Evaluating the Effectiveness of the Dissemination of Action Schools! BC
Condition: Physical Activity; Obesity; Physical Fitness
MeSH terms: Obesity
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      Childhood obesity is a major public health threat. Physical activity and healthy eating
      contribute to the maintenance of healthy weights. Individually oriented behaviour change
      programs may not be able to overcome the influence of what has been called an obesogenic
      environment. Action Schools! BC (AS! BC) used a socio-ecological approach to enhance
      opportunities for physical activity and healthy eating in elementary schools and created
      systemic change at the provincial level. AS! BC helps elementary schools customize action
      plans, based upon their local context, to contribute to the health and well-being of children
      and the school community. Pilot research showed that AS! BC was an effective and feasible
      model. The provincial dissemination of AS! BC has been launched and partners from across many
      sectors are involved to enhance the sharing of knowledge and increase the implementation of
      the AS! BC model across British Columbia. The dissemination provides an unprecedented
      opportunity for evaluating how changing the school environment can promoted healthy weights
      in children. The dissemination was evaluated using a cluster randomized design; 30 elementary
      schools (n = 1529 consented children) from four (out of five) provincial health authorities
      volunteered to participate.

      The primary goals of the research are:

        1. to determine if the Action Schools! BC (AS! BC) model is an effective approach to
           positively change school environments and health related behaviours of children from
           diverse geographical regions and cultural groups, and

        2. to determine if the supports provided to schools or the community context influence the
           uptake and use of the AS! BC model.

      This research will contribute to the science of obesity prevention and knowledge use as well
      as public health practice.
    


Intervention name(s): Action Schools! BC
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Intervention description(s): AS! BC applies a socioecological, whole school approach to promote healthy living within the elementary school context. Schools are provided with the tools and support needed to create customized action plans that promote physical activity (PA) and healthy living across six Action Zones (School Environment, Scheduled Physical Education (PE), Classroom Action, Family and Community, Extra-curricular, School Spirit). Generalist teachers receive training and resources to implement their Action Plan with the ultimate goal of providing students with 150 minutes of PA/week. The model is choice-based; teachers are asked to provide 15 additional minutes of PA/day within the Classroom Action Zone. The activities require minimal equipment and can be performed in the classroom, hallway or on the school playground.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Prevention
Keywords: Physical activity; Healthy weight; Healthy eating; Physical fitness; Children; School based; Community based; Obesity; Health promotion; Socio-ecological; Environment based