From: Intervention effects on physical activity: the HEIA study - a cluster randomized controlled trial
Setting/arena | What | Timing | Purpose |
---|---|---|---|
Class (Initiated by classroom-teachers) | Lessons with student booklet: | Once per month - 6th grade winter/spring | Increase awareness of behavior-health relationship, recommended intake levels and own intake |
1. Diet and physical activity | |||
2. Meals | |||
3. 5 a day | |||
4. Sugar rich beverages | |||
5. Your choice | |||
Posters for classrooms | Monthly - throughout the intervention | As a daily reminder of main messages (topic matched fact sheets to parents) | |
- Key messages, A4-size, placed on a larger “frame-poster” including the HEIA logo | |||
Fruit and vegetable (FV) break | Once a week – throughout the intervention | Increase FV intake; cut, serve, taste and eat FV with class mates | |
- Cutting equipment per class provided, students brought FV | |||
Physical activity (PA) break | Once a week – throughout the intervention | Increase PA; introduce PA also outside of PE and by classroom-teachers | |
- 10 minutes of PA conducted in regular classrooms, booklet with ideas and CD provided | |||
Sports equipment for recess activities | Every day - throughout the intervention (some equipment refill at beginning of 7th grade) | Increase PA; stimulate PA during recess – especially among those who do not play ball games | |
- 1–2 large boxes per school. Examples of content: Frisbees, jump-ropes, elastic bands, hockey-sticks, a variety of balls | |||
Active commuting campaigns | 5 x 3 weeks: 6th grade: fall, winter and spring | Increase PA; stimulate activity | |
- Register days with active transport to/from school for 3 weeks (5 campaigns) | 7th grade: fall, winter | ||
Pedometer: | 7th grade | Increase awareness about PA level; stimulate activity | |
- One class-set per school to be used in PE (SPARK), as tasks at school, as home assignment and active commuting | |||
Computer tailored individual advice | 7th grade | Increase awareness of; | |
1. Fruit | Fall | - recommended intake and PA level | |
2. Vegetables | Fall | - own intake of FV, PA level and hours of screen time | |
3. Physical activity | Winter/spring | Received personal advise about what and how to change | |
4. Screen time | Winter/spring | ||
5. Sugar sweetened beverages | Winter/spring | ||
+ one-week action plans for each topic (instruction on what, where and when to try one of the pieces of advice for behavior change) | |||
Home/parents | Fact sheets | Monthly - throughout the intervention, one behavior per fact sheet | To stimulate parents to evaluate and change the home environment with regards to facilitating or regulating the targeted behaviors |
Facts on targeted behaviors. Practical tasks/challenges for leisure time/weekends in 7th grade | |||
Brochures/information sheets | Once | To ensure that the fact sheets were read and discussed/applied to the home environment | |
Teachers were provided info sheets about the FV break that they could use to inform parents about these | |||
Brochures: | Once | To provide knowledge and inspiration | |
- “Cutting FV” | |||
- “Meals – a value worth fighting for”. Handed out together with related fact sheets | |||
School wide | Kick-off meetings at each school | Once a year - 6th and 7th grade (fall), 2–3 hours each time | To inform the school management, teachers, school nurse and parent committees about the project and establish/inform the grade level teachers as the “HEIA-team” at school |
- Teacher manuals presented, practical activities tested, material partially provided | |||
Inspirational courses for PE teachers | Once a year - 6th and 7th grade (fall), 6 hours each time | Teacher-training for PE teachers; methods/activities to increase activity time, enjoyment and self-efficacy for all students during PE classes | |
- SPARK ideas/principles [20] | |||
Resource box for school management | Optional | Focus on healthy food/drinks offered in school/during school events | |
- Offer to order free tool box for cutting and selling FV | |||
Committee meetings | Optional | Aimed to stimulate easy-to-do changes on the school grounds that could stimulate activity (booklet/ideas provided). Increase awareness of healthy foods and beverages | |
-Meetings with school environment groups/parent committees | |||
Leisure time activities (NGO’s)* | Information folder and offer to receive a resource box with equipment for cutting and selling FV | 7th grade (fall) | Create awareness about leisure time activity leaders as role models for dietary habits, to reflect upon availability of food/drinks during practices and special events (i.e. tournaments, weekend training sessions, etc.) |