Interventions Aiming to Promote Active Commuting in Children and Adolescents: An Evaluation From a Sex/Gender Perspective

Abstract

Active commuting (AC) provides numerous health benefits and is one way to improve physical activity in children and adolescents. Boys are more likely to use active transport modes than girls. Girls and boys benefit differently from interventions that promote AC. The aim of this systematic review is to evaluate the effects of interventions on girls and boys and to appraise the extent to which previous studies have taken sex/gender into account. Eleven electronic databases were searched to identify all relevant randomized and non-randomized controlled trials based on a priori defined eligibility criteria. Two independent reviewers screened the literature for eligibility and assessed risk of bias. Semiquantitative analyses were conducted to evaluate the effects of intervention effects by taking sex/gender aspects into account. To evaluate sex/gender considerations in interventional studies, a recently developed sex/gender checklist was applied. Twelve studies were included that examined intervention effects on AC in girls and boys. Three intervention studies showed significant effects in increasing AC, with one study favoring girls, one favoring boys, and another focusing on a single sex/gender (only girls). According to the checklist, the overall sex/gender rating highlighted a lack of information in sex/gender consideration. Studies with and without significant effects indicated no differences in the sex/gender checklist. The results indicate that sex/gender is not considered adequately in primary interventional research on AC. To evaluate the effectiveness of intervention in boys and girls, detailed analyses of sex/gender are required, and better reporting about sex/gender-specific intervention content is necessary. In future health research to promote AC, sex/gender should be systematically taken into account.

Deslocação ativa casa-escola: perceção de pais e filhos

“…No entanto, verifica-se uma tendência para as raparigas andarem mais de automóvel e autocarro e os rapazes mais a pé. Existem outros estudos que demonstram maior independência de mobilidade nas crianças do sexo masculino (Beraldo et al, 2015;Marzi et al, 2020). A maioria das crianças da amostra vai para a escola de automóvel, os que tem menor autonomia são as raparigas e os alunos mais novos (10 anos), resultados de acordo com estudos de Alves, Duarte, & Calcinha (2011).…”

“…Os resultados do nosso estudo confirmam a tendência referida em várias investigações que apontam para um aumento do uso do automóvel e diminuição dos deslocamentos a pé e de bicicleta en vários países. Marzi et al (2020), apesar dos inúmeros benefícios para a saúde das viagens ativas para a escola, referem haver evidências na diminuição deste tipo de deslocamentos nas últimas décadas em países como EUA, Austrália, Canadá e noutros países europeus, como a Suíça. Em relação ao aumento da utilização de veículos a motor e à sua relação inversa com o deslocamento ativo, López-Centeno et al (2021) A literatura tem evidenciado que os pais têm uma opinião clara sobre os benefícios dos modos ativos de deslocamento para a escola na melhoria da saúde dos seus filhos, facto que resulta do aumento da prática da atividade física diária e do seu impacto positivo em aspetos como a obesidade infantil (Muntaner-Mas, Herrador-Colmenero, Borrás, Ruiz-Ariza, De la Torre Cruz, Manzano, & López, 2017;Sáez-Padilla et al, 2021;Segura-Díaz et al, 2020;Villa-González et al, 2016).…”

“…Relativamente ao sexo, os estudos têm evidenciado resultados diferenciados quando se compara os modos de deslocamento para a escola. Alguns demonstram que os rapazes são mais ativos do que as raparigas (Beraldo, Modesto, Ulbricht, & Guimarães, 2015;Marzi et al, 2020); outros estudos evidenciam que as raparigas se deslocam de modo ativo na sua rotina escolar (Chillon, 2008;Santos, Júnior, Barros, Farias Júnior, & Barros 2010); e outros não evidenciam diferenças significativas entre sexos (Chillón, Villén-Contreras, Pulido-Martos, & Ruiz, 2017;Segura-Díaz et al, 2020).…”

Considering sex/gender in interventions to promote children’s and adolescents’ leisure-time physical activity: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…overall PA, school PA, active transport, leisure-time PA and sedentary behaviour). The results with regard to overall PA, active transport and sedentary behaviour are presented elsewhere (Marzi et al 2020;Schulze et al 2020;Vondung et al 2020). To enable a meta-analytical assessment of interventions aiming to promote leisure-time PA (after-school and on weekends) in children and adolescents, the current analyses of the genEffects systematic review have been conducted.…”

Teachers’ and Parents’ Perspectives on Promoting Primary School Children’s Physical Activity at School: A Qualitative Study

“…The goal was to increase children's physical activity by changing the content of physical education [25], adding additional physical education classes per week [26,27], integrating physical activity into the teaching of academic lessons [28][29][30]; increasing children's physical activity during the break time [31]; including exercise breaks in the classes [32], and adapting recreational areas around the school [33]. Promoting active commuting is also considered a good strategy to improve physical activity [34] and physical fitness [35]. However, the more interesting data are those from systematic or meta-analyses on the effectiveness of various interventions to promote children's physical activity at school.…”