Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2019 Mar 19:7:55.
doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2019.00055. eCollection 2019.

How Can Physical Activity Be Promoted Among Children and Adolescents? A Systematic Review of Reviews Across Settings

Sven Messing  1 , Alfred Rütten  1 , Karim Abu-Omar  1 , Ulrike Ungerer-Röhrich  2 , Lee Goodwin  1 , Ionuţ Burlacu  1 , Günther Gediga  3
Affiliations
Review

How Can Physical Activity Be Promoted Among Children and Adolescents? A Systematic Review of Reviews Across Settings

Sven Messing et al. Front Public Health. .

Abstract

Introduction: A vast majority of children and adolescents are physically inactive. As a result, high obesity rates and related diseases have made physical activity promotion a politically relevant topic. In order to form the basis for political decision making, evidence is required regarding the efficacy and effectiveness of interventions for physical activity promotion. In contrast to previous research, this systematic review of reviews targets three key settings (family and home, childcare, school), and is among the largest to have been conducted. Methods: A systematic review of reviews was conducted as part of a large-scale project to develop national recommendations for physical activity promotion in Germany. Six electronic databases were searched and inclusion criteria were defined. Two independent reviewers screened the titles and abstracts of potentially relevant literature. 213 reviews were identified and categorised by target group. A total of 74 reviews were identified dealing with children and adolescents. Each review underwent a quality assessment. Results: 39 reviews with the highest quality and relevance were analysed. Three reviews focused on the family and home setting, 4 on the childcare setting, 28 on the school setting and 4 on other settings. Evidence revealed the key role played by parents in promoting physical activity in children within each setting. Furthermore, evidence pointed toward the efficacy of multi-component interventions in the childcare and school setting. Several evidence-based intervention strategies were identified for childcare facilities and schools. Discussion: The review of reviews identified a number of promising strategies for PA promotion among children and adolescents. Among reviews, multi-component interventions in childcare facilities and schools stand out prominently. At the same time, the review of reviews indicated that there is still a lack of studies on the efficacy of interventions that go beyond the individual level. We recommend that future research should also target community and policy level interventions and interventions other than the school setting. In order to make more specific recommendations regarding the scale-up of promising intervention strategies, further knowledge about the effectiveness, health equity and cost effectiveness of interventions is needed.

Keywords: adolescents; childcare; children; family; physical activity; recommendations; review.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow chart.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC) Worldwide trends in body-mass index, underweight, overweight, and obesity from 1975 to 2016: a pooled analysis of 2416 population-based measurement studies in 128.9 million children, adolescents, and adults. Lancet. (2017) 90:2627–42. 10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32129-3 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. WHO Regional Office for Europe Adolescent obesity and related behaviours: trends and inequalities in the WHO European Region, 2002-2014. Copenhagen: (2017). Available online at: http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/339211/WHO_ObesityRe... (Accessed September 4, 2018).
    1. World Health Organization Global Recommendations on Physical Activity for Health. (2010). Available online at: http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/publications/9789241599979/en/ (Accessed September 4, 2018).
    1. Timmons BW, Leblanc AG, Carson V, Connor Gorber S, Dillman C, Janssen I, et al. . Systematic review of physical activity and health in the early years (aged 0-4 years). Appl Physiol Nutr Metab. (2012) 37:773–92. 10.1139/h2012-070 - DOI - PubMed
    1. United Nations Resolution 66/2. Political Declaration of the High-Level Meeting of the General Assembly on the Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases. New York, NY: (2011). Available online at: http://www.who.int/nmh/events/un_ncd_summit2011/political_declaration_en... (Accessed September 4, 2018).