Effects of a Peer-led Walking In ScHools Intervention (WISH project)

Ulster University

Status

Completed

Conditions

Physical Activity

Treatments

Behavioral: Physical Activity

Study type

Interventional

Funder types

Other

Identifiers

NCT02871830

REC/11/0236

Details and patient eligibility

About

Children and young people are recommended to undertake at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity each day. However recent findings have indicated that only 51% of children aged 7 years were meeting these guidelines. Previous research has also highlighted girls are significantly less active than. Furthermore, children living in Northern Ireland are least likely to meet the guidelines, with only 43.4% of children here reaching the recommended ≥ 60 minutes a day. The development of interventions which can successfully increase levels of physical activity in adolescent girls in Northern Ireland is of key importance. The aim of this intervention is to investigate whether or not girls (aged 11-13 years) can increase their daily levels of physical activity over a 12 week period by taking part in a school-based brisk walking intervention. The impact of participating in a school-based brisk walking intervention on a range of other outcome measures will also be investigated. A total sample of 200 adolescent females will be recruited onto the study, with recruitment of participants taking place at the school level. Following written consent from parents/guardians and assent from participants, participants will be randomised at the school level to either participate in the walking intervention or to act as controls. Objective physical activity will be assessed at 3 time points using an Actigraph accelerometer. At baseline, post-intervention (12 weeks) and follow up (4 months post-intervention) participants will also undergo measurements of height, weight, waist and hip circumference, bloody pressure, and cardiorespiratory fitness. Participants will also complete questionnaires assessing levels of physical activity and a number of psychosocial variables at each time point. Following completion of follow up measurements, a sub-sample of participants (n=45) will be invited to take part in focus groups to evaluate their experiences of the intervention.

Enrollment

200 patients

Sex

Female

Ages

11 to 13 years old

Volunteers

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

11-13 years old
Female
Attend a school selected to take part in the study
Healthy and free from any medical condition that limits their participation in a brisk walking intervention, for example, a musculoskeletal injury

Exclusion criteria