Closing the Gap Between Classroom-Based Physical Activity Intervention Adoption and Fidelity in Low-Resource Schools

Abstract

The adoption of classroom-based physical activity interventions in elementary schools is nearly universal (92%), but fewer than 22% of teachers who implement activity breaks achieve a dose of 10 min/day. Dissemination and implementation science frameworks provide a systematic approach to identifying and overcoming barriers likely to impede successful adoption and fidelity of evidence-based interventions. This review highlights the development and subsequent tailoring of a classroom-based physical activity intervention, Interrupting Prolonged sitting with ACTivity (InPACT), for delivery in low-resource schools using implementation science frameworks focused on equity. Unlike most classroom physical activity interventions, tailored InPACT includes a suite of implementation strategies (methods or techniques that support adoption, implementation, and sustainment of a program or practice) and, thus, has been designed for dissemination. These strategies were focused on increasing teacher self-efficacy and reducing multilevel implementation barriers in low-resource schools to promote intervention fidelity, effectiveness, and sustainment.