Abstract
An emerging strategy to enhance school children’s opportunities for unstructured
physical activity opportunities is to implement diverse materials within school playgrounds. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of a movable/recycled materials playground intervention on elementary school children’s
individually measured physical activity intensities and sedentary behavior. The
Accelerometer Intensities from Movable Playground and Lunchtime Activities in
Youth (AIM-PLAY) study consisted of a movable/recycled materials intervention that
included baseline, a seven-week post-test and an eight-month follow-up data collection phase. Children at an intervention school (n=54) and a matched control school (n=79) aged 5 to 12 years participated in the AIM-PLAY study.
Accelerometers were used to measure the proportion of lunch breaks that children spent in each physical activity intensity, counts per minute and sedentary behavior. A multilevel mixed-effect linear regression model revealed that children in the intervention elementary school spent a significantly greater proportion of their lunch breaks in moderate and moderate-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and
lower proportion in sedentary behavior at post-test and follow-up than children in the control elementary school. The AIM-PLAY study findings suggest that the presence of movable/recycled materials can have a significant, positive long-term effect on children’s engagement in higher intensity physical activity during school lunch breaks.
physical activity opportunities is to implement diverse materials within school playgrounds. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of a movable/recycled materials playground intervention on elementary school children’s
individually measured physical activity intensities and sedentary behavior. The
Accelerometer Intensities from Movable Playground and Lunchtime Activities in
Youth (AIM-PLAY) study consisted of a movable/recycled materials intervention that
included baseline, a seven-week post-test and an eight-month follow-up data collection phase. Children at an intervention school (n=54) and a matched control school (n=79) aged 5 to 12 years participated in the AIM-PLAY study.
Accelerometers were used to measure the proportion of lunch breaks that children spent in each physical activity intensity, counts per minute and sedentary behavior. A multilevel mixed-effect linear regression model revealed that children in the intervention elementary school spent a significantly greater proportion of their lunch breaks in moderate and moderate-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and
lower proportion in sedentary behavior at post-test and follow-up than children in the control elementary school. The AIM-PLAY study findings suggest that the presence of movable/recycled materials can have a significant, positive long-term effect on children’s engagement in higher intensity physical activity during school lunch breaks.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 109-128 |
| Number of pages | 20 |
| Journal | Children, Youth and Environments |
| Volume | 25 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2015 |