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Health intervention programs effectively increased physical activity among children
Recent data show that comprehensive school health interventions were effective in increasing physical activity among children in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas in Canada.
Comprehensive school health (CSH) is a WHO-recommended school-based approach to promoting health by staging interventions. These interventions are known as “coordinated school health” in the United States.
Researchers gathered data from fifth-grade students from 10 intervention schools and 20 comparison schools from 2009 to 2011. The study included 1,157 students with a mean age of 10.9 years. Approximately 25% of the study participants came from disadvantaged homes and 33.8% were overweight or obese.
The study results found that children were more active on school days and weekends in 2011 than in 2009. CSH intervention schools had a greater increase in mean steps taken between 2009 and 2011 compared with schools that did not receive interventions.
“The data presented here support observational studies and randomized controlled trials by providing experimental evidence that creating environments which support healthy eating and active living leads to changes in [physical activity] in children. Furthermore, the data expand on these studies by demonstrating that a more intensive form of CSH elicits significant, clinically relevant increases in [physical activity]. Finally, and most importantly, the results of this study provide evidence that behaviors learned while ‘exposed’ to CSH extend beyond the school environment and are transferred to non-school days,” study researcher Kerry A. Vander Ploeg, BSc, of the School of Public Health at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, and colleagues concluded.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
