Early adolescence is a critical window of opportunity for establishing lifelong
physically active lifestyles. During this stage, youth seek autonomy and experience
independent mobility. However, steep declines in physical activity occur in adolescence,
a trend that continues into adulthood. This is partly due to reduced opportunities for
structured exercise and sports in later life relative to childhood. Despite this, most
school-based interventions heavily focus on physical education, sports participation, and
active recess strategies (i.e., leisure), with less emphasis on promoting utilitarian
(transport-based) physical activity.
Interventions prioritizing the entire school community (including students, their
families, and school neighborhood residents), and focused on increasing active transport
and leisure, might have a more significant and sustainable impact over the lifespan. To
be effective and contextually responsive, however, intervention development,
implementation, and evaluation must be collaboratively conducted with and through local
community members.
This project proposes to conduct a comprehensive and community-engaged mixed methods
study to design and test strategies for improving community-wide and individual-level
physical activity outcomes in middle school neighborhoods. The specific aims of this
study are:
Aim 1. To identify community-level barriers and facilitators for physical activity in
middle school communities using a comprehensive mixed methods approach (Delphi method
with Group Concept Mapping, geospatial analysis, participatory GIS).
Aim 2. To engage multi-sectoral and multi-generational community actors for co-creating
contextually-responsive intervention strategies to improve access to active transport and
leisure in middle school communities.
Aim 3. To conduct a first-generation, controlled trial testing the effectiveness of the
co-created intervention strategies for improving physical activity outcomes in middle
school communities.
Hypothesis 3.1. 12-month pre-post change in daily minutes of moderate- to
vigorous-intensity physical activity (MVPA) will be higher among middle school students
(grades 6-7) in school communities that implement co-created strategies relative to
comparison school communities.
Hypothesis 3.2 (exploratory). Community-based physical activity levels will improve at 12
months in intervention school communities, relative to comparison school communities.
Hypothesis 3.3. (exploratory). The intervention will improve community-level outcomes,
including enhanced community norms regarding active travel, collective efficacy for
physical activity, and perceived neighborhood traffic and crime safety.
If successful, these strategies can be scaled up to help increase physical activity among
middle school children and communities in the U.S. Increased physical activity among
middle school youth can lead to higher levels of physical activity throughout the
lifespan, potentially decreasing or attenuating chronic diseases.
