Feasibility, acceptability and potential efficacy of a virtual physical activity program in primary and secondary schools in New South Wales, Australia: A quasi-experimental study.

ISSUE ADDRESSED: Child and youth participation in physical activity (PA) is fundamental for healthy development and obesity prevention. Government policy requires schools to offer 150 minutes of PA each week, however compliance is low. Race around Australia (RAA) is a New South Wales (NSW) Department of Education, virtual PA program aimed at assisting schools in meeting the PA guidelines. METHODS: A pre- and post-intervention, quasi-experimental study was conducted using a mixed-methods approach comprising teacher interviews, a student questionnaire and a 1.6 kilometre (km) timed run. Data were collected from April to September 2021 among students and teachers in Grades 5 to 8, from 10 schools in NSW, Australia. RESULTS: The analytical sample included data from 918 students and 17 teachers. The RAA program was deemed feasible and acceptable in primary schools, whereas there were several systemic and intrapersonal barriers to implementation success for secondary schools. In primary schools, RAA increased PA opportunities and the 1.6 km timed runs revealed a statistically significant treatment by time effect in favour of the intervention group for cardiorespiratory fitness (-36.91 seconds, 95% CI [-63.14, -10.68], P = .006). CONCLUSIONS: RAA has demonstrated feasibility and potential efficacy in improving cardiorespiratory fitness. We recommend that program refinement be made to deliver an intervention that addresses the unique barriers of the secondary school setting through a multi-level ecological approach. SO WHAT?: Despite evident benefits, implementation of PA initiatives in the school setting reveals many challenges. Stronger consideration of the Health Promotion with Schools Framework is evidently needed.

Effectiveness of Adult Health Promotion Interventions Delivered Through Professional Sport: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Researchers are capitalising on the strong connections that sport fans have with their teams for health promotion programmes, yet no existing systematic reviews have evaluated the effectiveness of interventions delivered through professional sport. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to systematically collate, evaluate, and synthesise the evidence on health promotion interventions implemented in professional sport settings. METHODS: Randomised controlled trials reporting on adult health promotion initiatives delivered in professional sport settings were identified through electronic database searches in CINAHL, MEDLINE, SPORTDiscus, Scopus, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), and Google Scholar. Data on health-related outcomes (e.g., weight, physical activity, dietary intake) were extracted and synthesised, and random effects meta-analyses were conducted to examine effects for weight and waist circumference. Risk of bias was examined using the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool for randomised controlled trials (RoB 2). RESULTS: Six studies reporting on five unique interventions met the inclusion criteria, and all included studies were gender-sensitised and exclusively targeted men. Intervention effects were observed for several health outcomes, including physical activity, dietary intake, and psychosocial health. All studies aimed to reduce weight, and for most studies (n = 4), weight was a primary outcome, either of the included study or to inform a future definitive trial. Findings from the meta-analysis revealed an overall significant difference in change in weight of - 3.2 kg (95% confidence interval [CI] - 4.6 to - 1.8) and waist circumference of - 3.9 cm (95% CI - 4.9 to - 2.8), both in favour of the intervention group at 12 weeks. Intervention effects were also reported for several other health outcomes (e.g., physical activity, dietary intake, psychosocial health); however, they were not consistently measured across the studies and thus were not meta-analysed. CONCLUSION: Health promotion interventions delivered through professional sporting organisations can significantly improve weight- and lifestyle-related health outcomes. Representation across the socioeconomic spectrum and across culturally and linguistically diverse groups was limited. As only a limited number of studies met the inclusion criteria for this review, a need exists for rigorously designed interventions, standardised intervention approaches, with long-term follow-up, and the potential for scalability. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42019123295.