Co-designing obesity prevention interventions together with children: intervention mapping meets youth-led participatory action research.

BACKGROUND: Youth-led Participatory Action Research (YPAR) involves children throughout the process of developing and implementing interventions. Combining YPAR with a structural approach for designing and planning interventions, such as Intervention Mapping (IM), may further improve implementation and effectiveness of interventions. This paper describes how YPAR and IM were combined in the Kids in Action study. METHODS: The Kids in Action study aims to improve health behaviors of 9-12-year old children living in a low socioeconomic neighborhood in Amsterdam, by co-designing interventions with these children. At each of four schools 6-8 children (N = 18-24 total per year) and two academic researchers formed participatory groups that met weekly or every fortnight during two school years. An IM expert panel advised the participatory groups on the application of IM. RESULTS: Following the IM protocol, we conducted a participatory needs assessment with children, parents and professionals, in IM-step 1. In IM-step 2, the IM expert panel constructed matrices of program objectives, and the children provided feedback. In collaboration with children programs were designed and produced using an iterative process during IM-steps 3-4. In IM-step 5, the participatory groups and professional community partners designed the implementation plan. Finally, in IM-step 6, the protocol of the process and effect evaluation - executed by academic researchers with input from children - was developed. CONCLUSIONS: By combining YPAR and IM, several interventions have been developed and implemented, varying from a school water policy to extracurricular sports activities. Sharing responsibility with children was challenging when combining IM with YPAR. In YPAR children are given as much autonomy as possible, while traditional IM development work is primarily done by academic researchers. Strengths in combining IM and YPAR include the involvement of the end-users - children - throughout the process while at the same time developing interventions based on existing evidence. Time-management, a multidisciplinary team, and flexibility are important conditions when combining IM with YPAR. A strong community project group, with professionals who were willing to help children develop and execute their ideas, was an important success factor. This study can serve as an example to other YPAR studies developing interventions using the IM protocol.

Using health promotion outcomes in formative evaluation studies to predict success factors in interventions: an application to an intervention for promoting physical activity in Dutch children (JUMP-in).

JUMP-in is a systematically developed intervention aimed at promoting physical activity among primary school children. It is a joint project involving different authorities and entails six school-based programme components. Measuring effects of such an intervention is a complex challenge. A common problem is the lack of valid instruments to measure physical activity and its determinants. In addition, it usually takes years to find improvements in physical activity and related constructs like weight and fitness, or even in causal factors. For this reason different authors advocate for the establishment of 'health promotion outcomes'; (i) health literacy, (ii) social action and influence and (iii) healthy public policy and organizational practice. It is presumed that these health promotion outcomes lead to changes in determinants, behaviour and finally in health. Insight in these health promotion outcomes and information about input and through-put are important in discussing the impact and output. The formative evaluation study of the JUMP-in pilot shows the health promotion outcomes of the intervention. The health promotion outcomes 'social action and influence' and 'healthy public policy and organizational practices' were found to be positive. By measuring the presence of the conditions to achieve 'health literacy', it became clear that more attention must be paid to implementation in the future. Based on the health promotion outcomes, we expect that JUMP-in will be an effective intervention in the future.

A controlled trial of a school-based environmental intervention to improve physical activity in Dutch children: JUMP-in, kids in motion.

Interventions to promote physical activity are important in preventing children from becoming overweight. Many projects have been developed but only a few showed (moderate) effects. JUMP-in is a systematically developed primary-school-based intervention that focuses on the use of theory, environmental changes, parental influences and cooperation with multi-level parties in intervention development. The effects of JUMP-in were evaluated with a quasi-experimental pre-test/post-test research design. In total, 510 children from Grades 4, 5 and 6 of four intervention schools and two control schools in Amsterdam were followed for an intervention period of one school year. Changes in physical activity as well as in the social cognitive determinants were assessed using self-reports. In addition, a process evaluation has been executed. The results show that JUMP-in was effective in influencing physical activity, especially among children from Grade 6. Children in the control group decreased their level of physical activity considerably, while activity levels in intervention children from Grade 6 remained stable. The intervention effects could not be explained by changes in the measured social cognitive determinants. In contrast, process information illuminated differences in intervention effects between the participating schools. The results from the JUMP-in study show the importance of intervention designs that focus on a theory-based mix of relevant environmental and social cognitive factors.