A scalable school-based intervention to improve children's cardiorespiratory fitness: The internet-based Professional Learning to help teachers promote Activity in Youth (iPLAY) cluster randomised controlled trial
Oral Presentation A2.4
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14288/hfjc.v14i3.384Keywords:
Children, Physical Activity, Cardiorespiratory Fitness, InterventionAbstract
Background: Children’s health is at risk because of declines in cardiorespiratory fitness. Meta-analyses of efficacy studies show that school-based physical activity interventions can improve children’s cardiorespiratory fitness. These interventions, however, are rarely disseminated at scale, meaning they typically have little public health impact. iPLAY is a primary school intervention designed to build schools’ capacity to promote physical activity without relying on external providers delivering programs to students. To enhance scalability and sustainability, iPLAY is delivered to teachers via an online learning platform, with mentoring support from experienced physical education teachers. Purpose: To determine whether iPLAY, when deployed across a large number of schools, could improve children’s cardiorespiratory fitness. Methods: We did a cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) with allocation at the school level (1:1 allocation). We completed assessments at baseline, post-intervention (12 months after baseline), and maintenance (24 months after baseline). The primary outcome was students’ cardiorespiratory fitness, as measured by a 20m shuttle run test. We tested for between-arm differences in changes in student outcomes using linear mixed models. Results: We recruited 132 primary schools in New South Wales, Australia. We assigned a representative sample of 22 schools to the cluster RCT. The remaining 110 schools entered an implementation study in which teachers received iPLAY but students did not complete primary outcome assessments. In the 22 schools involved in the cluster RCT, we recruited 1,217 students from Grades 3 and 4 who completed baseline assessments of their cardiorespiratory fitness. At 12-months (post-intervention), there was a significant between-arm difference in students’ change in fitness favouring the iPLAY intervention condition (1.2 laps [95%CI=0.1,2.0]). This effect continued to grow, as at 24 months the between arm difference was 2.2 laps [95%CI=0.9, 3.6). Conclusions: iPLAY is a scalable model to deliver a school-based physical activity intervention that improves children’s cardiorespiratory fitness. iPLAY also builds capacity in schools such that benefits are sustained or continue to grow after the intervention ends. Funding: Study funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council (GNT1114281) and the New South Wales Department of Education. Trial registration: ACTRN12616000731493.
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Copyright (c) 2021 Chris Lonsdale, Taren Sanders, Michael Noetel, Philip Parker, Jane Lee, Devan Antczak, Diego Vasconcellos, David Lubans
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