ArticleBMC research notes2015
International inter-school competition to encourage children to walk to school: a mixed methods feasibility study.
Article in BMC research notes, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Shaping Pathways to Child Health: A Systematic Review of Street-Scale Interventions in City Streets.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- A systematic review of parent based programs to prevent or reduce alcohol consumption in adolescents.BMC public health · 2019Pooled it
- Effectiveness of active school transport interventions: a systematic review and update.BMC public health · 2018Pooled it
- Promoting active travel to school: a systematic review (2010-2016).BMC public health · 2017Pooled it
- Trial
- Children's active school transportation: an international scoping review of psychosocial factors.Systematic reviews · 2024Article
- A Reusable Multiplayer Game for Promoting Active School Transport: Development Study.JMIR serious games · 2022Article
- Clusters of Adolescent Physical Activity Tracker Patterns and Their Associations With Physical Activity Behaviors in Finland and Ireland: Cross-Sectional Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2020Article
- Physical activity and social connectedness interventions in outdoor spaces among children and youth: a rapid review.Health promotion and chronic disease prevention in Canada : research, policy and practice · 2020Review
- A feasibility study of 'The StepSmart Challenge' to promote physical activity in adolescents.Pilot and feasibility studies · 2019Article
- Pilot survey of a novel incentive to promote healthy behavior among school children and their parents.Preventive medicine reports · 2017Article
- Feasibility of an incentive scheme to promote active travel to school: a pilot cluster randomised trial.Pilot and feasibility studies · 2017Article
- Gamification of active travel to school: A pilot evaluation of the Beat the Street physical activity intervention.Health & place · 2016Article
- Teacher and pupil perspectives on the use of Virtual Field Trips as physically active lessons.BMC research notes · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
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.
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