Yli-Piipari, S.1, Layne, T.2, *McCollins, T.2, Knox, T.3
1 Department of Kinesiology, University of Georgia, USA
2 School of Health Studies, University of Memphis, USA
3 FitNexx, Memphis, USA
*Represents Graduate Student at the time of the study
Abstract
The aim of the study was to examine the effect of a 4-week classroom physical activity break intervention on middle school students’ health-related physical fitness. The study was a randomized controlled trial with students assigned to the experiment and control conditions. A convenience sample comprised 94 adolescents (experiment group n = 52; control group n = 42) (48 females, 46 males, age range 11 to 15 years) from four classes in one school in the mid-south United States. Intervention was delivered with an Xbox One Kinetic system to minimize teachers-dependence when delivering the intervention. In addition, to acknowledge students’ poor treatment adherence, which can occur in school-based intervention studies, analyses were conducted to both the intention-to-treat group and the students’ who reached the 66.7% attendance rate benchmark. Analysis of covariance test results showed that for the intention-to-treat group there were no significant intervention effects on cardiovascular endurance (F[2,82] = 2.58, p = .112), upper body strength and endurance (F[2,84] = 3.55, p = .063), abdominal strength and endurance (F[2,82] = .01, p = .973), or flexibility (F[2,71] = .48, p < .489) tests. In addition, the analyses comparing the high attendance group to the control group showed that intervention had a moderate significant effect on students’ cardiovascular endurance (F[2,52] = 23.95, p < .001, η2 = .30) and a small effect on abdominal strength and endurance (F[2,52] = 3.24, p = .049, η2 = .08). The results of this study highlighted the importance of school students’ adherence to program to achieve intended and planned intervention benefits.
Keywords: cardiovascular endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, physical education
Category: Fitness, health and nutrition
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