The Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program: An Invited Review

Geographic and Grade-Level Disparities in Student Access to School-Based Physical Education and Physical Activity Opportunities Across 25 US States

BACKGROUND

Most US children and adolescents do not meet recommended daily physical activity (PA) guidelines. Determinants of PA are complex; however, access to opportunities precedes actual PA engagement. Schools are well positioned to support student PA through the provision of physical education (PE) and before, during, and after school PA opportunities through comprehensive (ie, expanded) school PA programming. Monitoring access to school PE and PA opportunities is an essential function of public health. However, there are limited comprehensive data across K-12 settings. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate students' access to PE and expanded recreation time before, during, and after school PA opportunities in K-12 schools across 25 US states.

METHODS

The US Physical Education and Physical Activity Policy questionnaire was completed by 4845 K-12 PE teachers across 25 states, representing diverse geographical regions, with responses standardized across varying academic calendars. Descriptive statistics were used to illustrate access to PE and PA opportunities.

RESULTS

Access to PE and PA varied, with elementary schools generally providing more opportunities than middle and high schools. There was an overall misalignment with national PE and recess recommendations. Limited before and after school PA opportunities were also reported.

DISCUSSION

The relative dearth of access to PE and expanded PA opportunities currently available to students in relation to national guidelines shows a need for states to prioritize expanding access to PE and recreational PA to reduce disparities. To ensure more equitable student access, collaborative efforts among educators, policymakers, and stakeholders are essential.

Secular trends of physical fitness in Austrian children attending sports schools: An analysis of repeated cross-sections from 2006 to 2023

BACKGROUND

Physical fitness (PF) offers numerous physical and mental health benefits, especially during childhood. Previous studies investigating trends in children's PF over the years reported contradictory findings.

OBJECTIVE

To identify and analyse secular trends in PF among Austrian schoolchildren from 2006 to 2023.

METHOD

A repeated cross-sections design was used to examine the PF of children enrolling in sports schools between 2006 and 2023. During this period, a standardized eight-item motor performance testing battery was administered yearly to capture markers of strength, speed, endurance, agility and reaction time in Austrian schools.

RESULTS

A total of n = 3827 children (996 girls) with a mean age of 9.9 ± 1.0 years were included. Linear mixed models indicated significant declines in sprint performance (5, 10, 20 m), tapping, jump (long jump and drop jump), throwing (medicine ball), and agility (snake run). No changes were observed in cardiorespiratory fitness (8 min run) or reaction time.

CONCLUSION

There has been a steady decline in PF among Austrian children attending sports schools. This finding underscores the need for enhanced PF monitoring and training in schools to improve public health outcomes.

Toward a whole-of-virtual school framework for promoting student physical activity: a scoping review protocol

BACKGROUND

The advent of full-time virtual schooling presents unique challenges and opportunities for the promotion of physical activity (PA) among children and adolescents. Despite the recognized benefits of PA as an essential component for combating non-communicable diseases and ensuring holistic development, there is a notable gap in understanding how to effectively integrate PA within the digital learning environments of full-time virtual schools. Current efforts to promote student PA are targeted for implementation exclusively in contexts characterized by physical school campuses that are bound to their surrounding local communities. This is problematic given the digital, widely distributed, and contextually unmoored nature of virtual schooling. Our aim in this scoping review is to advance research on whole-of-school physical activity promotion within full-time virtual schools by examining the published literature on whole-of-school PA promotion within full-time virtual schools. Specifically, this review will map the literature, consolidate knowledge claims and practical implications, and identify evidence gaps that merit further investigation.

METHODS/DESIGN

This review will be conducted using evidence-informed scoping review methodology and reporting guidelines. Articles will be included if they are peer-reviewed English-language research, commentary, practical, or grey literature and relate to the participation, support, design, development, and/or provision of remote online PA interventions delivered through primary/elementary and/or secondary/middle school/high schools. Searches will be conducted in PsycInfo, ERIC, SportDiscus, and Web of Science. Additional hand-searching, reference scans, and grey literature searches will also be performed. Two trained research assistants will independently complete study screening and selection and data charting with guidance from a senior author. Charted data will be displayed in table form, and depending on the results, data will also be synthesized through qualitative content analysis using the Active Schools guiding framework as an analytical and interpretive lens.

DISCUSSION

This scoping review will serve as a guidepost for the application and advancement of research on whole-of-school PA promotion through full-time virtual schools. The results will address the increased importance of equitable online learning and PA promotion due to the expanding virtual education landscape, with implications for public health and education policy.

SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION

Open Science Framework:  https://osf.io/f6wau/ .

The Effectiveness of Teaching the Teacher Interventions in Improving the Physical Activity among Adolescents in Schools: A Scoping Review

Physical inactivity is a leading risk factor for global mortality as it increases the risk of non-communicable diseases and decreases overall health. Therefore, increasing physical activity (PA) is strongly recommended, particularly in adolescents. The Teaching the Teachers (TTT) approach is a prominent example of an intervention that could enhance PA levels in adolescents. However, available evidence on the efficacy of TTT interventions in promoting PA among adolescents is either limited or inconclusive. Therefore, a scoping review was conducted to provide an overview of the current state of knowledge regarding the effectiveness of TTT interventions in improving the PA of adolescent students. The PRISMA-Scoping methodology was employed, and articles in the Medline database were searched. We screened 2357 articles for inclusion, and finally included 16 articles. Most articles were conducted in European countries. The TTT interventions appeared to positively affect various aspects of PA. These aspects include support for personal autonomy, intent to engage in PA, improvements in body composition and fitness level, social support, enjoyment of Physical Education (PE), and positive attitudes towards PE. Consequently, policymakers could utilize TTT interventions to improve the physical activity of adolescents, which may reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases and foster healthier societies.

Use of a Novel Theory-Based Pragmatic Tool to Evaluate the Quality of Instructor-Led Exercise Videos to Promote Youth Physical Activity at Home: Preliminary Findings

BACKGROUND

Exercise videos that work to minimize cognitive load (the amount of information that working memory can hold at one time) are hypothesized to be more engaging, leading to increased PA participation.

PURPOSE

To use a theory-based pragmatic tool to evaluate the cognitive load of instructor-led exercise videos associated with the Interrupting Prolonged Sitting with ACTivity (InPACT) program.

METHODS

Exercise videos were created by physical education teachers and fitness professionals. An evaluation rubric was created to identify elements each video must contain to reduce cognitive load, which included three domains with four components each [technical (visual quality, audio quality, matching modality, signaling), content (instructional objective, met objective, call-to-action, bias), and instructional (learner engagement, content organization, segmenting, weeding)]. Each category was scored on a 3-point scale from 0 (absent) to 2 (proficient). A video scoring 20-24 points induced low cognitive load, 13-19 points induced moderate cognitive load, and less than 13 points induced high cognitive load. Three reviewers independently evaluated the videos and then agreed on scores and feedback.

RESULTS

All 132 videos were evaluated. Mean video total score was 20.1 ± 0.7 points out of 24. Eighty-five percent of videos were rated low cognitive load, 15% were rated moderate cognitive load, and 0% were rated high cognitive load. The following components scored the highest: audio quality and matching modality. The following components scored the lowest: signaling and call-to-action.

CONCLUSIONS

Understanding the use of a pragmatic tool is a first step in the evaluation of InPACT at Home exercise videos. Our preliminary findings suggest that the InPACT at Home videos had low cognitive load. If future research confirms our findings, using a more rigorous study design, then developing a collection of instructor-led exercise videos that induce low cognitive load may help to enhance youth physical activity participation in the home environment.

Association of Physical Educators' Socialization Experiences and Confidence with Respect to Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program Implementation

Comprehensive school physical activity programs (CSPAPs) are recommended to support physical education (PE) and increase the amount of physical activity (PA) youth receive each day. However, adoption of CSPAPs in the United States is low. PE teachers are well positioned to lead the implementation of CSPAPs, but research is needed to better understand (a) PE teachers' confidence to assume the multiple roles involved with CSPAP implementation and (b) the factors that are associated with such confidence. This study examined PE teachers' role breadth self-efficacy (RBSE) as a measure of PE teachers' CSPAP-related confidence and its association with seminal life experiences as framed within teacher socialization theory. A survey was emailed to a stratified-random sample of 2976 PE teachers and distributed on social media, garnering a total of 259 responses. Exploratory structural equation modeling supported a three-factor solution for teacher socialization variables (acculturation, professional socialization and organizational socialization), in line with the theoretical framework, and a single factor solution for RBSE. Professional socialization and organizational socialization were significant predictors of RBSE, and qualitative data from open-ended survey questions supported these relationships. The results highlight the importance of preservice teacher education and current employment contexts in PE teachers' CSPAP-related confidence.