Action Schools! BC - Grades 4-7 Pilot Evaluation

Description:

Action Schools! BC is a best-practices physical activity model designed to assist elementary schools in creating individualized action plans to promote healthy living. Action Schools! BC provides resources and recommendations for the creation of individualized Action Plans that integrate physical activity and healthy eating into the school environment. Action Schools! BC was developed in response to the current crisis in children’s health, concerns about childhood physical inactivity and the escalating levels of childhood obesity. These issues are major public health concerns that threaten to substantially increase the burden of chronic disease in BC.

Timeline:

Between February 2003 and June 2004, Phase I of the Action Schools! BC initiative was
conducted at the grades 4 to 7 levels in ten pilot schools in the Vancouver and
Richmond School Districts. The pilot program included comprehensive evidence based
health outcome evaluation. The purpose of the evaluation was to determine the
effectiveness of the Action Schools! BC model in providing sufficient levels of physical
activity and healthy eating education in the school environment and the physical impact
it had on the health of the participating children. Students, teachers, administrators and
parents participated in the evaluation.

The ten participating schools were stratified based on size, geographic location and
ethnicity and randomly assigned to one of three groups:

Liaison Schools (4 total): In which Action Schools! BC provided a dedicated Master
Trainer and all required resources to administer the Action Schools! BC model,
Champion Schools (3 total): In which Action Schools! BC provided a contact person who supported a champion designated from within the school community, and
Usual Practice Schools (3 total): Which continued their usual physical activity and
health programs without intervention from the Action Schools! BC Team.

Evaluation was conducted in the following areas:

Physical Activity
Healthy Hearts (Cardiovascular health)
Healthy Weight
Healthy Eating (Dietary intake)
Healthy Bones
Healthy Self (Psycho-social health)
Academic Performance
Process Evaluation

Evaluation Team:

The evaluation team involved a number of research partners from across universities, disciplines and from multiple sectors. Research partners are listed below:

Principal Investigator: Dr. Heather McKay, UBC
Healthy Heart: Dr. Darren Warburton, UBC
Kate Reed, MSc (PhD Student, UBC)
Healthy Bones: Dr. Heather McKay, UBC
Heather Macdonald, BSc (PhD Student, UBC)
Healthy Self: Dr. Ryan Rhodes, UVIC
Healthy Weight: Dr. Jean-Pierre Chanoine, BC Children’s Hospital
Dr. Kerry MacKelvie, BC Children’s Hospital
Dr. Kadriye Ercikan, UBC
Healthy Eating: Dr. Ryna Levy-Milne, UBC
Health Policy: Dr. Lorraine Greaves, BC Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health
Dr Ann Pederson, BC Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health
Program Developers: Bryna Kopelow and Jennifer Fenton, JW Sporta

Funding Partners:

Partners in the development and implementation of the initiative included the B.C. Ministries of Health Services, Small Business and Economic Development, Education; 2010 Legacies Now and the University of British Columbia. The intiative is currently funded by the BC Ministry of Health and BC Ministry of Education in partnership with 2010 Legacies Now.

Evaluation Report (pdf)


	Info Centre School Active Communities Across Canada Evaluation