Clinical trial NCT01914185: Alberta Project Promoting Active Living and Healthy Eating in Schools
Official title: The Effectiveness of a Comprehensive School Health Intervention in Improving Healthy Eating and Physical Activity and Preventing Childhood Obesity
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Childhood Obesity
Keywords: Childhood
Physical activity
Nutrition
Health Promotion
Lead sponsor: University of Alberta
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2013-08-02
Enrollment: 8663
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 5
Maximum age (years): 14
Standard ages: CHILD
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: NON_RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: PREVENTION

Brief summary: The objectives were to 1) make students eat healthier and be more active; and 2) prevent overweight and obesity. Children will therefore be less likely overweight or obese. Beginning in January 2008, the Alberta Project Promoting active Living and healthy Eating in Schools (APPLE Schools) was implemented in 10 schools throughout the Canadian Province, Alberta. Full-time School Health Facilitators were placed in each of the schools to implement what is know in Canada as Comprehensive School Health (CSH). In the United States, CSH is more commonly referred to as "Coordinated School Health", while the synonymous term "Health Promoting Schools" is often used in Australia and Europe. The project was evaluated annually in the spring from 2008 to 2011 and as of 2009 evaluations included the use of time-stamped pedometers. The comparison group included approximately 150 schools that were randomly selected to reflect the population of Alberta, Canada. Twenty of these randomly selected schools also participated in data collection which involved the use of time-stamped pedometers.

Detailed description: The Alberta Project Promoting active Living and healthy Eating in Schools (APPLE Schools) is a quasi-experimental pre-post trial with a non-equivalent parallel control group. The intervention began in January 2008 and lasted through June 2011 and was implemented school-wide. As out primary interest is to reduce the prevalence of overweight and obesity in schools, the essential comparisons were across grade five students in differing calendar years. At each survey all grade five students were invited to participate. The current design allowed intervention effects to be assessed over time at the school-level. Surveys were administered in the spring of 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011 in intervention schools. And in the spring of 2008 and 2011 in control schools.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

Intervention Schools:

* school located in a socioeconomically disadvantaged neighbourhood and a demonstrated need for health promotion
* Grade five students with parent consent, who also assented to participate were included in annual evaluations

Control Schools:

* Grade five students with parent consent, who also assented to participate were included in annual evaluations

Exclusion Criteria:

Intervention \& Control Schools:

* Schools that did not receive jurisdictional approval to participate
* Grade five students who did not receive parent consent or did not provide their assent were not included in annual evaluations

Primary outcomes:
measure: Overweight and obesity
timeFrame: 24 months
Secondary outcomes:
measure: physical activity
timeFrame: 24 months
measure: Diet Quality
timeFrame: 24 months
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Edmonton
country: Canada
facility: Population Health Intervention Research Unit
state: Alberta
Study officials:
affiliation: University of Alberta
name: Paul J Veugelers, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Fung C, Kuhle S, Lu C, Purcell M, Schwartz M, Storey K, Veugelers PJ. From "best practice" to "next practice": the effectiveness of school-based health promotion in improving healthy eating and physical activity and preventing childhood obesity. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2012 Mar 13;9:27. doi: 10.1186/1479-5868-9-27.
citation: Bastian KA, Maximova K, McGavock J, Veugelers P. Does School-Based Health Promotion Affect Physical Activity on Weekends? And, Does It Reach Those Students Most in Need of Health Promotion? PLoS One. 2015 Oct 21;10(10):e0137987. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0137987. eCollection 2015.
citation: Vander Ploeg KA, McGavock J, Maximova K, Veugelers PJ. School-based health promotion and physical activity during and after school hours. Pediatrics. 2014 Feb;133(2):e371-8. doi: 10.1542/peds.2013-2383. Epub 2014 Jan 13.
citation: Vander Ploeg KA, Maximova K, McGavock J, Davis W, Veugelers P. Do school-based physical activity interventions increase or reduce inequalities in health? Soc Sci Med. 2014 Jul;112:80-7. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.04.032. Epub 2014 Apr 29.
citation: Dube N, Khan K, Loehr S, Chu Y, Veugelers P. The use of entertainment and communication technologies before sleep could affect sleep and weight status: a population-based study among children. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2017 Jul 19;14(1):97. doi: 10.1186/s12966-017-0547-2.