Physical Activity through a Classroom-Based Intervention: A Pragmatic Non-Randomized Trial among Swedish Adolescents in an Upper Secondary School

Filip Christiansen, Viktor H. Ahlqvist, Mikaela Nyroos, Hans Löfgren and Daniel Berglind
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Filip Christiansen: Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet, 171 77 Stockholm, Sweden
Viktor H. Ahlqvist: Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet, 171 77 Stockholm, Sweden
Mikaela Nyroos: Department of Education, Umeå University, 901 87 Umeå, Sweden
Hans Löfgren: Department of the Police Education Unit, Umeå University, 901 87 Umeå, Sweden
Daniel Berglind: Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet, 171 77 Stockholm, Sweden

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 21, 1-9

Abstract: Schools are an important arena to curb the decline in physical activity (PA) in youth. School-based interventions with accelerometer-measured PA are warranted. This study aimed to increase accelerometer-measured PA in adolescents following a 12-month school-based intervention. Two school-classes of 16–18-year-old Swedish students were allocated to intervention group and control group. Accelerometer-measured PA was gathered at baseline, 6- and 12-month follow-up. Mixed-effects linear regression was used to investigate between-group and within-group differences in mean minutes per day (min/day) of moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA), light PA (LPA) and sedentary time (ST). Fifty-seven students participated (intervention group = 31, control group = 26). At 12-month follow-up, the intervention group performed 5.9 (95% CI: ?4.3, 16.2) min/day more in MVPA, 1.8 (95% CI: ?17.9, 14.2) min/day less in LPA, and 4.1 (95% CI: ?27.3, 19.2) min/day less in ST compared to the control group. Within the intervention group, there was no significant change in PA. Within the control group, LPA decreased (95% CI: ?19.6, ?0.2; p = 0.044) and ST increased (95% CI: 1.8, 30.8; p = 0.028). Although no between-group differences in PA were statistically significant, the within-group changes may suggest a preventive impact on the decline in PA during adolescence.

Keywords: physical activity; school-based intervention; accelerometer (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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