Active Breaks: A Pilot and Feasibility Study to Evaluate the Effectiveness of Physical Activity Levels in a School Based Intervention in an Italian Primary School.

Alice Masini,Sofia Marini,Giovanni Lorusso,Erica Leoni,Laura Dallolio,Alessia Tessari,Andrea Ceciliani,Stefania Toselli

doi:10.3390/ijerph17124351

Abstract

Background: The school gives access to children, regardless of age, ethnicity, gender and socio-economic class and can be identified as the key environment in which to promote children’s physical activity (PA). The guidelines of the European Union recommend accumulating at least 10-min bouts of PA to reach the daily 60 min. Active breaks (ABs) led by teachers inside the classroom represent a good strategy to promote PA. The aim of this pilot and feasibility study was to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness in terms of PA level of an AB programme in children aged 8–9 years attending primary school. Methods: A pre-post quasi-experimental pilot and feasibility study was performed in two primary school classes, one of which was assigned to a 14-week AB intervention (AB group) and the other to the control group (CG). At baseline and at follow-up, children were monitored for sedentary and motor activity during an entire week using ActiGraph Accelerometer (ActiLife6 wGT3X-BT). The satisfaction of children and teachers was assessed by self-administered questionnaires. Results: In the pre-post comparison, AB group (n = 16) showed a reduction in the minutes spent in weekly sedentary activity (−168.7 min, p > 0.05), an increase in the number of step counts (+14,026.9, p < 0.05) and in time spent in moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA): weekly MVPA: +64.4 min, daily MVPA: +8.05 min, percentage of MVPA: +0.70%. On the contrary, CG showed a worsening in all variables. ANCOVA analysis, after adjusting for baseline values, showed significant differences between the AB group and CG for time spent in MVPA, percentage of MVPA and step counts. The satisfaction of children and teachers was good. Teachers were able to adapt the AB protocol to the needs of the school curriculum, thus confirming the feasibility of the AB programme. Conclusions: This pilot and feasibility study showed the feasibility and effectiveness of the AB protocol and represented the basis for a future controlled trial.

Highlights

Scientific evidence continues to support the importance of physical activity (PA) for disease prevention and health promotion in children and youth [1]
The two classes participating in the pilot and feasibility study included a total of 43 children (Figure 1)
The number of participants at baseline was 33, 17 in the class assigned to the experimental group (AB group) and 16 in the class assigned to the control group (CG)

Summary

Introduction

Scientific evidence continues to support the importance of physical activity (PA) for disease prevention and health promotion in children and youth [1]. To reduce the risk of metabolic and cardiovascular diseases and to achieve all the benefits mentioned above, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that children and adolescents aged 5 to 17 years should accumulate at least 60 min per day of moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) [5]. These guidelines are shared at the European level, except for Germany, and are followed by Russia [6].

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion