Evaluation of a Walking School Bus Program

NCT01626807 | Completed DMC

• 1 other identifier: 1R01CA163146-01A1
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 838
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Just two generations ago, walking or bicycling to school was the norm for a substantial number of US children, e.g. 48% of children walked or biked to school in 1969 versus only 13% in 2009. This decline occurred in the same timeframe as the childhood obesity epidemic, which is at record high levels in the US and affects low-income and ethnic minority children the most. This project will test "the walking school bus" (WSB) program, in which children walk to and from school with adults, and its impact on low-income, ethnic minority children's walking to school, physical activity, and risk for obesity. Ultimately, this line of research has the potential to provide a low-cost, easy to disseminate program to reduce risk of obesity and cancer for at-risk children. The investigators Specific Aims among 3rd-5th grade children include: SA1) To recruit 770 child-parent dyads from 22 elementary schools over 4 years and conduct a cluster randomized controlled trial to assess the efficacy of a WSB program on children's walking to school, physical activity, and BMI z-score over a school-year SA2) To collect and analyze data on individual-, school-, and macro-level influences on changes to children's walking to school resulting from the WSB program The Primary Hypotheses to be tested, in comparison to control children, include: H1) The WSB program will increase children's walking to school over a school-year. H1a) Parents' outcome expectations and self-efficacy will mediate the relationship between the WSB and changes to children's walking to school. H1b) Walkability, safety, and acculturation will moderate changes to children's walking to school. H2) The WSB program will increase children's physical activity and decrease BMI z-scores over a school-year. H3) The WSB program will increase school-level pedestrian safety behaviors over a school-year.

Conditions

Obesity; Physical Activity

Keywords

Safe Routes to School; Walking School Bus; Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial; Physical Activity; Obesity; Overweight

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Weekly rate of children's active commuting to school

  5-6 months

Secondary Outcomes (2)

• Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity

  5-6 months

• Body mass index z-score

  5-6 months

Study Arms (2)

Walking school bus

EXPERIMENTAL

Behavioral: Walking School Bus

Usual care

NO INTERVENTION

Interventions

Walking School Bus BEHAVIORAL

Children will have the option of walking to and/or from school with study staff who are trained in Safe Routes to School methods.

Walking school bus

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 7 Years - 14 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17)

You may qualify if:

• physically capable of walking to and from school
• live within 1-mile of school or parents agree to regularly drop off children within 1-mile of school
• attend a study school and enrolled in 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade

You may not qualify if:

• another child from the same household is enrolled in the study

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Seattle Children's Hospital: lead

Study Sites (1)

Seattle Children's Research Institute

Seattle, Washington, 98145-5005, United States

Location

Related Publications (1)

• Johnson AM, Zhou C, Haviland M, Mendoza JA. Evaluation of a walking school bus program: a cluster randomized controlled trial. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2024 May 10;21(1):55. doi: 10.1186/s12966-024-01602-w.

  PMID: 38730407 DERIVED

Related Links

• Walking School Bus Guidelines

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Obesity; Motor Activity; Overweight

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Overnutrition; Nutrition Disorders; Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases; Body Weight; Signs and Symptoms; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Behavior

Study Officials

• Jason A Mendoza, MD, MPH

  Seattle Children's Hospital

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Associate Professor of Pediatrics

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: June 21, 2012
• First Posted: June 25, 2012
• Study Start: December 1, 2012
• Primary Completion: August 1, 2016
• Study Completion: December 1, 2016
• Last Updated: April 25, 2017

Record last verified: 2017-04

Locations

US (1)