Effects of a school-based intervention program on active commuting to school

Abstract

Abstract Active commuting to/from school (mainly walking and cycling) is a daily behaviour, which perform young people from home to school and from school to home. The scientific literature has evidenced that perform this behaviour during a long time, could generate benefits in several health outcomes in these population, such as an increase of daily physical activity levels, a greater physical fitness, or even improvements related to psychological and social variables. The aim of the present Doctoral Thesis was examined the effects of a school-based intervention program focused on promote active commuting to school, and the associations with several parameters such as physical fitness or patterns of commuting to school, at the end and 6 months after finishing the intervention program. Moreover, in order to know in detail other factors related to active commuting to school, we performed several cross-sectional studies to evaluate the barriers related to active commuting to school or the comparison betweeen two measurements methods of the distance from home to school (Google Maps and Geographic Information System or GIS). Therefore, with the purpose to answer the objectives, the present Doctoral Thesis is organized in three projects, which are developed on five studies: Project 1 (Study I). A total of 745 children (6-12 years old) were evaluated using a questionnaire to analyze the personal, family and environmental barriers related to active commuting to school. Project 2 (Studies II, III, IV). A total of 494 children (8-11 years old) were evaluated using a questionnaire to determine the mode of commuting to school, the health-related physical fitness by ALPHA Fitness Battery test, and the effects of an intervention in these variables at short and longterm. Project 3 (Study V). In a total sample of 494 children (8-11 years old), were analyzed the agreement between two measurements methods to predicting distance from home to school (Google Maps vs. GIS in route and straight line). The main findings and conclusions regarding the 5 studies were: I) More than a half of the children were active commuters to school. Moreover, children who commuted on their one, lived close to school and perceived safety along the route to school, were more likely to perform active commuting to school; II) Boys and girls who were more active commuters had greater speed-agility and lower body muscular fitness, respectively, than those boys and girls who were less active commuters; III) A school-based intervention focused on increasing the frequency of active commuting to school reduced the rate of car commuters, yet was not effective on increasing the health-related fitness; IV) A school-based intervention focused on increasing the levels of active commuting to school increased the frequency of walking to school after a 6-month period follow-up of finishing the period of intervention; V) Both measurement methods (Google MapsTM vs GIS in route and straight line) had a high agreement between them, so they could be used depending on the research needs. The results of the present Doctoral Thesis improve our knowledge about several parameters related to active commuting to school in youth. These results and findings will contribute to new research studies in this topic, in order to perform more effective interventions that show a greater effect on the active mode of commuting to school in young population.