (Beal Alvarez & Easterbrooks, 2013). This small study was set out to investigate the production of classifiers in DOH children who acquire Sign Language of the Netherlands. Our expectation was that DOH children produce classifiers, but fail to use them correctly in all instances due to lack of pragmatic control (Slobin et al., 2003). Method: Four children (two girls, two boys) were recruited at a school for the Deaf in The Netherlands (5;10 – 6;8 years). All children were deaf or severely hearing-impaired from birth. Children used (sign supported) Dutch at home and sign language at school and had approximately three years of exposure to sign language. Narratives (Frog-story) were recorded. The recordings were transcribed and analyzed using ELAN-software. Analysis focused on type of classifier (entity and handling) and accuracy in production. Results: The children produced 22 classifiers in total, 20 entity classifiers and 2 handling classifiers. Ten percent of the entity classifiers was incorrect; the handshape to express the entity did not match the handshape frequently selected for that entity. Conclusion: DOH children produce classifiers after three years of exposure to sign language. Errors in classifier production involved errors in handshape selection. This compares to type of errors frequently found for DOD children. Results will be discussed in relation to the iconic and gestural properties of classifiers (Cormier et al., 2012). References: Beal-Alvarez, J.S. & Easterbrooks, S.R. (2013). Increasing children’s ASL classifier production: A multicomponent intervention. American Annals of the Deaf, 158, 311 – 333. Cormier, K., Quinto-Pozos, D., Sevcikova, Z., Schembri, A. (2012). Lexicalisation and de-lexicalisation processes in sign languages: Comparing depicting constructions and viewpoint gestures. Language & Communication, 32, 329 – 348. Slobin, D., Hoiting, N., Kuntze, K., Lindert, R., Weinberg, A. Pyers, J., Anthony, M., Biederman, Y., Thumann, H. (2003). A cognitive/functional perspective on the acquisition of ‘classifiers’. In: Emmorey, K. (Ed.). Perspectives on classifier constructions in sign languages. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJ. Pp 297 – 310.