Understanding the Benefits of Brief Classroom‐Based Physical Activity Interventions on Primary School‐Aged Children's Enjoyment and Subjective Wellbeing: A Systematic Review

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Engaging in classroom-based physical activity (PA) breaks may help increase children's subjective wellbeing and enjoyment of PA, important precursors for children to remain engaged in PA. We conducted a systematic review to investigate the effect of brief classroom-based PA interventions on primary school children's subjective wellbeing and enjoyment of PA. METHODS: Databases were reviewed between the earliest date of records and April 2020. Eligibility criteria included peer-reviewed empirical quantitative or mixed methods studies reporting enjoyment of PA or wellbeing outcomes of participating in a brief classroom-based PA program. Fifteen papers were included. Interventions supported 7022 child participants enrolled at baseline and 6286 children analyzed in interventions across 148 schools. RESULTS:Thirteen studies examined the effect of brief classroom-based PA interventions on subjective wellbeing. Four found a significant positive effect for children in the intervention group (specifically for children's self-efficacy in learning with video exercises, quality of life, and self-confidence). Eight studies examined the effect of brief classroom-based PA interventions on enjoyment of PA. Five studies reported a positive effect for children in the intervention group and only 1 study found a negative effect for 1 grade level of children in the intervention group. The remaining studies with wellbeing and/or enjoyment outcomes reported no significant effect. CONCLUSIONS:Findings from these studies indicate that the integration of brief PA breaks may support PA enjoyment and specific self-beliefs and quality of life perceptions that contribute to children's subjective wellbeing. However, more research is needed to confirm this effect.

Psychological outcomes of classroom-based physical activity interventions in children 6- to 12-year-olds: A scoping review

“…The results of this scoping review are consistent with the results reported by other systematic reviews focused on the child population, where physical activity is positively associated with psychological health (Biddle et al, 2019;Papadopoulos et al, 2022;Pascoe et al, 2020;Poitras et al, 2016;Rodriguez-Ayllon et al, 2019), and physical activity at school is positively associated with psychological health (Andermo et al, 2020;Vaquero-Solís et al, 2020). However, unlike the systematic reviews mentioned above, in this scoping review there was a paucity of studies evaluating mental health symptoms such as anxiety and depression.…”

“…These physical activity interventions have shown increasing evidence of positive effects (McDonald et al, 2018) in the physical activity levels (Masini et al, 2020), academic performance (Bedard et al, 2018;Watson et al, 2017), and cognitive functions (Daly-Smith et al, 2018;Donnelly et al, 2016), and to a lower extent in improving indicators associated with psychological health. In this area, a recent systematic review that included 15 articles in a total sample of 6286 boys and girls from 148 primary schools (Papadopoulos et al, 2022) points out that physical activity in the classroom can affect the enjoyment of physical activity, self-efficacy in learning with video exercises, quality of life and self-confidence (Papadopoulos et al, 2022).…”

La actividad física en escolares de primaria: cumplimiento de las recomendaciones y contribución del recreo escolar (Physical activity in elementary school children: compliance with recommendations and the contribution of the school recess)

“…De igual manera, se evidencia mayor fortalecimiento de la autoimagen corporal, el autoconcepto propio y la persistencia para alcanzar las metas propuestas (Menéndez & González, 2019). Por último, la AF promueve un proceso dinámico de enseñanza-aprendizaje en cooperación con los demás, satisface la necesidad de colaboración, respetando y evidenciando las pautas y el respeto a los derechos de los demás (Papadopoulos, et al, 2022). Por tanto, la promoción de la AF en la infancia es fundamental para alcanzar un estilo de vida saludable.…”

Effects of a Physical Literacy Breaks (PLBreaks) Program on Physical Literacy and Body Composition in Portuguese Schoolchildren: A Study Protocol

“…Active breaks may be highly relevant for the acquisition of PA benefits. Previous studies have shown that active breaks based on educational and health interventions have led to improvements in participants’ fitness and health [ 21 , 22 ], self-efficacy [ 23 ], quality of life and self-confidence [ 24 ].…”