Changing lifelong health trajectories - targeting the student inactivity crisis

The goal of education is to use knowledge to improve lives. Acquiring knowledge—education—happens in school. Adopting and implementing that knowledge into life— that happens in the day-to-day of living, at home.

Targeting the student inactivity crisis (1-5), two school districts piloted a technology founded by physicians, the GoGet.Fit technology. The pilots supported students participating in self-initiated, self-directed activity at home as well as at school. The platform is designed with science-based behavioural change principles and tools that prompt, support, and recognize students’ attempts to be more active on their terms.

Successfully participating in and planning regular physical activity in and out of school, then being recognized for it, increases a student’s confidence and desire for being active. This increased ownership is reflected in the increased agency over their health and activity levels. (6-9) The outcome is improved states of well-being in the present while at the same time, setting the cornerstones for improved lifelong health practices and outcomes.

“While GoGetFit empowered the students, the real winners were the teachers. Using the technology, individual teachers were able to support hundreds of students in just minutes each week.”

The Success Stories:

1. Grade 10 students increased physical activity in and out of school by over 250%.  Teachers observed improved student well-being, which is consistent with the literature when increasing students’ level of activity. (10)

2. Calgary Catholic School District ran a larger pilot that had three teachers who supported over 1,000 early grade school students (30% first generation Canadian) in becoming active at home. The aggregated logged physical activity of all participants was over 150,000 minutes weekly.  

The successes of the GoGet.Fit technology come from leveraging over 29 key behavioural change tools that help people adopt key habits that improve student activity outcomes. Success in the planning of self-directed activities leads to increased student self-efficacy for physical activity. (11-17) Establishing these healthy practices at home increases the likelihood that the habits will be carried through into adulthood and become lifelong behaviours. (18, 19)

The students’ scheduled self-initiated exercises and set personally tailored goals on their terms—goals reflective of their perceived ability and comfort level. This is critical to establishing ownership from the start, as is praise and support. Early successes matter, especially for the non-athlete. Experiencing and being recognized for early successes encourages continued participation and the resultant likelihood of establishing lifelong trajectories as active adults. (20-23)

References

1. Tremblay, Mark S et al. “Canadian sedentary behaviour guidelines for children and youth.” Applied physiology, nutrition, and metabolism = Physiologie appliquee, nutrition et metabolisme vol. 36,1 (2011): 59-64; 65-71. doi:10.1139/H11-012.

2. Walker, Gregory M.D., FAAP; Stracciolini, Andrea M.D. FAAP, FACSM; Faigenbaum, Avery D. Ed.D., FACSM; Myer, Gregory D. Ph.D., FACSM, CSCS*D Physical Inactivity in Youth, ACSM’s Health & Fitness Journal: March/April 2018 – Volume 22 – Issue 2 – p 42-46 doi: 10.1249/FIT.0000000000000370.

3. Myer, Gregory D et al. “Exercise deficit disorder in youth: a paradigm shift toward disease prevention and comprehensive care.” Current sports medicine reports vol. 12,4 (2013): 248-55. doi:10.1249/JSR.0b013e31829a74cd.

4. Schwarzfischer, P., et al. (2019). Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior From 6 to 11 Years. Pediatrics, 143(1), e20180994.

5. Faigenbaum, Avery D, and Gregory D Myer. “Exercise deficit disorder in youth: play now or pay later.” Current sports medicine reports vol. 11,4 (2012): 196-200. doi:10.1249/JSR.0b013e31825da961.

6. Hills, Andrew P et al. “The contribution of physical activity and sedentary behaviours to the growth and development of children and adolescents: implications for overweight and obesity.” Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) vol. 37,6 (2007): 533-45. doi:10.2165/00007256-200737060-00006.

7. Hennessy, Emily A et al. “Self-regulation mechanisms in health behavior change: a systematic meta-review of meta-analyses, 2006-2017.” Health psychology review vol. 14,1 (2020): 6-42. doi:10.1080/17437199.2019.1679654.

8. Emilio Ferrer-Caja & Maureen R. Weiss (2000) Predictors of Intrinsic Motivation among Adolescent Students in Physical Education, Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 71:3, 267-279, DOI: 10.1080/02701367.2000.10608907.

9. Hortz, Brian, et al Building Self-efficacy for exercise among rural high school students: It takes ongoing practice. American Journal of Health Education https://doi.org/10.1080/19325037.2015.1077489

10. van Sluijs, Esther M F et al. “Effectiveness of interventions to promote physical activity in children and adolescents: systematic review of controlled trials.” BMJ (Clinical research ed.) vol. 335,7622 (2007): 703. doi:10.1136/bmj.39320.843947.BE.

11. Bandura, A. (2006). Guide for Creating Self-Efficacy Scales. In F. Pajares & T. Urdan (Eds.), Self-efficacy beliefs of adolescents. Greenwich, Connecticut: Information Age Publishing.

12. Baretta, Dario et al. “Implementation of the goal-setting components in popular physical activity apps: Review and content analysis.” Digital health vol. 5 2055207619862706. 16 Jul. 2019, doi:10.1177/2055207619862706.

13. Dute, Denise Jantine et al. “Using Mobile Apps to Promote a Healthy Lifestyle Among Adolescents and Students: A Review of the Theoretical Basis and Lessons Learned.” JMIR mHealth and uHealth vol. 4,2 e39. 5 May. 2016,doi:10.2196/mhealth.3559

14. Direito, Artur et al. “Smartphone apps to improve fitness and increase physical activity among young people: protocol of the Apps for IMproving FITness (AIMFIT) randomized controlled trial.” BMC public health vol. 15 635. 11 Jul. 2015, doi:10.1186/s12889-015-1968-y.

15. McKay FH, Wright A, Shill J, Stephens H, Uccellini M “Using Health and Well-Being Apps for Behavior Change: A Systematic Search and Rating of Apps” JMI Mhealth Uhealth 2019;7(7):e11926 doi: 10.2196/11926.

16. Humbert, M Louise et al. “Factors that influence physical activity participation among high- and low-SES youth.” Qualitative health research vol. 16,4 (2006): 467-83. doi:10.1177/1049732305286051.

17. Hamilton, Kyra, et al. “The Role of Self-Efficacy and Friend Support on Adolescent Vigorous Physical Activity.” Health Education & Behavior, vol. 44, no. 1, Feb. 2017, pp. 175–181, doi:10.1177/1090198116648266.

18. Telama, Risto. “Tracking of physical activity from childhood to adulthood: a review.” Obesity facts vol. 2,3 (2009): 187-95. doi:10.1159/000222244.

19. Kahlert, Daniela. (2015). Maintenance of physical activity: Do we know what we are talking about?. Preventive Medicine Reports. 2. 178-180. 10.1016/j.pmedr.2015.02.013.

20. Lounassalo, I., Salin, K., Kankaanpää, A. et al. “Distinct trajectories of physical activity and related factors during the life course in the general population: a systematic review.” BMC Public Health 19, 271 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-6513-y

21. Rovio SP, Yang X, Kankaanpää A, Aalto V, Hirvensalo M, Telama R, et al. Longitudinal physical activity trajectories from childhood to adulthood and their determinants: the young Finns study. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2018;28:1073–83. https://doi.org/10.1111/sms.12988.

22. Tammelin, Tuija et al. “Adolescent participation in sports and adult physical activity.” American journal of preventive medicine vol. 24,1 (2003): 22-8. doi:10.1016/s0749-3797(02)00575-5

23. Kwon S, Janz KF, Letuchy EM, Burns TL, Levy SM. Parental characteristic patterns associated with maintaining healthy physical activity behavior during childhood and adolescence. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2016;13:1–8. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-016-0383-9.