Supporting active school travel: A qualitative analysis of implementing a regional safe routes to school program

Abstract

Physical inactivity among children is a significant public health concern. Active school travel (AST) methods, such as walking and wheeling to school, can be a valuable way to increase children's levels of daily physical activity. In Canada, Active and Safe Routes to School (ASRTS), a national health promotion initiative, has led the campaign for AST through its flagship School Travel Plan (STP) program. At present little is known about the on-the-ground implementation processes that impede or facilitate the success of STPs. Through a thematic analysis of 18 interviews with STP facilitators and 4 focus groups with the larger STP committees, our study evaluates the factors shaping the functioning of STP interventions at ten elementary schools participating in a regional ASRTS program in Southwestern Ontario. Our analysis yielded six themes that have implications for STP implementation and sustainability: 1) accounting for school context; 2) establishing committee capacity and leadership; 3) supporting STP action; 4) responsiveness to external and internal barriers; 5) engaging schools at the grassroots level; and 6) building future champions. We draw from Lewin's Field Theory and discuss the forces affecting STP committees to frame our findings in a way that can be discussed to support the building of efficient, effective, and viable AST intervention environments.

Keeping kids safe for active travel to school: A mixed method examination of school policies and practices and children’s school travel behaviour

“…A school acts as a facilitator of interventions for active school travel by providing safe and supportive environments, and as a key driver of reinforcing active school travel habits and values ( Buttazzoni et al, 2018 , Crawford and Garrard, 2013 , Hawley et al, 2019 ). Love and colleagues (2019) evaluated three interventions for school travel behaviour and independent mobility in Australian children (i.e., TravelSmart, Ride to School, Safe Routes to School).…”

Walk n’ Roll (WnR) San Jose: An Initiative to Promote Active Transportation and Safe Routes to School for Children in San Jose, California

“…Research by Buttazzoni, Coen, and Gilliland (2018) argues that factors such as distance to school, child age, and gender are elements that impact the probability of children walking and biking to school. The authors explain that social concerns such as stranger danger, bullying and the perceptions of traffic safety influence the rate of children in active transportation.…”

“…The authors noted that the likelihood of parents allowing their children to actively travel to school is moderated by the association of attitudinal and environmental factors. Buttazzoni et al (2018) state that successful active transport programs are based on the structure of their plan and the influence of their features of efficacy and sustainability. The authors talked about the importance of measuring a school's capacity before implementing a safe travel plan program to its priorities.…”

“…The authors talked about the importance of measuring a school's capacity before implementing a safe travel plan program to its priorities. They stated that administrators who oversee active transport programs must first determine whether or not schools will have the capacity to be internally stable, or will they need significant support externally to establish a successful active transport plan (Buttazzoni et al, 2018).…”

“…Research by Panter et al (2009) claims that most active travel plans are usually ineffective because schools' administrators are unable to balance other workloads with overseeing active transport programs. In addition, schools can be unsuccessful with launching an active transport program when they are not receiving enough help from external stakeholders (Buttazzoni et al, 2018). It is rare or impossible for safe transport plans to be effective when school officials do not have engaged relationships with their external stakeholders.…”