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Controlled Clinical Trial
. 2020 Jan 31;17(3):896.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph17030896.

Changes in Physical Activity, Physical Fitness and Well-Being Following a School-Based Health Promotion Program in a Norwegian Region with a Poor Public Health Profile: A Non-Randomized Controlled Study in Early Adolescents

Sabrina K Schmidt  1 , Michael S Reinboth  1 , Geir K Resaland  2 , Solfrid Bratland-Sanda  1
Affiliations
Controlled Clinical Trial

Changes in Physical Activity, Physical Fitness and Well-Being Following a School-Based Health Promotion Program in a Norwegian Region with a Poor Public Health Profile: A Non-Randomized Controlled Study in Early Adolescents

Sabrina K Schmidt et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the changes in physical activity (PA), physical fitness and psychosocial well-being in early adolescents following implementation of a school-based health promotion program in secondary schools.

Methods: Six municipalities in Telemark County, Norway, were recruited into intervention (6 schools) or control groups (9 schools). A total of 644 pupils participated in the study (response rate: 79%). The schools in the intervention group implemented the Active and Healthy Kids program, where the PA component consisted of (1) 120 min/week of physically active learning (PAL) and (2) 25 min/week of physical active breaks. Furthermore, both the intervention and control schools carried out 135 min/week of physical education. The primary outcome was PA. Secondary outcomes were sedentary time, physical fitness, subjective vitality and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in five domains: physical health, psychological well-being, parent, peers and school.

Results: There was a group x time effect on school-based PA (p < 0.05), but not total PA, as well as on physical fitness (p < 0.05) and vitality (p < 0.01). In girls, there also was a group x time effect on three out of the five domains on HRQoL (p < 0.05).

Conclusions: A multi-component, school-based health-promotion program with emphasis on the use of PAL led to positive changes in school-based PA levels. Furthermore, positive changes were seen in physical fitness, vitality and HRQoL among early adolescents in a county with a poor public health profile. This might have implications for the development and promotion in schools of general health and well-being throughout adolescence.

Keywords: adolescents; intervention; physically active academic lessons; school-based physical activity; well-being.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Figure 1
Flow of pupils and study design.
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