The reimagination of school-based physical activity research in the COVID-19 era

Harrington, Deirdre M.; O’Reilly, Michelle

doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1003267

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 9 publications

(11 reference statements)

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“…Similarly, Corder [37] and colleagues reported that a physical activity program for Year 9 girls which focussed on older adolescent mentors and in-class peer leaders encouraging Year 9 girls to engage in 2 new weekly forms of physical activity yielded no impact on accelerometer measured MVPA at 10-month follow-up. Collectively, findings from these two UK-based definitive RCTs and our own, which all employed rigorous designs suggest that the traditional school-based physical activity intervention approaches designed to date are not effective or cost-effective at increasing physical activity, and that alternative approaches that look at different interventions and evaluation designs may be necessary [38].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the PLAN-A intervention, a peer led physical activity program for adolescent girls: results of a cluster randomised controlled trial

Jago

Tibbitts

Banfield

et al. 2021

Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act

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Background Physical activity is associated with improved health. Girls are less active than boys. Pilot work showed that a peer-led physical activity intervention called PLAN-A was a promising method of increasing physical activity in secondary school age girls. This study examined the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the PLAN-A intervention. Methods We conducted a cluster randomised controlled trial with Year 9 (13–14 year old) girls recruited from 20 secondary schools. Schools were randomly assigned to the PLAN-A intervention or a non-intervention control group after baseline data collection. Girls nominated students to be peer leaders. The top 18 % of girls nominated by their peers in intervention schools received three days of training designed to prepare them to support physical activity. Data were collected at two time points, baseline (T0) and 5–6 months post-intervention (T1). Participants wore an accelerometer for seven days to assess the primary outcome of mean weekday minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Multivariable mixed effects linear regression was used to estimate differences in the primary outcome between the two arms on an Intention-to-Treat (ITT) basis. Resource use and quality of life were measured and a within trial economic evaluation from a public sector perspective was conducted. Results A total of 1558 girls were recruited to the study. At T0, girls in both arms engaged in an average of 51 min of MVPA per weekday. The adjusted mean difference in weekday MVPA at T1 was − 2.84 min per day (95 % CI = -5.94 to 0.25) indicating a slightly larger decline in weekday MVPA in the intervention group. Results were broadly consistent when repeated using a multiple imputation approach and for pre-specified secondary outcomes and sub-groups. The mean cost of the PLAN-A intervention was £2817 per school, equivalent to £31 per girl. Economic analyses indicated that PLAN-A did not lead to demonstrable cost-effectiveness in terms of cost per unit change in QALY. Conclusions This study has shown that the PLAN-A intervention did not result in higher levels of weekday MVPA or associated secondary outcomes among Year 9 girls. The PLAN-A intervention should not be disseminated as a public health strategy. Trial registration ISRCTN14539759–31 May, 2018.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the PLAN-A intervention, a peer led physical activity program for adolescent girls: results of a cluster randomised controlled trial

Jago

Tibbitts

Banfield

et al. 2021

Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Offering less structured opportunities for PA may also ease the burden on teachers who often do not have enough time in the day to implement new highly structured programmes. 49 Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, PA may have provided relief from the stress and isolation experienced from quarantine and social distancing. Our findings align with the evidence-based principle of integrating time periods where the purpose is PA into organisational routines.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Based on our results, school-based interventions that provide increased opportunities for free play may see improved PA outcomes. Offering less structured opportunities for PA may also ease the burden on teachers who often do not have enough time in the day to implement new highly structured programmes 49. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, PA may have provided relief from the stress and isolation experienced from quarantine and social distancing.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The COVID-19 pandemic and changes in children’s physical activity in a rural US community: a mixed methods study

et al. 2022

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ObjectivesTo examine differences in rural community children’s moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and participation in out-of-school activities from fall 2019 to fall 2020 and explore enacted PA opportunity modifications post initial COVID-19 disruption.DesignMixed methods study using the validated Youth Activity Profile (YAP), administrator reports and stakeholder surveys and semistructured interviews.SettingChildren and community stakeholders from one rural US Great Plains community in the state of Nebraska were recruited.ParticipantsThird through fifth graders in fall 2019 (n=144) and fall 2020 (n=174) reported MVPA and participation in out-of-school activities using the YAP. School administrators reported weekly physical education (PE) and recess minutes. Community stakeholders reported pandemic-related changes in community social structures in semistructured interviews (n=4) and surveys (n=19).ResultsAverage daily MVPA minutes increased from 2019 to 2020 (75.0 vs 81.3, SE=1.6, p<0.05). Minutes of MVPA increased during: school hours (MD=2.7, SE=0.5, p<0.5); out-of-school time on weekdays (MD=3.9, SE=1.3, p<0.5); and on weekends (MD=5.5, SE=2.4, p<0.5). On average, fewer children participated in youth sport (42.5% vs 47.2%), youth clubs (10.3% vs 16.0%) and other out-of-school activities (24.1% vs 38.2%) in 2020, compared with 2019. Weekly PE/recess minutes increased from 208.3 to 241.7 from 2019 to 2020. Stakeholder surveys revealed community-driven modifications to PA opportunities, and interviews suggested children played outside more frequently, especially when school was closed and out-of-school activities were shut down.ConclusionsIncreased minutes of PE and recess, and decreased out-of-school activity participation may have increased children’s overall free play and MVPA during the pandemic. Free play was an important contributor to children’s PA during the pandemic and should be prioritised by educators, coaches and other leaders of child PA opportunities.Trial registration numberNCT03380143.

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“…invigilation) or social engagement with students, but the amount of time spent in script marking and scores organization is significantly more than time spent in invigilation and similar activities. Corroborating this argument is Hogan et al (Hogan et al, 2016) who observed that the supervision of internships and student fieldwork is the only significant PA-oriented component of student assessment among academics; however, academics in Africa were not involved in this form of assessment in a post-COVID-19 period when academics and students were still observing social distancing protocols (Adarkwah, 2020;Harrington and O'Reilly, 2020). As such, there was no need to measure fieldworks associated with student assessment at a time academics were observing social distancing and did not have students in the field to supervise.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The relationship between job components, neighbourhood walkability and African academics' physical activity: a post-COVID-19 context

Asiamah

Opuni

Muhonja

et al. 2021

Health Promotion International

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Research to date suggests that physical activity (PA) among academics is insufficient globally. Academics in many African countries were recently required to resume work while observing social distancing protocols. Physical inactivity (PI) was, therefore, expected to increase in such academics. Interestingly, walkable neighbourhoods are resources that could discourage excessive sitting and PI in this situation. This study, therefore, assessed the moderating role of neighbourhood walkability in the relationship between core job components (i.e. on-site teaching, online teaching, research and student assessment) and PA among academics. The study adopted a cross-sectional design that utilized an online survey hosted by Google Forms to gather data. Participants were volunteer full-time academics in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Tanzania. A total of 1064 surveys were analysed, with a sensitivity analysis utilized to select covariates for the ultimate hierarchical linear regression model. After controlling for the ultimate covariates (e.g. gender, education and income), PA was found to be positively associated with the job component 'research work’ but negatively associated with student assessment. Neighbourhood walkability increased the positive relationship of research work with PA and reduced the negative relationship of student assessment with PA. The non-significant negative relationship between ‘teaching online’ and PA was made positively significant by neighbourhood walkability. We conclude that research as a job component is positively associated with PA, but online teaching is negatively associated with PA among African academics in a post-COVID-19 context.

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The reimagination of school-based physical activity research in the COVID-19 era

Cited by 6 publications

References 9 publications

Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the PLAN-A intervention, a peer led physical activity program for adolescent girls: results of a cluster randomised controlled trial

Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the PLAN-A intervention, a peer led physical activity program for adolescent girls: results of a cluster randomised controlled trial

The COVID-19 pandemic and changes in children’s physical activity in a rural US community: a mixed methods study

The relationship between job components, neighbourhood walkability and African academics' physical activity: a post-COVID-19 context

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