The effect of a school-based active commuting intervention on children's commuting physical activity and daily physical activity

Objective

To investigate the effect of a school-based intervention called Travelling Green (TG) on children's walking to and from school and total daily physical activity.

Method

A quasi-experiment with 166 Scottish children (8-9 years) was conducted in 2009. One group (n = 79) received TG and another group (n = 87) acted as a comparison. The intervention lasted 6 weeks and consisted of educational lessons and goal-setting tasks. Steps and MVPA (daily, a.m. commute, p.m. commute, and total commute) were measured for 5 days pre- and post-intervention using accelerometers.

Results

Mean steps (daily, a.m., p.m., and total commute) decreased from pre- to post-intervention in both groups (TG by 901, 49, 222, and 271 steps/day and comparison by 2528, 205, 120, and 325 steps/day, respectively). No significant group by time interactions were found for a.m., p.m., and total commuting steps. A medium (partial eta squared = 0.09) and significant (p < 0.05) group by time interaction was found for total daily steps. MVPA results were similar to step results.

Conclusions

TG has a little effect on walking to and from school. However, for total daily steps and daily MVPA, TG results in a smaller seasonal decrease than for children who do not receive the intervention.