Søren Smedegaard

What happened in the ‘Move for Well-being in School’: a process evaluation of a cluster randomized physical activity intervention using the RE-AIM framework

BackgroundThe aim of this study was to address the gap in the translation of research into practice through an extensive process evaluation of the Move for Well-being in School programme using the RE-AIM framework. The purpose was to gain insight into the extent by which the intervention was adopted and implemented as intended and to understand how educators observed its effectiveness and maintenance.MethodsPublic schools located in seven municipalities in Denmark were invited to enroll their 4th to 6th grade classes in the project. Of these, 24 school decided to participate in the project in the school-year 2015–16 and were randomly (cluster) allocated to either intervention or control group. A process survey was completed online by school personnel at the start, at midterm, and at the end of the school year. Additionally, informal interviews and observations were conducted throughout the year.ResultsAt the 12 intervention schools, a total of 148 educators were involved in the implementation of the programme over the school-year. More than nine out of ten educators integrated brain breaks in their lessons and practically all the physical education teachers used the physical education lesson plans. The educators delivered on average 4.5 brain breaks per week and up to 90% of the physical education teachers used the project lesson plans for at least half of their classes. Half of the educators initiated new recess activities.A total of 78%, 85% and 90% of the educators believed that the implemented recess, brain break and physical education components ‘to a high degree’ or ‘to some degree’ promoted the pupils’ well-being, respectively.ConclusionsThis study shows that it is possible to design a school-based PA intervention that educators largely adopt and implement. Implementation of the PA elements was stable throughout the school year and data demonstrate that educators believed in the ability of the intervention to promote well-being among the pupils. Finally, the study show that a structured intervention consisting of competence development, set goals for new practices combined with specific materials, and ongoing support, effectively reached a vast majority of all teachers in the enrolled schools with a substantial impact.Trial registrationDate of registration: retrospectively registered on 24 April 2015 at Current Controlled Trials (DOI 0.1186/ISRCTN12496336 – named: “The role of physical activity in improving the well-being of children and youth”).

Pupils’ experiences of autonomy, competence and relatedness in ‘Move for Well-being in Schools’: A physical activity intervention

Physical activity at school can be beneficial to children’s psychosocial well-being. To realise this potential, a school environment that supports physical activity is crucial. Self-Determination Theory provides the basis for one approach, namely to focus on pupils’ need to feel competent, autonomous and related. The purpose of this study was to investigate how pupils experienced a school physical activity intervention based on Self-Determination Theory and to assess whether the components developed for the intervention appeared to increase the pupils’ sense of competence, autonomy and relatedness, thereby furthering their psychosocial well-being. Two schools were selected to take part in a qualitative case study, with one grade four (ages 9–10) and one grade six (ages 12–13) class selected for closer monitoring. Ten semi-structured focus group interviews were carried out, involving 36 pupils, combined with 28 days of participant observations. The data were analysed based on the principles of deductive content analysis, using competence, autonomy and relatedness in the categorisation matrix. Findings showed that the pupils’ sense of relatedness was central to well-being and influenced their sense of competence and autonomy. Changing the physical activity climate to focus on mastery and learning instead of competing and performance was challenging, but in some instances brought about more positive experiences, especially for pupils with limited motivation in school physical activity. Finally, while being given influence and choice evidently promoted the sense of autonomy, some pupils felt uncomfortable choosing activities on behalf of the group.