School Promotion of Healthful Diet and Exercise Behavior: An Integration of Organizational Change and Social Learning Theory Interventions

Abstract

In the Go For Health project, interventions based on organizational change and social learning theory facilitate changes in diet and exercise behavior by elementary school children. Baseline data documented the need for behavior change. Based on chemical analyses, average per meal amounts of total fat and sodium were higher than national recommendations: total fat was 29.3% higher than U.S. Dietary Goals; sodium was 107.4% greater than recommended levels. Observations of students in physical education class revealed children moved through space 50.1% of the time and moved continuously an average of 2.2 minutes per class period. These findings suggest the need for policy and practice changes in the school environment to enable children to engage in more healthful diet and exercise behavior.

Diferencias en la ocupación del tiempo libre entre los escolares que practican deporte federado y no federado

“…Esto es debido a que los niños durante sus clases de educación física no dedican el tiempo su ciente a practicar ejercicio físico (Castillo, Balaguer y Tomás, 1997). Parcel, Simons, O'Hara, Baranowski, Kolbe y Bee (1987) encontraron que en una clase de 30 minutos de educación física, solo se dedicaban 2 minutos a una actividad vigorosa. Recientemente, en España, Hernández, Ferrando, Quílez, Aragonés y Terreros (2010) detectaron índices de inactividad preocupantes entre los escolares de primaria, permaneciendo (más allá de las horas de sueño), más de 11 h y media parados cada día, mientras que en secundaria esa cifra asciende a 12 h y 15 minutos.…”

Health-Related Physical Fitness In Childhood: Status And Recommendations

“…The rates of participation in PE reported in the NCYFS fall considerably below those targeted in The 1990 Objectivesjor the Nation (77). Furthermore, Parcel et al (60) and Simons-Morton et al (73) offer evidence that in some schools the content and focus of physical education is inappropriate because insufficient class time is devoted to MVP A and not all of the children are involved in activity.…”

“…Parcel et al (60) assessed the amount of MYPA children obtained in PE by observing 409 third to fifth grade children in four elementary schools offering 30-to 35-minute periods of physical education daily. Children were observed to engage in low-MYPA (pulse rate = 157.8 ± 28.3 beats per minute) 50% of their available PE time.…”

“…Powell et al (63) estimated that these goals are not likely to be achieved by 1990. Parcel et al (60) presented data that suggest the need for greater attention in PE to children's participation in MVPA.…”

“…In one national survey that included assessment of children's physical activity, 58.9% of children reported that they regularly engaged in potentially aerobic physical activities three times per week (67). Evidence from pulse rate and observation studies indicates that children obtain limited amounts of MVP A (37,60,73).…”