Murillo Pardo B, Julián Clemente JA, García González L, García Bengoechea E, Generelo Lanaspa E. Development of the ‘Sigue la Huella’ physical activity intervention for adolescents in Huesca, Spain. Health Promotion International. 2019 Jun 1;34(3):519-531.
Intervention Components (click on component to see a list of all articles that use that intervention): CLASSROOM_SCHOOL, Multicomponent School-Based Program
Intervention Description: A multicomponent school-based intervention programme, called 'Sigue la Huella' (Follow the Footprint), was developed to reduce sedentary lifestyles and increase PA levels. This programme has proven to be effective in increasing the daily levels of moderate to vigorous PA, in decreasing ST and in improving motivational outcomes in secondary education students, in the city of Huesca (Spain). The study design was quasi-experimental, longitudinal and by cohorts, and it was carried out in four schools, two as an experimental group (n = 368) and two as a control group (n = 314). During the 25 months' intervention, this programme adopted a holistic approach aiming to create favourable environments to engage in PA, and the empowerment of students to get actively involved in the design and execution of the activities, assuming responsibility for managing and optimizing their own PA. The programme is theoretically based on the social-ecological model and self-determination theory, and it provided evidence for four actions or components that can be used in school-based PA promotion: tutorial action, Physical Education at school, dissemination of information and participation in institutional programmes and events
Intervention Results: Data analysis examining the impact of Sigue la Huella on objectively measured MVPA, ST and self-reported motivational variables included multilevel statistical models accounting for random and repeated effects, and capable of handling unbalanced data in a longitudinal design. After adjustment for relevant variables, including student socioeconomic status, the estimated difference between the experimental group and the control group was 13.51 minutes/day of MVPA in favour of the experimental group. Both boys and girls benefited from the intervention, although the former to a greater extent (Murillo et al., 2014a). Regarding ST, Sigue la Huella had a protective effect in two of the three study cohorts, irrespective of gender and socioeconomic status. Although ST increased in the full sample, such tendency was not observed in the experimental group of cohort 2 and the increase was much lower in the experimental group of cohort 3 than the control group (Murillo et al., 2014b). Finally, as expected, the intervention was also effective in improving student motivational outcomes relevant to participation in PA and, particularly, PE. Specifically, compared to the control group, and after adjustment for relevant variables, participants in the experimental group reported greater enjoyment of PA, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in PE, perceived autonomy in PE, perceived competence in PE and perceived importance of PE over time. Participants in this group reported also lower amotivation in PE over time. In subsequent analyses, perceived importance of physical education predicted MVPA, while perceived autonomy in PE emerged as predictor of ST (Murillo et al., 2016).
Conclusion: This article has described the processes and characteristics of a promising and feasible intervention to address the important and increasing problem of low PAL and sedentary lifestyle in adolescents. A commitment is required as well as the participation of all agents and players involved in the intervention. Hence the importance of multi-component interventions based on the school environment, which will foster the empowerment of the members of the school community. On the other hand, a key element in the development of interventions whose aim is to change behaviour is to consider a diagnostic phase, an implementation phase and a monitoring phase. To assess intervention impact, it is imperative to have a baseline that offers us a point of reference and later on the opportunity to engage in a continuous improvement process in terms of monitoring longitudinally the effects of the intervention and the variables that prove to be more influential. In this regard, the measurement of PA is a key aspect. More specifically, the objective measurement with accelerometers, due to their precision and suitability for monitoring PA. But we must bear in mind that the precision of the instruments is not the only important factor in the measurement of intervention effects. Characteristics of the intervention design are also important in this regard, as this article illustrates.
Study Design: Quasi-experimental, longitudinal and cohort intervention
Setting: Public and private secondary schools
Population of Focus: Adolescents in secondary schools
Data Source: Student self-report, accelerometer data
Sample Size: s 930 adolescents
Age Range: Ages 12-17
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