Established Evidence Results

Intervention Components (click on component to see a list of all articles that use that intervention): Electronic PA, PARENT_FAMILY

Intervention Description: Exergame use (or active video games that promote physical activity (PA)) has the potential to increase PA in youth, but there is a scarcity of information about PA of youth who are current exergamers. The current study examined PA behaviors in exergamers versus non-exergamers.

Intervention Results: Both male and female exergamers tended to be younger and Black compared to non-exergamers (p<0.001). Generally, exergamers did not report significantly more PA than non-exergamers, except for female exergamers who engaged in more vigorous PA than female non-exergamers (p<0.01; 1.3±0.05 vs. 1.6±0.06 hours/wk, respectively).

Conclusion: PA behavior in exergamers is similar to PA behavior in non-exergamers. However, when targeting vigorous PA, exergaming may be an innovative and appealing intervention strategy for adolescent girls.

Study Design: Cross-sectional

Setting: Public high schools in Minneapolis/St. Paul Minnesota metropolitan area

Population of Focus: Students in Eating and Activity in Teens (EAT 2010) study

Data Source: Questionnaires

Sample Size: 2,793 students

Age Range: Ages 12-17

Intervention Components (click on component to see a list of all articles that use that intervention): HOSPITAL, Continuing Education of Hospital Providers, POPULATION-BASED SYSTEMS, INTER-HOSPITAL SYSTEMS, Maternal/In-Utero Transport Systems, Follow-Up Given On Transferred Patients, STATE, Perinatal Committees/Councils, NICU Bed Registry/Electronic Bulletin Board

Intervention Description: To determine whether perinatal care in southwestern Ontario is regionalized, to identify trends over time in referral patterns, to quantify trends in perinatal death rates and to identify trends in perinatal death rates that give evidence of regionalization.

Intervention Results: Between 1982 and 1985 the antenatal transfer rate increased from 2.2% to 2.8% (p less than 0.003). The proportion of births of infants weighing 500 to 1499 g increased from 49% to 69% at the level III hospital. The neonatal transfer rate increased from 26.2% to 47.9% (p less than 0.05) for infants in this birth-weight category and decreased from 10.2% to 7.1% (p less than 0.03) for infants weighing 1500 to 2499 g. The death rate among infants of low birth weight was lowest among those born at the level III centre and decreased at all centres between 1982 and 1985.

Conclusion: Perinatal care in southwestern Ontario is regionalized and not centralized; regionalization in southwestern Ontario increased between 1982 and 1985.

Study Design: QE: pretest-posttest

Setting: Southwestern Ontario One level III, one modified level III and 30 level II or I

Population of Focus: Births greater than 500 gm

Data Source: Data obtained from hospital delivery room books and for 31 of the 32 hospitals, from hospital charts of women and neonates.

Sample Size: Pretest: 1.17% (n= 194) Posttest: 1.31% (n= 211) Infants born weighing 500-1499 gm

Age Range: Not specified

Intervention Components (click on component to see a list of all articles that use that intervention): Comprehensive School-Based PA Program, Electronic PA, Assessment (patient/consumer),

Intervention Description: Participants in the BOXVR group engaged in exercise with a virtual reality game, while participants in the guided video group engaged in exercise with a guided workout video. Both interventions consisted of 5 exercise sessions per week, for a total of 15 exercise sessions over a 3-week period. Each exercise session was 10 minutes in length

Intervention Results: The BOXVR group showed a significant improvement in stress levels and performance on a cognitive task (TMT B) compared to the control and guided video groups. Adolescents who participated in BOXVR reported significantly higher levels of enjoyment than those who participated in traditional boxing with a guided video. The control group was the only group that showed a significant reduction in anxiety, but this could be interpreted as possible changes in behavior simply due to being enrolled in a research study and asked about anxiety status. The study suggests that engagement and enjoyment in a 'play' setting may contribute to mental aspects of health in the short-term more than the level of effort

Conclusion: The study suggests that chronic exercise with a VR game may be an effective tool for reducing stress and improving cognitive performance in adolescents. The findings also highlight the importance of engagement and enjoyment in exercise programs for mental health benefits. Future studies should investigate what aspects of gaming in VR contribute the most to stress reduction and cognitive performance

Study Design: The study design is a Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

Setting: The setting for the study was a public high school in suburban New York, and the study was conducted during the summer of 2021

Population of Focus: The target audience for the study was healthy high school students between the ages of 14 and 18 who were able to participate in physical activity of at least moderate intensity

Sample Size: The sample size for the study was 42 participants, who were randomized into one of three cohorts: a BOXVR group, a guided video group, or a nonintervention control group

Age Range: The age range of the participants was between 14 and 18 years old

Intervention Components (click on component to see a list of all articles that use that intervention): PARENT_FAMILY, Electronic PA, Screen Time

Intervention Description: A website designed using a self-management strategy and supplemented with a geographical information system (GIS) mapping function was used to increase children's physical activity levels. A total of 524 students from six elementary schools in Taipei City completed surveys at three times during 2010 and were assigned to one of three groups: (1) a self-management group, using a website employing a goal-setting strategy and a storytelling schema based on a classical Chinese novel; (2) a knowledge-only group that was given only access to the website; or (3) a control group that was only given lectures and not allowed to access the website.

Intervention Results: After adjustment for the effects of the pretest, the self-management and knowledge-only groups were found to be more physically active and have higher self-efficacy than the control group. Moreover, the self-management group had higher scores for these two variables than the knowledge-only group. Furthermore, the intervention was more effectives for male students than female students.

Conclusion: Overall, the self-management website proved to be effective in promoting schoolchildren's physical activity. The positive correlation of self-efficacy with the ability to handle the difficulties inherent in physical activity continued for 3 months after the intervention was completed.

Study Design: Three-armed quasiexperimental study

Setting: Elementary schools in Taipei City, Taiwan

Population of Focus: Elementary school students in grades 5 and 6

Data Source: Student self-report

Sample Size: 524 students

Age Range: Ages 10-11

Intervention Components (click on component to see a list of all articles that use that intervention): PARENT_FAMILY, Training (Parent/Family), Electronic PA, Family-Based Interventions, Media Campaign (Print Materials, Radio, TV), COMMUNITY

Intervention Description: Social media is an important communication tool during times of crisis because of its vast reach. Understanding the effectiveness of sharing public health guidance and promoting school children's physical activity during the COVID-19 pandemic can inform dissemination best practices. We classified 418 posts from parent/community members of a school-based physical activity Facebook group by content type, and used concurrent mixed methods to examine (1) differences in dissemination effectiveness (reactions, shares, and comments) between two pandemic phases and (2) themes and sentiments of comments. Phase I included school closures through the release of national school re-entry guidelines (March 1, 2020 – May 15, 2020) and Phase II extended through the school year start (May 16, 2020 – August 1, 2020).

Intervention Results: Policy and guidance posts prompted more comments while feel-good stories produced more reactions compared to other content types. Members reacted more during Phase II, which mainly consisted of policy and guidance (86%). Four major themes of information and resources, personal disclosures, questions and concerns, and support for educators emerged.

Conclusion: Sharing public health guidance for schoolchildren on social media was an effective strategy to disseminate information when in-person discourse was limited. Creating social media spaces where discussion is encouraged can provide social and emotional support for parents/community members.

Study Design: Concurrent Mixed Methods

Setting: Social media (public Facebook group in a large metropolitan area in the southwest US)

Population of Focus: Parents of school-aged children

Sample Size: 418 posts to a public Facebook group with approximately 1,500 members

Age Range: N/A

Intervention Components (click on component to see a list of all articles that use that intervention): Electronic PA, PARENT_FAMILY

Intervention Description: To examine how AVG influences children's physical activity, sedentary screen-based activities, and other alternative activities.

Intervention Results: AVG play increased during the intervention (p < 0.01). Light activity and SVG play both decreased baseline to 10 weeks (p = 0.006) and 6 to 10 weeks (p = 0.017). Non-SVG sedentary behavior increased from baseline to 10 weeks (p = 0.005) and 6 to 10 weeks (p = 0.007). Changes over time were not observed in physical activity, or recall-measured active play, social activities, other hobbies, television or computer/phone use.

Conclusion: AVG play did not change children's objectively-measured physical activity or subjectively measured active play. SVG time was substituted with other sedentary behaviors. AVG did not increase time engaged in SVG or screen-based devices.