Evaluation of Youth Enjoyment Toward Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior.

PURPOSE: The consensus is that physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior (SB) are independent behaviors, but past findings suggest that they may be influenced by common underlying factors. To clarify this issue, we examined associations between enjoyment of PA and participation in both PA and SB in a large sample of 4th- to 12th-grade US youth. METHODS: A total of 18,930 students from 187 schools completed the youth activity profile, a self-report 15-item survey that assesses time spent in PA and SB in school and home settings. Two additional items captured enjoyment of PA and physical education. Two-way (gender × enjoyment and grade × enjoyment) mixed analysis of variances were conducted. RESULTS: Pearson correlation results revealed a positive relationship between enjoyment and PA (r = .38, P < .05) and an inverse correlation between enjoyment and SB (r = -.23, P < .05). Statistically significant main effects of enjoyment were found in the 2-way analysis of variance for both PA and SB. The simple main effect from analysis of variance indicated students with high enjoyment of PA reported higher levels of PA and lower levels of SB compared with students reporting moderate or low levels of enjoyment. CONCLUSION: The results provide new insights related to the relevance of enjoyment as a common underlying variable influencing both PA and SB across gender and grade levels.

Impact of NFL PLAY 60 Programming on Elementary School Children's Body Mass Index and Aerobic Capacity: The NFL PLAY 60 FitnessGram Partnership Project.

BACKGROUND: We examined the impact of the Fuel Up to Play 60 (FUTP60) program on children's body mass index (BMI) and aerobic capacity (AC). METHODS: Participation in the FUTP60 and both BMI and AC profiles were collected through the NFL PLAY 60 FitnessGram Partnership Project involving over 100 schools from 22 US states. We specifically examined the distributions of BMI and AC among participating versus nonparticipating schools in the 2012-2013 school year. Hierarchical linear models tested the impact of participation and availability of additional funding for program implementation on the proportions of youth meeting FitnessGram health-related fitness standards (ie, Needs Improvement-Health Risk [NIHR] and Healthy Fitness Zone [HFZ] categories). RESULTS: After 1 year implementing the program, participating schools had lower proportions of boys (-4.1 ± 2.0%, p = .04) and girls (-4.5 ± 2.0%, p = .03) in the NIHR for BMI, and lower proportion of girls (-9.7 ± 4.0%, p = .02) in the NIHR for AC. There were no differences in the distributions for the HFZ and the availability of additional funding did not alter the relationships (p > .05). CONCLUSIONS: This study provides preliminary evidence that participation in the FUTP60 is associated with improved profiles of health-related fitness.

The Longitudinal Impact of NFL PLAY 60 Programming on Youth Aerobic Capacity and BMI.

INTRODUCTION: The NFL PLAY 60 campaign has actively promoted physical activity and healthy eating in youth through programs such as the PLAY 60 Challenge and Fuel Up to PLAY 60. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the impact of NFL PLAY 60 programming on longitudinal trajectories of youth aerobic capacity and BMI. STUDY DESIGN: Data were from the NFL PLAY 60 FitnessGram Partnership Project, a large participatory research project designed to promote physical activity and healthy eating among Kindergarten through 12th grade children and adolescents. SETTING/PARTICIPANTS: The programming was led by teachers in school settings across 32 NFL franchise markets. A range of 50,000-100,000 students from 497 schools completed FitnessGram assessments annually starting in 2011 and continuing through 2015. The analysis was conducted in 2015. INTERVENTION: Adoption of NFL PLAY 60 programming was encouraged but not required and the program implementation was evaluated each year. The adoption was evaluated through self-reported annual survey. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: School assessments of aerobic capacity and BMI were evaluated using FitnessGram standards to calculate the percentage of students meeting the Healthy Fitness Zone for each test. Growth curve modeling was used to estimate the longitudinal trajectories. RESULTS: About 19% of schools were classified as programming schools. Annual improvements in aerobic capacity were significantly greater in schools that participated in the programs for both girls (3.0%, p<0.01) and boys (2.9%, p<0.01) compared with non-programming schools. The annual improvements in BMI Healthy Fitness Zone achievement were also higher in girls (1.3%, p<0.05) and in boys (1.2%, p<0.05) from schools that participated in the programs versus non-participating schools. Schools that implemented the programs for the entire 4-year period tended to have better improvements in aerobic capacity than schools enrolled for only 2 or 3 years (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The results of these longitudinal analyses support the utility of the NFL PLAY 60 physical activity promotion programs for improving youth aerobic capacity and potentially helping to reverse the prevalence of overweight/obesity. However, the overall program adoption rate is low.

Internet-Based Delivery of Evidence-Based Health Promotion Programs Among American Indian and Alaska Native Youth: A Case Study.

BACKGROUND: American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) youth face multiple health challenges compared to other racial/ethnic groups, which could potentially be ameliorated by the dissemination of evidence-based adolescent health promotion programs. Previous studies have indicated that limited trained personnel, cultural barriers, and geographic isolation may hinder the reach and implementation of evidence-based health promotion programs among AI/AN youth. Although Internet access is variable in AI/AN communities across the United States, it is swiftly and steadily improving, and it may provide a viable strategy to disseminate evidence-based health promotion programs to this underserved population. OBJECTIVE: We explored the potential of using the Internet to disseminate evidence-based health promotion programs on multiple health topics to AI/AN youth living in diverse communities across 3 geographically dispersed regions of the United States. Specifically, we assessed the Internet's potential to increase the reach and implementation of evidence-based health promotion programs for AI/AN youth, and to engage AI/AN youth. METHODS: This randomized controlled trial was conducted in 25 participating sites in Alaska, Arizona, and the Pacific Northwest. Predominantly AI/AN youth, aged 12-14 years, accessed 6 evidence-based health promotion programs delivered via the Internet, which focused on sexual health, hearing loss, alcohol use, tobacco use, drug use, and nutrition and physical activity. Adult site coordinators completed computer-based education inventory surveys, connectivity and bandwidth testing to assess parameters related to program reach (computer access, connectivity, and bandwidth), and implementation logs to assess barriers to implementation (program errors and delivery issues). We assessed youths' perceptions of program engagement via ratings on ease of use, understandability, credibility, likeability, perceived impact, and motivational appeal, using previously established measures. RESULTS: Sites had sufficient computer access and Internet connectivity to implement the 6 programs with adequate fidelity; however, variable bandwidth (ranging from 0.24 to 93.5 megabits per second; mean 25.6) and technical issues led some sites to access programs via back-up modalities (eg, uploading the programs from a Universal Serial Bus drive). The number of youth providing engagement ratings varied by program (n=40-191; 48-60% female, 85-90% self-identified AI/AN). Across programs, youth rated the programs as easy to use (68-91%), trustworthy (61-89%), likeable (59-87%), and impactful (63-91%). Most youth understood the words in the programs (60-83%), although some needed hints to complete the programs (16-49%). Overall, 37-66% of the participants would recommend the programs to a classmate, and 62-87% found the programs enjoyable when compared to other school lessons. CONCLUSIONS: Findings demonstrate the potential of the Internet to enhance the reach and implementation of evidence-based health promotion programs, and to engage AI/AN youth. Provision of back-up modalities is recommended to address possible connectivity or technical issues. The dissemination of Internet-based health promotion programs may be a promising strategy to address health disparities for this underserved population. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinicaltrials.gov NCT01303575; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01303575 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6m7DO4g7c).

Explaining Disparities in Youth Aerobic Fitness and Body Mass Index: Relative Impact of Socioeconomic and Minority Status.

BACKGROUND: To advance research on youth fitness promotion it is important to understand factors that may explain the disparities in fitness. METHODS: We evaluated data from the FitnessGram NFL PLAY60 Partnership Project to examine school factors influencing aerobic capacity (AC) and body mass index (BMI) in schoolchildren. Individual observations for AC (157,971 students from 675 schools) and BMI (178,274 students from 630 schools) were aggregated to compute the percentage of students achieving the Healthy Fitness Zone (HFZ). We examined achievements using adjusted linear regression models with socioeconomic status (SES), minority status, region, enrollment, and grade as factors. RESULTS: The mean HFZ for AC and BMI were 51.6% and 56.9%, respectively. SES, minority status, and enrollment were all significantly associated with AC HFZ among boys, and SES and enrollment were significant predictors of AC HFZ in girls. SES and location were significantly related to BMI HFZ among boys but only SES significantly predicted BMI HFZ in girls. Schools with higher SES had higher AC and BMI HFZ achievements. CONCLUSIONS: SES was consistently associated with health-related fitness, independent of sex, but not minority status.

Design and Evaluation of the NFL PLAY 60 FITNESSGRAM Partnership Project.

This article describes the conceptual design and evaluation strategies used in the NFL PLAY 60 FITNESSGRAM Partnership Project, a large participatory research network focused on building effective school physical education programming. The article summarizes the unique participatory design, recruitment methods, programming strategies, and analytical plans used to evaluate this large project. The study provides unique insight into how to effectively deliver large-scale school-based physical fitness and physical activity programming to support and enhance physical education programming in schools.

Prevalence of Youth Fitness in the United States: Baseline Results from the NFL PLAY 60 FITNESSGRAM Partnership Project.

OBJECTIVE: To assess age- and sex-specific patterns of 6 health-related fitness components in youth, baseline data from the NFL PLAY 60 FITNESSGRAM Partnership Project were analyzed. STUDY DESIGN: A total of 192,848 students from 1st through 12th grade in 725 schools completed the standard FITNESSGRAM testing in 2010-2014, including assessments of aerobic capacity (AC), body mass index (BMI), upper body strength and endurance, trunk extensor strength and flexibility, abdominal strength and endurance, and flexibility. Individual data were aggregated by grade and sex. Age- and sex-specific health-related criterion-referenced standards were used to classify fitness results into the healthy fitness zone (HFZ), needs improvement zone, or needs improvement health risk. RESULTS: The proportion of youth meeting the HFZ for AC varied considerably by grade for both boys (62.1%-37.6%) and girls (49.1%-26.1%) among 1st-12th grade. There was less variability by age and sex for achievement of the BMI HFZ (ranged from 52.7%-65.0%). The prevalence of achievement was similar for the remaining fitness components. Significantly lower achievement was found in the middle school years for BMI HFZ in both sexes and for AC HFZ achievement in boys. Continuous age-related lower HFZ achievement was evident in girls for AC. CONCLUSIONS: The results provide updated health-related fitness profiles for US youth and identify the critical ages when youth fitness levels start to decline.

Physical activity interventions for children and youth with visual impairments.

The authors conducted a systematic literature review on physical activity interventions for children and youth with visual impairment (VI). Five databases were searched to identify studies involving the population of interest and physical activity practices. After evaluating 2,495 records, the authors found 18 original full-text studies published in English they considered eligible. They identified 8 structured exercise-training studies that yielded overall positive effect on physical-fitness and motor-skill outcomes. Five leisure-time-physical-activity and 5 instructional-strategy interventions were also found with promising proposals to engage and instruct children and youth with VI to lead an active lifestyle. However, the current research on physical activity interventions for children and youth with VI is still limited by an absence of high-quality research designs, low sample sizes, use of nonvalidated outcome measures, and lack of generalizability, which need to be addressed in future studies.