Effects of the Active Kids voucher program on children and adolescents' physical activity
Oral Presentation A2.3
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14288/hfjc.v14i3.383Keywords:
Children, Adolescents, Sport, Physical Activity, PolicyAbstract
Background: There is an urgent need to implement effective population-wide interventions which overcome barriers to health-enhancing physical activity for children and adolescents. Policy components: The universal Active Kids voucher program led by the New South Wales (NSW) Government, Australia aims to reduce the cost of registration in structured physical activity programs for all school-enrolled children and adolescents. Evaluation: We used a prospective cohort study, to monitor physical activity and relevant outcomes in 4.5-18-year olds who used an Active Kids voucher. Generalized linear mixed models were used to examine changes from registration to after voucher use at ≤8 weeks, 9-26 weeks and ≥ 6 months. Fifty-three percent (n=671,375) of school-enrolled children in NSW registered in the program during 2018. Cohort participants (n=37,626) were followed up by-proxy using online surveys. After using a voucher, the number of days/week achieving physical activity guidelines increased significantly from 4.0 days/week (95%CI 3.8, 4.2) at registration to 4.9 days/week (95%CI 4.7, 5.1) after 6-months. Increased physical activity was observed across sociodemographic population sub-groups. The voucher-specific activity contributed 42.4% (95%CI 39.3, 45.5) to the total time children participated in structured physical activities outside of school. Children and adolescents who increased to, or maintained, high levels of activity were had social supports for being active, had active parent/caregivers and were happier than their low-active counterparts. Results: In girls, none of the variables included in the model were significantly related to zMR (p>0.05); however, in boys a negative and significant effect of MVPA was observed (b = −0.026; p = 0.011), where those who spent more time in MVPA had a better zMR profile, but no significant effect was observed for LPA or sedentariness. Conclusions: The Active Kids program shows promise as a scaled-up intervention to increase children and adolescents’ physical activity participation. Funding: NSW Government, Office of Sport.
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Copyright (c) 2021 Bridget C. Foley, Katherine B. Owen, Adrian E. Bauman, William Bellew, Lindsey J. Reece
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