The Strathclyde Evaluation of Children's Active Travel (SE-CAT): study rationale and methods

David Mcminn,Norah M Nelson,David A Rowe,Shemane Murtagh

doi:10.1186/1471-2458-11-958

Abstract

BackgroundThe school commute is a prime opportunity to increase children's physical activity levels. However, active commuting has decreased over the past 40 years. Strategies that increase walking to school are therefore needed. Travelling Green (TG) is a school-based active travel resource aimed at increasing children's walking to school. The resource consists of a curriculum-based program of lessons and goal setting activities. A previous study found that children who received the TG intervention increased self-reported distance travelled to school by active modes and reduced the distance travelled by inactive modes. This study was limited by self-reported outcome measures, a small sample, and no follow-up measures. A more robust evaluation of TG is required to address these limitations. This paper describes the rationale and methods for such an evaluation of Travelling Green, and describes the piloting of various active commuting measures in primary school children.Methods/DesignMeasures of active commuting were piloted in a sample of 26 children (aged 8-9 years) over one school week. These measures were subsequently used in an 18-month quasi-experimental design to evaluate the effect of TG on commuting behaviour. Participants were 166 children (60% male) aged 8-9 years from 5 primary schools. Two schools (n = 79 children) received TG in September/October 2009. Three schools (n = 87 children) acted as a comparison group, and subsequently received TG at a later date. Physical activity was measured using Actigraph GT1M accelerometers. Personal and environmental determinants of active commuting were measured via parent and child questionnaires, as were factors related to the Theory of Planned Behaviour and the construct of habit. Measures were taken pre- and post-intervention and at 5 and 12 months follow-up.DiscussionThe piloted protocol was practical and feasible and piloted measures were reliable and valid. All study data, including 5 and 12 month follow-up, have been collected and processed. Data analysis is ongoing. Results will indicate whether TG successfully increases active commuting in a sample of Scottish school children and will inform future efforts in school active travel promotion.

Highlights

The school commute is a prime opportunity to increase children’s physical activity levels
The journey to and from school has been identified as a prime opportunity to increase physical activity levels [3], and it has been shown that children who travel actively to school engage in more physical activity
The NL-1000 significantly underestimated time spent in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) during the school commute compared to the GT1M, and significantly overestimated steps compared with the GT1M

Summary

Introduction

The school commute is a prime opportunity to increase children’s physical activity levels. Despite the benefits associated with active school travel, active commuting to school across the western world has steadily decreased over the past 40 years [11,12,13] Reasons for these declining trends are unclear, contributing factors may include increased pressure on parents’ time in the morning [14], perceived dangers on the route to school [15], and the convenience of using motorised transportation [16]. The Safe Routes to School programme is a legislation-backed initiative in the United States whereby funding is provided to each state in order to address some of the barriers to walking and cycling to school. Studies that have been conducted to evaluate SRTS programmes have shown that children at schools taking part in the intervention increased walking, biking, and car-pooling [19], and that children who passed SRTS projects on their way to school were more likely to increase their walking or cycling [20]

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Conclusion