Can we skill and activate children through primary school physical education lessons? “move it groove it”—a collaborative health promotion intervention

Physical education (PE) lessons are an ideal setting to improve child fundamental movement skills (FMSs) and increase physical activity (PA) for optimal health. Despite this, few studies have assessed the potential to do both simultaneously. The “Move It Groove It” primary school intervention in New...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Preventive medicine Vol. 36; no. 4; pp. 493 - 501
Main Authors:	Beurden, E.van, Barnett, L.M, Zask, A, Dietrich, U.C, Brooks, L.O, Beard, J
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States Elsevier Inc 01-04-2003
Subjects:	Cardiovascular disease Child Child Behavior Curriculum Evaluation studies Exercise Female Health behavior Health Education - methods Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice Health Promotion - methods Humans Logistic Models Male Motor Activity - physiology New South Wales Physical Education and Training - methods Program Evaluation Rural Population Schools Sex Factors Task Performance and Analysis New South Wales Exercise Logistic models Evaluation studies Health behavior Cardiovascular disease Schools Child
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Summary:	Physical education (PE) lessons are an ideal setting to improve child fundamental movement skills (FMSs) and increase physical activity (PA) for optimal health. Despite this, few studies have assessed the potential to do both simultaneously. The “Move It Groove It” primary school intervention in New South Wales, Australia, had this opportunity. A whole school approach to implementation included establishment of school project teams, a teacher “buddy” system, project Web site, teacher training workshops, and small grants for equipment. The quasi-experimental evaluation involved 1,045 year 3 and 4 children (aged 7 to 10 years) in nine intervention and nine control rural primary schools (53% boys/47% girls). It utilised pre- and postobservational surveys of (1) mastery or near mastery levels for each of eight FMSs, (2) proportion of PE lesson time spent in moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) and vigorous PA (VPA), and (3) teacher- and lesson-related contextual covariates. Data were analysed by hierarchical logistic multiple regression. For FMSs, overall mastery or near mastery level at baseline was 47% ranging from 22.7% for the overarm throw among girls to 75.4% for the static balance among boys. The intervention delivered substantial improvements in every FMS for both genders ranging from 7.2% to 25.7% (13 of 16 comparisons were significant). For PA level, mean MVPA at baseline was 34.7%. Baseline MVPA for boys was 38.7% and for girls was 33.2%. The intervention was associated with a nonsignificant 4.5% increase in MVPA and a significant 3.0% increase in VPA. This translates to a gain of <1 minute of MVPA per average 21-minute lesson. This is the first study to show that by modifying existing PE lessons, significant improvements in FMS mastery can be gained without adversely affecting children’s MVPA and VPA. To increase PA levels, we recommend increasing the number of PE lessons per week.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 ObjectType-News-3 content type line 23
ISSN:	0091-7435 1096-0260
DOI:	10.1016/S0091-7435(02)00044-0