Health Impact Assessment (HIA) of a Daily Physical Activity Unit in Schools: Focus on Children and Adolescents in Austria Up to the 8th Grade

Madlene Movia, Sandra Macher, Gabriele Antony, Verena Zeuschner, Gabriela Wamprechtsamer, Judith delle Grazie, Helmut Simi and Bianca Fuchs-Neuhold
Additional contact information
Madlene Movia: Institute of Health and Tourism Management, FH JOANNEUM—University of Applied Sciences, 8344 Bad Gleichenberg, Austria
Sandra Macher: Institute of Health and Tourism Management, FH JOANNEUM—University of Applied Sciences, 8344 Bad Gleichenberg, Austria
Gabriele Antony: Austrian National Public Health Institute, 1010 Vienna, Austria
Verena Zeuschner: Healthy Austria Fund, 1020 Vienna, Austria
Gabriela Wamprechtsamer: Federal Ministry Republic of Austria—Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection, 1010 Vienna, Austria
Judith delle Grazie: Federal Ministry Republic of Austria—Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection, 1010 Vienna, Austria
Helmut Simi: Institute of Health and Tourism Management, FH JOANNEUM—University of Applied Sciences, 8344 Bad Gleichenberg, Austria
Bianca Fuchs-Neuhold: Institute of Health and Tourism Management, FH JOANNEUM—University of Applied Sciences, 8344 Bad Gleichenberg, Austria

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 11, 1-10

Abstract: Physical activity has a variety of health benefits for young people. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that children and adolescents aged 5–17 years should be physically active for at least 60 min a day. This Health Impact Assessment (HIA) examined the potential impact of a daily physical activity unit in Austrian schools, with a focus on children and adolescents up to eighth grade. The HIA methodology systematically followed several stages: screening and scoping, appraisal, and formulation of recommendations. A literature review, an online survey ( n = 712), focus group discussions ( n = 4), and appraisal workshops ( n = 2) have been carried out. The analyzed results indicate a primarily positive impact on the individual health of children and adolescents, on social and community-related networks, on living and working conditions, and on the system level. Recommendations for the implementation include ensuring equal opportunities and support for disadvantaged children and schools. Furthermore, the comprehensible selection of pilot regions and the nationwide resource planning should be considered. Additional important factors include the education and further training of pedagogical staff and coaches, and the availability of sufficient infrastructure. In the long term, the fixed integration of five additional teaching units of physical activity per week, and an increased focus on the elementary/nursery school sector were identified as significant.

Keywords: health impact assessment; physical activity; children; adolescents; pupils; school setting; Austria (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/11/6428/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/11/6428/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:11:p:6428-:d:823938

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().