Base de données de recherche des TNO

Régions: South Slave Region

étiquettes: health promotion, physical activity

Objectif(s): To explore the impacts of Paul William Kaeser (PWK) high school’s new health intervention has on students.

Description du projet: To explore the impacts of Paul William Kaeser (PWK) high school’s new health intervention has on students. Specifically to: 1. Determine whether participation in the intervention impacts level of fitness. 2. Determine whether participation in the intervention impacts attitudes towards health and physical activity. 3. Determine whether participation in the intervention impacts attendance and behavioural incidents in the classroom. 4. Determine whether participation in the intervention influences self-reported healthy lifestyle changes outside the classroom. 5. Identify factors that influence students' experience of the intervention. Background: PWK high school has initiated an in-school physical activity intervention that requires all students in grades 7-9 to participate in one-hour of mandatory fitness activity every morning. This time is spent in the school's new fitness facility, which features treadmills, elliptical machines, exercise bikes, weights, a projection screen and Nintendo Wii for dance simulations, and a rotating rock climbing wall. Student activity is supervised by an instructor. Data collection methods include: - Fitness testing as per SchoolFitnessTest.com guidelines. Students will complete the following fitness activities and record their performance: *20 meter run test – student runs back and forth between two lines 20 m apart as many times as possible within 5 minutes. *Long jump test – student jumps as far forward as possible. *Push-up test – student performs as many push-ups as possible without stopping. *Sit-up test – student performs as many sit-ups as possible without stopping. *Sit and reach test – student reaches as far forward as possible from a sitting position. -Online survey asking students to anonymously report their attitudes towards health, physical activity, drugs and alcohol. Students will be asked to reflect on whether their attitudes have changed over time, first referring to the pre-intervention period indirectly in terms such as “at the time last year…” to help students reflect on changes and avoid observation bias, then asking students to reflect specifically on whether they feel the intervention has impacted their attitudes. -Analysis of intervention attendance compared with pre-intervention attendance. -Teacher interviews regarding behavioral incidents and attendance - Student focus groups (one per grade) to discuss student experience of the intervention, explore students’ physical activity needs (this includes reflecting on pre-intervention needs, determining whether the intervention meets any of these needs, and identifying needs that are not addressed by the intervention.) The goal of the evaluation is to determine students' experience of the fitness programming they receive. - students will be directly involved in data collection and defining the results of the evaluation, which provides them with an opportunity to shape the future of the intervention according to their needs and interests. Older high school students will have the opportunity to participate in data collection, analysis and reporting as part of their CALM (Career and Life Management) hours. This is an education opportunity that builds health knowledge and research capacity. The research results will be shared with as many segments of the community as possible; specifically, students, parents, teachers, the community-at-large, decision-makers; and also with other NWT communities. Understanding the results of this project will help decision-makers, school-administrators and public health professionals decide whether this type of intervention would be of value in their community/school/population. The findings will also help students, parents and community members understand how physical activity can contribute to health. Results will be communicated to the community at a meeting organized with the school. Results will be communicated outside the community using email networks, Facebook, and by mailing the final report. Results may be presented at a conference or in an academic publication. Travel funding opportunities will be sought out to support visits to other NWT communities that may benefit from the findings. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from June 27, 2014 to December 19, 2014.