Research articlePhysical Activity Implementation in Schools: A 4-Year Follow-Up
Section snippets
Background
The North American environment has been labeled “toxic,” as it promotes unhealthy behaviors such as encouraging physical inactivity in children.1 The dire health consequences of this are declines in cardiovascular fitness,2 increases in overweight/obesity,3 and a high risk of chronic disease mortality or morbidity in the future.4 Schools are ideal targets for interventions as children of all ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds spend a substantial amount of time there.5, 6, 7, 8 There is
Data Sources
Prior to data collection, the University of British Columbia and the University of Victoria Research Ethics Boards approved the study. School district approval was obtained from 41 of 59 school districts (70% response rate) in British Columbia, Canada. Three school districts involved in piloting the survey tool were excluded from participation.
A cross-sectional multistage survey of school principals and Grade 4–7 teachers in BC schools was conducted during the 2008–2009 school year. Schools
Sample Characteristics
On average, study schools enrolled 291 students (Table 1). Schools were predominantly from census metropolitan areas (60%) and 30% (M) of the population around these schools had a postsecondary education. School principals and teachers who completed the surveys were predominantly female (61% and 71%, respectively) and Caucasian (91% and 85%, respectively) with varied levels of teaching experience. On average, 73% of teachers reported delivering AS!BC, and of these, 40% provided classroom action
Discussion
According to the univariate findings, only three factors did not predict implementation: (1) organizational capacity (school level); (2) teachers' level of physical activity; and (3) whether teachers taught PE to their classes (teacher level). These factors were associated with implementation in previous studies,29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 35 and differences among studies are likely explained by (1) operationalization of theoretic constructs; (2) unique features of the AS!BC model; and (3) the context
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