The Patterns of Moderate to Vigorous Physical Activity and Physical Education Enjoyment Through a 2‐Year School‐Based Program

Abstract

BACKGROUND:In this study, we examined the development of children's moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and physical education (PE) enjoyment through the Physical Activity as Civil Skill Program 2012-2014. METHODS:Participants were 661 (265 intervention, 396 control) elementary school children in central and northeast Finland.The program was implemented across 2 years with 3 measurement phases using self-reported MVPA and PE enjoyment, and accelerometer-determined MVPA of a random subsample (N = 76). RESULTS:The proportion of children meeting the current MVPA guidelines declined from 38% to 22% (intervention) and 14% to 9% (control), whereas PE enjoyment was stable in both groups. Boys were more physically active than girls only within control group children. Teachers' feedback indicated that violence and bullying among intervention students reduced during the program, which can be considered as an additional benefit. CONCLUSIONS:It may be that both MVPA and PE enjoyment may require more tailored actions to be increased across a long-term program. It is important to ensure that school-based physical activity programs, especially including transition from elementary to middle school level, provide all children positive experiences, and thus, may improve their motivation, and MVPA participation during school days and leisure time.Citation: Gråstén A, Yli-Piipari S. The patterns of moderate to vigorous physical activity and physical education enjoyment through a 2-year school-based program.

Interventions to Promote Positive Affect and Physical Activity in Children, Adolescents and Young Adults—A Systematic Review

“…Six studies were conducted in North America [38][39][40][41][42][43], five studies in Europe [44][45][46][47][48], one in Singapore [49] and one in New Zealand [50]. Sample sizes ranged from 15 [39] to 1519 [43], and the duration of interventions ranged from three weeks [46] to three years [45].…”

“…The analysis of study quality revealed one study classified as strong [43], nine studies as moderate [39][40][41][42][44][45][46]48,50] and three studies as weak [38,47,49]. Due to missing documentation of confounders prior to the intervention or insufficient control of confounders, most of the studies resulted in a weak rating.…”

“…All measurement instruments were rated as reliable and valid tools. Three studies did not report withdrawals nor dropouts [38,47,48].…”

“…Most interventions employ multiple strategies targeting enjoyment and PA. These include, in descending order of commonness, group-based PA [40][41][42]44,48,49], implementing different teaching styles focusing on task-orientation [44,45,47,48], voluntary, supervised PA (e.g., during recess) [43,45,47,49], free access to exercise and sports facilities and equipment [45,47,49], internet-delivered motivational messages and information [43,46,49], video-and audio-based exergames [38,39,50] and group discussions and storytelling of PA-related topics [40,42]. Components only used in single studies are face-to-face motivational interviewing sessions [43], sharing progress on social media [49] and tracking progress via a pedometer [46].…”

“…Three studies used comprehensive school interventions for older children, one of which focused solely on girls [43]. All interventions created new opportunities for PA in the form of organized PA during recess or after school [43,45,47], providing sport equipment [45,47] and access to fitness halls [47]. In two studies, PE teachers were trained to change their teaching style according to different theories in order to increase their students' motivation and enjoyment for PA [45,47] and one additionally provided PA information materials [45].…”