The UP4FUN intervention effect on overall sedentary time and breaking up sedentary time in Belgian children (10–12 years): The ENERGY-project

Abstract

Introduction Within the ENERGY-project [1] , a school-based intervention to reduce and to break up sedentary time (UP4FUN) was developed for children aged 10 to 12 years. This study examined the UP4FUN intervention effect on objectively measured overall sedentary time and sedentary pattern variables among Belgian children. Sedentary pattern variables included number of breaks in sedentary time, number of sedentary bouts (≥ 10 minutes) and total and average amount of time spent in those sedentary bouts. Methods The six weeks intervention was tested in a randomized controlled trial with pre-test post-test design with five intervention and five control schools in Belgium. The total sample included 354 children from the 5th and 6th grade (mean age: 10.9 ± 0.7 years; 59% girls) with valid ActiGraph accelerometer data at both pre- and post-test. Multilevel analyses were conducted to take clustering of children in schools into account. Results There were no significant intervention effects on the overall sedentary time and only few and small intervention effects were found on sedentary pattern variables, namely on total time spent in sedentary bouts immediately after school hours (95% CI = –6.70; –0.31) and on average time spent in sedentary bouts before school hours (95% CI = –8.65; –1.00) and immediately after school hours (95% CI = –4.41; –1.02) in favour of children from intervention schools. Unexpectedly, girls from intervention schools decreased the number of breaks during school hours (95% CI = –34.37; –9.68) and increased the number of sedentary bouts on a weekend day (95% CI = 0.14;1.67), whereas girls in control schools showed an increase in number of breaks and a decrease in number of bouts. Conclusions In conclusion, UP4FUN did not have a consistent or substantial effect on children's overall sedentary time and on breaking up sedentary time. These data suggest that more intensive and longer lasting interventions are needed.