International inter-school competition to encourage children to walk to school: a mixed methods feasibility study

Abstract

BackgroundActive travel to school can be an important contributor to the total physical activity of children but levels have declined and more novel approaches are required to stimulate this as an habitual behaviour. The aim of this mixed methods study was to investigate the feasibility of an international walk to school competition supported by novel swipecard technology to increase children’s walking to/from school.MethodsChildren aged 9–13 years old participated in an international walk to school competition to win points for themselves, their school and their country over a 4-week period. Walks to and from school were recorded using swipecard technology and a bespoke website. For each point earned by participants, 1 pence (£0.01) was donated to the charity of the school’s choice. The primary outcome was number of walks to/from school objectively recorded using the swipecard tracking system over the intervention period. Other measures included attitudes towards walking collected at baseline and week 4 (post-intervention). A qualitative sub-study involving focus groups with children, parents and teachers provided further insight.ResultsA total of 3817 children (mean age 11.5 ± SD 0.7) from 12 schools in three cities (London and Reading, England and Vancouver, Canada) took part in the intervention, representing a 95% intervention participation rate. Results show a gradual decline in the average number of children walking to and from school over the 4-week period (week 1 mean 29% ± SD2.5; week 2 mean 18% ± SD3.6; week 3 mean 14% ± SD4.0; week 4 mean 12% ± SD1.1). Post intervention, 97% of children felt that walking to school helped them stay healthy, feel happy (81%) and stay alert in class (76%). These results are supported by qualitative findings from children, parents and teachers. Key areas for improvement include the need to incorporate strategies for maintenance of behaviour change into the intervention and also to adopt novel methods of data collection to increase follow-up rates.ConclusionsThis mixed methods study suggests that an international walk to school competition using innovative technology can be feasibly implemented and offers a novel way of engaging schools and motivating children to walk to school.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13104-014-0959-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Can the theory of planned behaviour explain walking to and from school among Australian children? A social marketing formative research study

“…Although self‐report is the most widely used measurement method of physical activity behaviours (Sallis & Saelens, ), reliance on this method alone poses some risks for data quality, including over‐reporting due to social desirability bias, and inaccuracy due to selective memory bias (Warnecke et al, ). In future research, objective measurements of actual walking behaviour, such as observations, accelerometry, and GPS technology, should be concurrently adopted to verify whether self‐report measures are aligned to objective walking to and from school measures (e.g., Bungum, Clark, & Aguilar, ; Hunter, de Silva, Reynolds, Bird, & Fox, ; Lien et al, ).…”

Physical activity and social connectedness interventions in outdoor spaces among children and youth: a rapid review

“…43,98 Technology is an emerging area of interest. 54,76,79,80 Given the high adoption rate of mobile devices, plus the myriad sensors and devices being placed in Canadian urban environments, technologies could be used to deliver and track the effects of health interventions with a view to preventing chronic disease. 99 A few of the interventions reviewed included technological elements, with some gamifying simple physical activities like walking to school or running around a track.…”

“…99 A few of the interventions reviewed included technological elements, with some gamifying simple physical activities like walking to school or running around a track. 79,80 Future Canadian-specific interventions could apply a technological element to the delivery or monitoring element of existing interventions to improve data collection efficiency and encourage higher uptake of the intervention among children and youth. For example, traditional observational methods for collecting data on the use of playground equipment 26,34,41,76 could be replaced with anonymized pattern-recognition camera technology to detect when children are engaging in moderateto-vigorous physical activity.…”

“…[64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75] An emerging area for population-level intervention research is the use of smartphone and remote sensing technology to deliver interventions to children and youth. [76][77][78][79][80] In short, physical activity interventions often combine environmental supports and programming with a play-based approach to reduce knowledge and contextual barriers to participation.…”

Interventions pour favoriser l’activité physique et l’appartenance sociale chez les enfants et les jeunes dans des espaces extérieurs : revue rapide de la littérature

“…La technologie est un nouveau domaine d'intérêt 54,76,79,80 . Étant donné le taux élevé de possession d'appareils mobiles ainsi que la myriade de capteurs et d'appareils placés dans les milieux urbains canadiens, les technologies pourraient servir à pro duire des interventions dans le domaine de la santé et à en suivre les effets en vue de prévenir diverses maladies chro niques 99 .…”