Alberta Project Promoting Active Living and Healthy Eating in Schools

NCT01914185 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: Pro00003800
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 8,663
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The objectives were to 1) make students eat healthier and be more active; and 2) prevent overweight and obesity. Children will therefore be less likely overweight or obese. Beginning in January 2008, the Alberta Project Promoting active Living and healthy Eating in Schools (APPLE Schools) was implemented in 10 schools throughout the Canadian Province, Alberta. Full-time School Health Facilitators were placed in each of the schools to implement what is know in Canada as Comprehensive School Health (CSH). In the United States, CSH is more commonly referred to as "Coordinated School Health", while the synonymous term "Health Promoting Schools" is often used in Australia and Europe. The project was evaluated annually in the spring from 2008 to 2011 and as of 2009 evaluations included the use of time-stamped pedometers. The comparison group included approximately 150 schools that were randomly selected to reflect the population of Alberta, Canada. Twenty of these randomly selected schools also participated in data collection which involved the use of time-stamped pedometers.

Conditions

Childhood Obesity

Keywords

Childhood; Physical activity; Nutrition; Health Promotion

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Overweight and obesity

  Students' body weight was measured to the nearest 0.1kg using calibrated digital scales and height was measured to the nearest 0.1cm. BMI was calculated as weight divided by height\^2 (kg/m\^2). Overweight and obesity were defined using the International Obesity Task Force age and sex specific body mass index (BMI) cut-off points.

  24 months

Secondary Outcomes (2)

• physical activity

  24 months

• Diet Quality

  24 months

Study Arms (2)

Comparison Schools

NO INTERVENTION

Regular health promotion activities

Comprehensive School Health (CSH)

EXPERIMENTAL

Full time School Health Facilitator present in each school on a day-to-day basis for 3.5 years responsible for facilitating implementation of Comprehensive School Health

Other: Comprehensive School Health (CSH)

Interventions

Comprehensive School Health (CSH) OTHER

APPLE Schools uses a CSH approach to health promotion which addresses health through four inter-related pillars 1) positive social and physical environments 2) teaching and learning 3) healthy school policy 4) partnerships and services. A key component of the APPLE Schools intervention was the placement of a full-time School Health Facilitator in each school. Their role was to facilitate the development and implementation of the project, to ensure that it met the schools' unique needs for health promotion, and that it aligned with the core principles of CSH.

Comprehensive School Health (CSH)

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 5 Years - 14 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17)

You may qualify if:

• Intervention Schools:
• school located in a socioeconomically disadvantaged neighbourhood and a demonstrated need for health promotion
• Grade five students with parent consent, who also assented to participate were included in annual evaluations
• Control Schools:
• Grade five students with parent consent, who also assented to participate were included in annual evaluations

You may not qualify if:

• Intervention \& Control Schools:
• Schools that did not receive jurisdictional approval to participate
• Grade five students who did not receive parent consent or did not provide their assent were not included in annual evaluations

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Alberta: lead

Study Sites (1)

Population Health Intervention Research Unit

Edmonton, Alberta, T6G2T4, Canada

Location

Related Publications (5)

• Fung C, Kuhle S, Lu C, Purcell M, Schwartz M, Storey K, Veugelers PJ. From "best practice" to "next practice": the effectiveness of school-based health promotion in improving healthy eating and physical activity and preventing childhood obesity. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2012 Mar 13;9:27. doi: 10.1186/1479-5868-9-27.

  PMID: 22413778 RESULT

• Bastian KA, Maximova K, McGavock J, Veugelers P. Does School-Based Health Promotion Affect Physical Activity on Weekends? And, Does It Reach Those Students Most in Need of Health Promotion? PLoS One. 2015 Oct 21;10(10):e0137987. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0137987. eCollection 2015.

  PMID: 26488168 RESULT

• Vander Ploeg KA, McGavock J, Maximova K, Veugelers PJ. School-based health promotion and physical activity during and after school hours. Pediatrics. 2014 Feb;133(2):e371-8. doi: 10.1542/peds.2013-2383. Epub 2014 Jan 13.

  PMID: 24420806 RESULT

• Vander Ploeg KA, Maximova K, McGavock J, Davis W, Veugelers P. Do school-based physical activity interventions increase or reduce inequalities in health? Soc Sci Med. 2014 Jul;112:80-7. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.04.032. Epub 2014 Apr 29.

  PMID: 24820223 RESULT

• Dube N, Khan K, Loehr S, Chu Y, Veugelers P. The use of entertainment and communication technologies before sleep could affect sleep and weight status: a population-based study among children. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2017 Jul 19;14(1):97. doi: 10.1186/s12966-017-0547-2.

  PMID: 28724380 DERIVED

Related Links

• Related Info

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Pediatric Obesity; Motor Activity

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

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

Study Officials

• Paul J Veugelers, PhD

  University of Alberta

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NON RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: July 31, 2013
• First Posted: August 2, 2013
• Study Start: January 1, 2008
• Primary Completion: June 1, 2011
• Study Completion: June 1, 2011
• Last Updated: March 25, 2020

Record last verified: 2013-07

Locations

CA (1)