Abstract
BackgroundThe role of physical activity in the promotion of children’s well-being and health is widely known. However, research indicates that the time spent physically exercising and participating in organized sport activities is decreasing among children. Although there is currently no gold standard for promoting sustainable physical activity in children, community-based approaches, particularly those that are multicomponent, appear to be the most successful. The project StuPs: a school- and community-based participatory approach for promoting physical activity in children and their families aims to develop a community-based approach to promoting physical activity by increasing physical literacy among elementary school children and their household members.MethodsThe project is built upon the intervention mapping approach and consists of two periods with an overall duration of 3 years. Period I will last 9 months and include an assessment of needs, wants, strengths, and weaknesses regarding physical activity and health promotion at the community- and school-based level according to the keywords “capacity building” and “physical literacy.” Based on the knowledge gained in this stage, measures for capacity building to promote healthy lifestyles and physical literacy in children will be developed using the community-based participatory research and capacity building approach. In Period II, the measures will be applicated, implemented and evaluated using a pre−/post-design to assess efficacy.DiscussionAlthough the efficacy of using community-based and capacity building approaches to reach children is promising, there remains a gap regarding best practices for changing existing structures and habits over the long term and in the sense of promoting physical literacy.
Highlights
The role of physical activity in the promotion of children’s well-being and health is widely known
The StuPs project aims to close this gap between science and practice by implementing a participatory and interdisciplinary multicomponent approach targeting both schools and communities in two socially deprived areas in Cologne (North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany) within the scope of capacity building for physical literacy promotion
The StuPs approach has been developed following community-based participatory research (CBPR) and intervention mapping to build upon existing knowledge and experiences
Summary
Study design The StuPs design (Fig. 1) is intended to function as a temporary supporter of the selected districts over the project duration of three years, divided into two periods. With the knowledge of these required actions, measures to create healthy environments in the sense of capacity building and physical literacy promotion in children will be developed This procedure will be conducted with the participation of key stakeholders in the two Cologne districts. CBPR aims to promote health equity, strategies development, empowerment of a target group, and capacity building within the targeted community [9] This approach intends to combine scientific, practical, and policy stakeholders as well as different professions. The StuPs approach is characterized by a high level of practical orientation to strengthen participatory collaborations between science, practice, and policy To this end, the CBPR principles by Israel et al [9] have been modified to promote individual and collective empowerment and the development of expertise and structures in terms of capacity building and physical literacy (Table 2). (9) The aim is to create the basis for long-term cooperation and the establishment of the topics as a cross-sectional task of all partners involved (health in all policies), with the intention of sustainably promoting the physical activity (and health) and physical literacy of vulnerable groups
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