Clinical trial NCT00672815: The Impact of Texas Senate Bill 42 on Middle School Children's Level of Physical Activity
Official title: The Impact of Texas Senate Bill 42 on Middle School Children's Level of Physical Activity
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Conditions: Obesity
Body Weight
Keywords: coordinated school health
school health policy evaluation
physical activity
Lead sponsor: The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
First posted: 2008-05-06
Enrollment: 141
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Maximum age (years): 75
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Observational model: ECOLOGIC_OR_COMMUNITY
Time perspective: PROSPECTIVE
Sampling method: PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: There are 1,224 school districts and 1,159 public middle schools in the state of Texas. Of all Texas students, 43% are Hispanic, 14% are African American, 40% are White, and 3% are other. Additionally, 51.8% are considered economically disadvantaged. PHR 11 covers a large area of the LRGV (along the Texas/Mexico border), and including 50 school districts and 485 public schools. Within PHR 11, 84.5% of children are considered economically disadvantage and more than 90% are Latino).

Brief summary: The purpose of this study was twofold: 1) to assess awareness of and adherence to Texas SB42 among a representative sample of public middle schools in Texas; and 2) to assess the impact of SB42 on the frequency of school PE class, the quality of school PE, and prevalence of child self-reported physical activity behaviors and child overweight along the Texas-Mexico border.

Detailed description: Childhood overweight is a significant public health issue in Texas. In response to this problem, the 79th Texas legislature passed Senate Bill 42 (SB 42), which promotes healthier school environments in middle schools, in June, 2005. As a result of SB 42, all Texas public middle schools must require students to engage in at least 30 minutes of daily physical activity or a total of 135 minutes of physical activity per week, beginning in the 2006-2007 school year. The purpose of this study was to determine the barriers and facilitators of implementation and the ultimate impact of this mandate on school PE, child physical activity, and child overweight in Texas public middle schools, and specifically among children living in the Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) of South Texas. Questionnaires with key informants (school principals, PE teachers, and school district PE and health education directors) were conducted in a random sample of middle schools to assess the implementation of SB 42 (2006-2007). In addition, a more detailed evaluation of SB 42 was accomplished with a representative sample of middle schools in the LRGV, a low-income Latino area of the state. Measurements in the LRGV schools included observed and measured child physical activity, self-reported physical activity behaviors, and child overweight (BMI).

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* The study sample consisted of a representative sample of Texas public middle schools (112 schools) as well as a representative sample of Lower Rio Grande Valley middle schools (17 schools).

Exclusion Criteria:

* Middle schools that did not participate in the 2004-2005 School Physical Activity and Nutrition Project.

Primary outcomes:
measure: key informant questionnaire
timeFrame: April 2006- April 2008
measure: System for Observing Fitness Instruction Time
timeFrame: April 2007 - April 2008
measure: School Physical Activity Nutrition questionnaire
timeFrame: April 2007 - April 2008
measure: body mass index
timeFrame: April 2007 - April 2008
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Brownsville
country: United States
facility: The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston
state: Texas
Study officials:
affiliation: The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston
name: Cristina S Barroso, DrPH
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Barroso CS, Kelder SH, Springer AE, Smith CL, Ranjit N, Ledingham C, Hoelscher DM. Senate Bill 42: implementation and impact on physical activity in middle schools. J Adolesc Health. 2009 Sep;45(3 Suppl):S82-90. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2009.06.017.