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.
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The (pre)school environment is an important setting to improve children’s health. Especially, the (pre)school playground provides a major opportunity to intervene. This review presents an overview of the existing evidence on the value of both school and preschool playgrounds on children’s health in terms of physical activity, cognitive and social outcomes. In addition, we aimed to identify which playground characteristics are the strongest correlates of beneficial effects and for which subgroups of children effects are most distinct. In total, 13 experimental and 17 observational studies have been summarized of which 10 (77%) and 16 (94%) demonstrated moderate to high methodological quality, respectively. Nearly all experimental studies (n = 11) evaluated intervention effects on time spent in different levels of physical activity during recess. Research on the effects of (pre)school playgrounds on cognitive and social outcomes is scarce (n = 2). The experimental studies generated moderate evidence for an effect of the provision of play equipment, inconclusive evidence for an effect of the use of playground markings, allocating play space and for multi-component interventions, and no evidence for an effect of decreasing playground density, the promotion of physical activity by staff and increasing recess duration on children’s health. In line with this, observational studies showed positive associations between play equipment and children’s physical activity level. In contrast to experimental studies, significant associations were also found between children’s physical activity and a decreased playground density and increased recess duration. To confirm the findings of this review, researchers are advised to conduct more experimental studies with a randomized controlled design and to incorporate the assessment of implementation strategies and process evaluations to reveal which intervention strategies and playground characteristics are most effective. https://doi.org/10.1186/1479-5868-11-59 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited.
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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/
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This paper investigates whether encouraging children to become more physically active in their everyday life affects their primary school performance. We use data from a field quasi‐experiment called the Active Living Program, which aimed to increase active modes of transportation to school and active play among 8‐ to 12‐year‐olds living in low socioeconomic status (SES) areas in the Netherlands. Difference‐in‐differences estimations reveal that while the interventions increase time spent on physical activity during school hours, they negatively affect school performance, especially among the worst‐performing students. Further analyses reveal that increased restlessness during instruction time is a potential mechanism for this negative effect. Our results suggest that the commonly found positive effects of exercising or participating in sports on educational outcomes may not be generalizable to physical activity in everyday life. Policymakers and educators who seek to increase physical activity in everyday life need to weigh the health and well‐being benefits against the probability of increasing inequality in school performance.
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Naarmate leerlingen ouder worden, lijkt de fysieke activiteit van leerlingen af te nemen. Dit terwijl het aantal gereguleerde uren lichamelijke opvoeding toeneemt in het voortgezet onderwijs (VO) ten opzichte van het primair onderwijs (PO). De veranderde omgeving waaraan VO-leerlingen worden blootgesteld lijkt een belangrijke factor in de verklaring van de teruggang. Hoe dit precies zit, is tot op heden echter weinig over bekend. Inzicht krijgen in hoe en waar deze teruggang lijkt plaats te vinden, helpt daarom om het probleem gericht(er) te kunnen aanpakken en om LO’ers beter in staat te stellen hierin een belangrijke bijdrage aan te leveren.
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Wanneer je als basisschool kinderen wilt stimuleren om meer te bewegen zijn daartoe verschillende mogelijkheden. Gezien de tijd en moeite die dit kost, is het echter van groot belang om te controleren of er ook daadwerkelijk een effect is. In dit artikel een voorbeeld van hoe dat zou kunnen. Meisjes van de bovenbouw werden gemotiveerd om actiever te zijn tijdens het speelkwartier door het thematisch aanbieden van spelmateriaal met ondersteunende lessen bewegingsonderwijs.
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More and more municipalities are, fortunately, working on play-friendly public spaces. However, many policy visions and investments are still based on assumptions made by municipal officials or suppliers of play equipment.
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Limited evidence is available about (non)-representativeness of participants in health-promoting interventions. The Dutch Healthy Primary School of the Future (HPSF)-study is a school-based study aiming to improve health through altering physical activity and dietary behaviour, that started in 2015 (registered in ClinicalTrials.gov on14-06-2016, NCT02800616). The study has a response rate of 60%. A comprehensive non-responder analysis was carried out, and responders were compared with schoolchildren from the region and the Netherlands using a cross-sectional design. External sources were consulted to collect non-responder, regional, and national data regarding relevant characteristics including sex, demographics, health, and lifestyle. The Chi-square test, Mann-Whitney U test, or Student's t-test were used to analyse differences.
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Lectorale rede van Dave van Kann gehouden ter gelegenheid van zijn inauguratie als lector ‘Leren Bewegen in en rondom de School’ bij Lectoraat Move to Be van Fontys Sporthogeschool. Dave geeft in zijn rede aan op welke directe thematische focus hij zich in het bijzonder zal gaan richten in zijn lectorschap (de themalijnen Leren Bewegen en Beweegvriendelijke Omgeving). In lijn met de lectoraatsprojecten en -ambities geeft Dave zijn zienswijze op de thematiek ‘Leren Bewegen in en rondom de School’ weer en houd hij een pleidooi om in gezamenlijkheid met alle betrokkenen de komende jaren te werken aan een actieve generatie waarin bewegen meer vanzelfsprekend is en voor iedereen mogelijk.
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The aim of the current study was to examine the effectiveness of a school-centered multicomponent PA intervention, called ‘Active Living’, on children's daily PA levels. A quasi-experimental design was used including 9 intervention schools and 9 matched control schools located in the Netherlands. The baseline measurement took place between March–June 2013, and follow-up measurements were conducted 12 months afterwards. Accelerometer (ActiGraph, GT3X +) data of 520 children aged 8–11 years were collected and supplemented with demographics and weather conditions data. Implementation magnitude of the interventions was measured by keeping logbooks on the number of implemented physical environmental interventions (PEIs) and social environmental interventions (SEIs). Multilevel multivariate linear regression analyses were used to study changes in sedentary behavior (SB), light physical activity (LPA) and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) between baseline and follow-up. Finally, effect sizes (ESs) were calculated using Cohen's d. No pooled effects on PA and SB were found between children exposed and not exposed to Active Living after 12 months. However, children attending Active Living schools that implemented larger numbers of both PEIs and SEIs engaged in 15 more minutes of LPA per weekday at follow-up than children in the control condition (ES = 0.41; p < .05). Moreover, children attending these schools spent less time in SB at follow-up (ES = 0.33), although this effect was non-significant. No significant effects were found on MVPA. A school-centered multicomponent PA intervention holds the potential to activate children, but a comprehensive set of intervention elements with a sufficient magnitude is necessary to achieve at least moderate effect sizes.
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