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1.
[Effects and costs of The Healthy Primary School of the Future].
van Schayck, CP, Willeboordse, M, Oosterhof, M, Bartelink, N, van Assema, P, Kremers, S, Winkens, B, Savelberg, H, Jansen, M, Joore, M, et al
Nederlands tijdschrift voor geneeskunde. 2021
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To study school lifestyle interventions for elementary school children (The Healthy Primary School of the Future). RESEARCH QUESTION What are the effects of the introduction of increased physical activity with or without healthy nutrition on health behaviour and BMI of young children and what are the costs of this program? DESIGN Prospective controlled non-randomized study with nearly 1700 children in Parkstad (South-East Netherlands). RESULTS Preliminary results after two years show that the combination of increased physical activity and healthy nutrition result in a decreased BMIz-score (-0.036), increased physical activity alone in hardly any change (-0.10) while in the control group the BMIz-score increased (0.052). The net societal costs of the combination of physical activity and health nutrition costs were 1 euro per child per day. CONCLUSION The study contributes to the increasing amount of evidence proving that lifestyle interventions are effective in reducing the obesity epidemic. Future studies will show whether a weight reduction in children will result in the prevention of chronic disease later on in life and what the cost reduction related to this result will be.
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2.
Advancing School and Community Engagement Now for Disease Prevention (ASCEND).
Treu, JA, Doughty, K, Reynolds, JS, Njike, VY, Katz, DL
American journal of health promotion : AJHP. 2017;(2):143-152
Abstract
PURPOSE To compare two intensity levels (standard vs. enhanced) of a nutrition and physical activity intervention vs. a control (usual programs) on nutrition knowledge, body mass index, fitness, academic performance, behavior, and medication use among elementary school students. DESIGN Quasi-experimental with three arms. SETTING Elementary schools, students' homes, and a supermarket. SUBJECTS A total of 1487 third-grade students. INTERVENTION The standard intervention (SI) provided daily physical activity in classrooms and a program on making healthful foods, using food labels. The enhanced intervention (EI) provided these plus additional components for students and their families. MEASURES Body mass index (zBMI), food label literacy, physical fitness, academic performance, behavior, and medication use for asthma or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). ANALYSIS Multivariable generalized linear model and logistic regression to assess change in outcome measures. RESULTS Both the SI and EI groups gained less weight than the control (p < .001), but zBMI did not differ between groups (p = 1.00). There were no apparent effects on physical fitness or academic performance. Both intervention groups improved significantly but similarly in food label literacy (p = .36). Asthma medication use was reduced significantly in the SI group, and nonsignificantly (p = .10) in the EI group. Use of ADHD medication remained unchanged (p = .34). CONCLUSION The standard intervention may improve food label literacy and reduce asthma medication use in elementary school children, but an enhanced version provides no further benefit.
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Implementation of the HealthKick intervention in primary schools in low-income settings in the Western Cape Province, South Africa: a process evaluation.
de Villiers, A, Steyn, NP, Draper, CE, Hill, J, Dalais, L, Fourie, J, Lombard, C, Barkhuizen, G, Lambert, EV
BMC public health. 2015;:818
Abstract
BACKGROUND The HealthKick intervention, introduced at eight primary schools in low-income settings in the Western Cape Province, South Africa, aimed to promote healthy lifestyles among learners, their families and school staff. Eight schools from similar settings without any active intervention served as controls. METHODS The Action Planning Process (APP) guided school staff through a process that enabled them to assess areas for action; identify specific priorities; and set their own goals regarding nutrition and physical activity at their schools. Educators were introduced to the APP and trained to undertake this at their schools by holding workshops. Four action areas were covered, which included the school nutrition environment; physical activity and sport environment; staff health; and chronic disease and diabetes awareness. Intervention schools also received a toolkit comprising an educator's manual containing planning guides, printed resource materials and a container with physical activity equipment. To facilitate the APP, a champion was identified at each school to drive the APP and liaise with the project team. Over the three-years a record was kept of activities planned and those accomplished. At the end of the intervention, focus group discussions were held with school staff at each school to capture perceptions about the APP and intervention activities. RESULTS Overall uptake of events offered by the research team was 65.6% in 2009, 75% in 2010 and 62.5% in 2011. Over the three-year intervention, the school food and nutrition environment action area scored the highest, with 55.5% of planned actions being undertaken. In the chronic disease and diabetes awareness area 54.2% actions were completed, while in the school physical activity and sport environment and staff health activity areas 25.9 and 20% were completed respectively. According to educators, the low level of implementation of APP activities was because of a lack of parental involvement, time and available resources, poor physical environment at schools and socio-economic considerations. CONCLUSIONS The implementation of the HealthKick intervention was not as successful as anticipated. Actions required for future interventions include increased parental involvement, greater support from the Department of Basic Education and assurance of sufficient motivation and 'buy-in' from schools.
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Active Living: development and quasi-experimental evaluation of a school-centered physical activity intervention for primary school children.
Van Kann, DH, Jansen, MW, de Vries, SI, de Vries, NK, Kremers, SP
BMC public health. 2015;:1315
Abstract
BACKGROUND The worldwide increase in the rates of childhood overweight and physical inactivity requires successful prevention and intervention programs for children. The aim of the Active Living project is to increase physical activity and decrease sedentary behavior of Dutch primary school children by developing and implementing tailored, multicomponent interventions at and around schools. METHODS/DESIGN In this project, school-centered interventions have been developed at 10 schools in the south of the Netherlands, using a combined top-down and bottom-up approach in which a research unit and a practice unit continuously interact. The interventions consist of a combination of physical and social interventions tailored to local needs of intervention schools. The process and short- and long-term effectiveness of the interventions will be evaluated using a quasi-experimental study design in which 10 intervention schools are matched with 10 control schools. Baseline and follow-up measurements (after 12 and 24 months) have been conducted in grades 6 and 7 and included accelerometry, GPS, and questionnaires. Primary outcome of the Active Living study is the change in physical activity levels, i.e. sedentary behavior (SB), light physical activity (LPA), moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), and counts-per-minute (CPM). Multilevel regression analyses will be used to assess the effectiveness of isolated and combined physical and social interventions on children's PA levels. DISCUSSION The current intervention study is unique in its combined approach of physical and social environmental PA interventions both at school(yard)s as well as in the local neighborhood around the schools. The strength of the study lies in the quasi-experimental design including objective measurement techniques, i.e. accelerometry and GPS, combined with more subjective techniques, i.e. questionnaires, implementation logbooks, and neighborhood observations. TRIAL REGISTRATION Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN25497687 (registration date 21/10/2015), METC 12-4-077, Project number 200130003.
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[Use of social marketing to increase water consumption among school-age children in Mexico City].
Carriedo, Á, Bonvecchio, A, López, N, Morales, M, Mena, C, Théodore, FL, Irizarry, L
Salud publica de Mexico. 2013;:388-96
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To increase water consumption in school children in Mexico City through a social marketing intervention. MATERIALS AND METHODS Cluster quasi-experimental design. Intervention of three months in schools, including water provision and designed based on social marketing. Reported changes in attitude, knowledge and behavior were compared pre and post intervention. RESULTS Children of the intervention group (n=116) increased in 38% (171 ml) water consumption during school time, control group (n=167) decreased its consumption in 21% (140 ml) (p<0.05), according to their reported consumption. In a sub-sample reported consumption of sweetened beverages decreased 437 ml in the IG and 267 ml in the CG (p<0.05). CONCLUSION Social marketing and environmental modifications were effective on increasing water consumption among children, strategy that might contribute to mitigate childhood obesity.
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[The use of halotherapy for the health improvement in children at institutions of general education].
Khan, MA, Chervinskaia, AV, Mikitchenko, NA
Voprosy kurortologii, fizioterapii, i lechebnoi fizicheskoi kultury. 2012;(2):31-5
Abstract
The objective of the present study was to estimate the influence of halotherapy performed in a specialized salt room on the health status of the children frequently ill with acute respiratory diseases. The application of halotherapy was shown to produce well-apparent antiinflammatory, draining, and sanogenic effects. Observations during 1, 3, 5, and 12 month follow-up periods confirmed the persistence of prophylactic and therapeutic effects of salt therapy. The results of the study were used to develop differential schemes of halotherapy taking into consideration the initial conditions of the children.
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Efficacy of a school-based cardiac health promotion intervention program for African-American adolescents.
Covelli, MM
Applied nursing research : ANR. 2008;(4):173-80
Abstract
OBJECTIVE African-American adolescents are twice as likely to develop hypertension in early adulthood than adolescents from other racial groups. The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of a school-based health promotion intervention. METHOD Participants were African-American adolescents aged between 14 and 17 years attending an urban high school. The 9-week intervention program focused on the participants' knowledge, diet, exercise, and blood pressure. CONCLUSIONS The intervention program was efficacious in knowledge (p = .0001), exercise (p = .0001), as well as fruit and vegetable intake (p = .0001). Differences in systolic (p = .5548) and diastolic (p = .9719) blood pressure levels were not significant.
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The impact of a school-based obesity prevention trial on disordered weight-control behaviors in early adolescent girls.
Austin, SB, Field, AE, Wiecha, J, Peterson, KE, Gortmaker, SL
Archives of pediatrics & adolescent medicine. 2005;(3):225-30
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To assess the impact of an obesity prevention intervention on use of self-induced vomiting/laxatives (purging) and diet pills to control weight in girls in early adolescence. DESIGN We matched and randomly assigned 10 middle schools to an intervention or a control condition in a randomized controlled trial. Longitudinal multivariable analyses using generalized estimating equations were conducted with data from 480 girls to examine the effects of the intervention on the risk of reporting a new case of purging or diet pill use to control weight at follow-up 21 months later, while controlling for ethnicity and school matched pairs. Girls who reported purging or using diet pills at baseline were excluded from analyses. SETTING Middle schools. PARTICIPANTS Four hundred eighty girls in early adolescence aged 10 to 14 years (mean age, 11.5 years). INTERVENTION The Planet Health obesity prevention program was implemented during 2 school years and was designed to promote healthful nutrition and physical activity and to reduce television viewing. OUTCOME Reduced risk of using self-induced vomiting/laxatives or diet pills to control weight in the past 30 days. RESULTS After the intervention, we found 14 (6.2%) of 226 girls in control schools and 7 (2.8%) of 254 girls in intervention schools reported purging or using diet pills to control their weight (P = .003). In a multivariable generalized estimating equation model, girls in intervention schools were less than half as likely to report purging or using diet pills at follow-up compared with girls in control schools (odds ratio, 0.41; 95% confidence interval, 0.22-0.75). CONCLUSION These findings provide promising evidence that school-based interventions may effectively integrate prevention of both obesity and disordered weight-control behaviors.
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Preliminary testing of a program to prevent type 2 diabetes among high-risk youth.
Grey, M, Berry, D, Davidson, M, Galasso, P, Gustafson, E, Melkus, G
The Journal of school health. 2004;(1):10-5
Abstract
Type 2 diabetes is increasing among youth, with minority youth at highest risk. This preliminary study tested the feasibility of a school-based program to prevent type 2 diabetes in youth at risk. Forty-one participants (age 12.6 +/- 1.1 years; 63% female, 51% African American, 44% Hispanic, and 5% Caucasian) were randomly assigned to one of two groups. Both the experimental and control groups received nutrition education and exercise training. The experimental group also received coping skills training. Data collected included body mass index (BMI), insulin resistance, dietary intake (24-Hour Food Recall), self-efficacy (Health Behavior Questionnaire), activity (Revised Godin-Shepard Activity Survey), and parents' health promoting behaviors (Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile III). At baseline BMI ranged from 27 to 53 (M = 36.2 +/- 6.0), and 95% (n = 39) demonstrated insulin resistance or pre-diabetes on an oral glucose tolerance test. After 12 months, the experimental group showed trends in improved usual food choices (p = .1) and increased dietary knowledge (p = .3). They also demonstrated lower glucose (p = .07) and insulin levels (p = .2). Experimental group parents demonstrated improved health responsibility (p = .03), healthier nutrition choices (p = .05), improved stress management skills (p = .05), increased activity (p = .2), and increased spirituality (p = .2). Data suggest a school-based program tailored to multiethnic youth may prove successful in helping these youth increase activity, improve nutrition status, and stabilize glucose and insulin metabolism, and also may be effective in changing parent health behavior.
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Improvements in heart health behaviors and reduction in coronary artery disease risk factors in urban teenaged girls through a school-based intervention: the PATH program.
Bayne-Smith, M, Fardy, PS, Azzollini, A, Magel, J, Schmitz, KH, Agin, D
American journal of public health. 2004;(9):1538-43
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Abstract
OBJECTIVES We sought to assess the effects of a school-based intervention program on cardiovascular disease risk factors in urban girls. METHODS We compared heart health knowledge, health behaviors, cardiovascular risk factors, and physical fitness among a group of 442 multiethnic teenaged girls (310 experimental participants vs 132 control participants). Testing was conducted before and after a 12-week program of vigorous exercises integrated with lectures and discussions on diet, exercise, stress, and smoking. RESULTS Significant differences in body fat, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, heart health knowledge, and whether breakfast was eaten were observed between experimental participants and control participants. CONCLUSIONS An integrated program of exercise and heart health-related lectures and discussions had a beneficial effect on health knowledge, health behaviors, and onset of risk factors for coronary artery disease among urban girls.