UNTITLED LIFESTYLE-FOCUSED PHYSICAL ACTIVITY INTERVENTION

OVERVIEW

The Untitled Lifestyle-Focused Physical Activity Intervention is a school-based program geared towards increasing physical activity, reducing body fat, and improving fasting insulin and glucose levels in overweight, middle school children. The program encourages children to make lifestyle changes in their road to becoming healthy. In an evaluation of the program, 50 overweight children were randomly assigned to either receive the intervention or to a standard physical education class control group. Results indicated that children in the intervention group exhibited significant decreases in body fat, increases in cardiovascular fitness and maximum oxygen consumption, and improvements in insulin and glucose levels relative to control participants.

DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM

Target population: overweight middle school children.

The Untitled Lifestyle-Focused Physical Activity Intervention is a school-based program designed to increase physical activity, reduce body fat, and improve fasting insulin and glucose levels in overweight children. The program is comprised of a nutrition and a physical activity component. The nutrition component provides participants with educational material based on the Food Guide Pyramid's recommendations for healthy eating. The physical activity component is administered during the children's normally scheduled physical education classes. The program curriculum differs from standard classes in that it takes the emphasis away from competitive games and instead encourages lifestyle oriented activities, such as walking and cycling. Classes also are personalized to match the student's skill levels and encourage student participation. The intervention is implemented five times every two weeks in 45 minute sessions over a period nine-month period.

EVALUATION(S) OF PROGRAM

Carrel, A.L., Clark, R.R., Peterson, S.E., Nemeth, B.A., Sullivan, J., & Allen, D.B. (2005). Improvement of fitness, body composition, and insulin sensitivity in overweight children in a school-based exercise program. Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine, 159, 963-967.

Evaluated population: Fifty overweight children attending a rural middle school in the Midwestern United States served as the sample for this evaluation. The children had body mass indexes above the 95^th percentile for age, and the sample was 48% female.

Approach: All children completed baseline assessments in which their body fat, maximum oxygen consumption, and insulin and glucose levels were tested. Participants then were randomly assigned to either the intervention or the control group. The students in the intervention group participated in the lifestyle-focused physical activity intervention described in detail above. The students in the control group participated in their normal physical education classes. Children were again measured for body fat, cardiovascular fitness, maximum oxygen consumption, and insulin and glucose levels immediately following the conclusion of the intervention.

Results: Results indicated that immediately following the intervention, students in the intervention group experienced significantly greater decreases in body fat percentage, increases in cardiovascular fitness and maximum oxygen consumption, and improvements in insulin and glucose levels relative to control participants.

SOURCES FOR MORE INFORMATION

References:

Program categorized in this guide according to the following:

Evaluated participant ages: N/A

Evaluated participant grades: Middle school

Program age ranges in the guide: Middle Childhood, Adolescence

Program components: School-Based

Measured outcomes: Physical Health

KEYWORDS: Middle Childhood (6-11), Adolescence (12-17), Middle School, School-based, Physical Health, Nutrition, Overweight, Obese, Rural

Program information last updated on 1/27/09.