School Intervention to Promote Physical Activity and Reduce the Sedentary Time of Low-income Children Aged 6-13 Years
Condition: Physical Activity; Sedentary Behavior; Children; School-based Intervention
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      This study is realized in 2 primary schools in the city of Tarbes (France), located in a
      disadvantaged neighbourhood : 352 children are included in the study.

      This study has many goals: 1) to propose an intervention to promote PA (Physical Activity)
      and reduce ST (Sedentary Time) of children aged 6 to 13 years from a primary school located
      in a disadvantaged neighbourhood and measures the effectiveness of this intervention (1rst
      grade-5th grade). This intervention was based on the factors of socio-ecological model
      related to health behaviours. The levels of PA and ST of the experimental school will be
      compared to a control school with the realization of pre and post intervention measures. 2)
      To study the relationships between PA, ST, motors skills, attentional abilities and academic
      achievement. 3)To realise a descriptive analysis of PA and ST of children in 2nd and 5th
      grade from France and Spain (observational study). For this goal, an other school in Spain
      was included in the study (city of Huesca, 60 children).
    

Detailed description: 
      Physical activity (PA) has decreased drastically in the 21st century in developed and
      industrialized societies. In 2009, 23.3% of the world's population did not comply with WHO's
      recommendations for physical activity, reaching real levels of pandemic. Technological
      advances have contributed to the emergence of new leisure activities, which may preclude the
      participation in PA and encourage sedentary behaviours. However, it is now well known that PA
      has numerous benefits on physical, psychological and social health. Thus, promoting PA
      becomes a necessity for adults and even more for children since healthy habits that are
      adopted during childhood will last throughout life and predict adult health. Hence, for this
      last population, 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) per day are
      recommended in public health guidelines.

      A recent project named "Capas-Cité", created in 2012 in Tarbes (France) and in Zaragoza
      (Spain) realize PA programs and promotion actions that have a beneficial impact on health.
      These two similar cities have been selected for their geographical proximity and their
      similarity. These programs are included in research work carried out by the University of
      Tarbes and the University of Zaragoza that focus on the promotion of PA. "Capas-Cité" project
      aims to improve the health of disadvantaged population.

      The two primary schools (School A and School B) located in the disadvantaged neighbourhood of
      Tarbes were contacted to participate in the study. Both schools include children from grade 1
      (6 years old) to grade 5 (10 years old). They have never benefited from intervention programs
      on the field of PA and agreed to participate in the project.

      During the academic year 2016/2017, baseline assessments were carried out in the two French
      schools: measures of PA, ST, motors skills, attentional abilities and academic achievement.
      These assessments were performed in November/December 2016 (First Time - T1) and May/June
      2017 (Second time - T2). The measures of attentional abilities involve only children in 2nd,
      3th and 4th grade. Children in both schools had to have parental permission to participate in
      PA, ST and attentional abilities measurements. Motor skills were assessed for all the
      children at school and their academic achievement were collected.

      During the academic school year 2017/2018, School A benefited of an intervention to increase
      PA and reduce ST. This intervention program involves all the children from grade 1 to grade 5
      without parental permission. Families are not required to contribute financially
      participation in this project. During this intervention year, the same periods of assessment
      as those carried at baseline were repeated in November/December 2017 (T3) and May/June 2018
      (T4). These repeated assessment time provide a first overview of the efficiency of the
      intervention. The school B has the intervention program during the school year 2018/2019.

      Accelerometers were used to measure PA and ST. Accelerometry is a reliable and valid
      objective to measure PA and ST. Children should wear the accelerometer on the right side of
      the hip, adjusted with an elastic belt.

      In Spain, only observational measures were realised. . A total of 179 children have worn
      accelerometers for a week. PA and ST were analysed for week end days on one hand and on the
      other hand according to different periods of time for weekdays: the time before school,
      lunch, after school and at night.54.97% of the children complied with the MVPA guidelines all
      days of the week. MVPA represented 67.70±17.83 min.day-1 and ST was 606.14±37.39 min.day-1
      for the total sample.
    

Intervention name(s): School-based intervention to promote PA and reduce ST
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Intervention description(s): This intervention was realized with all the children (1st grade-5th grade) and involved :
Physical (Environmental) adaptation of playgrounds
Time adaptation of lunch breaks
Curriculum-based program for children
Workshops and newsletters for parents
Meetings for teachers
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Intervention model description: During the academic year 2016/2017, baseline assessments were carried out in two schools (school A, school B): measures of PA, ST, motors skills, attentional capacity and academic achievement. These assessments were performed in November/December 2016 (First Time - T1) and May/June 2017 (Second time - T2).
During the academic school year 2017/2018, a school-based intervention to increase PA and reduce ST was realised in School A (measure in November 2017 and May/June 2018). Finally, during the academic school year 2018/2019, a school-based intervention to increase PA and reduce ST was realised in School B (measure only in May/June 2019).
Masking: Single (Investigator)
Primary purpose: Prevention