Increasing children’s physical activity through a teaching-assistant led extracurricular intervention: process evaluation of the action 3:30 randomised feasibility trial
Background Many children do not engage in recommended levels of physical activity (PA), highlighting the need to find ways to increase children’s PA. Process evaluations play an important role in improving the science of randomised controlled trials. We recently reported the results of the Action 3...
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| Format: | Article |
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BioMed Central
2015
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44866/ |
| _version_ | 1848797016628396032 |
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| author | Jago, Russell Sebire, Simon Davies, Ben Wood, Lesley Banfield, Kathryn Edwards, Mark J. Powell, Jane E. Montgomery, Alan A. Thompson, Janice Fox, Kenneth |
| author_facet | Jago, Russell Sebire, Simon Davies, Ben Wood, Lesley Banfield, Kathryn Edwards, Mark J. Powell, Jane E. Montgomery, Alan A. Thompson, Janice Fox, Kenneth |
| author_sort | Jago, Russell |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Background
Many children do not engage in recommended levels of physical activity (PA), highlighting the need to find ways to increase children’s PA. Process evaluations play an important role in improving the science of randomised controlled trials. We recently reported the results of the Action 3:30 cluster randomised feasibility trial illustrating higher levels of moderate to vigorous intensity PA among boys but not girls. The aim of this paper is to report the process evaluation results including intervention fidelity, implementation, context and how intervention components and trial design could be improved before proceeding to a definitive RCT.
Methods
Children’s session enjoyment was assessed every two weeks. Reasons for non-attendance were provided by questionnaire at the end of the intervention. Post intervention interviews were held with participating teaching assistants (TAs) and school key contacts (KCs), and focus groups were conducted with children in all 10 intervention schools. Interviews and focus groups examined how recruitment and session attendance might be improved and established which elements of the programme that were and were not well received.
Results
Data indicated good intervention fidelity with TA’s adopting enjoyment-focussed teaching styles and the sessions improving children’s skills and self-esteem. Several positive aspects of implementation were identified, including high session variety, the opportunity to work in teams, the child-led sessions and the engaging leader style. In terms of context there was evidence that TA’s faced difficulties managing challenging behaviour and that further training in this area was needed. TAs and KCs felt that recruitment could be improved by providing taster sessions during PE lessons and clarifying the days that the clubs would run at the point of recruitment. The programme could be improved to enhance interest for girls, by including training for managing disruptive behaviour and making some activities more age-group appropriate.
Conclusions
Action 3.30 showed promise but could be improved by ensuring age appropriate activities, providing more appeal to girls and improving recruitment through taster sessions and early establishment of days of the week it is to be offered on. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:57:10Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-44866 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:57:10Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | BioMed Central |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-448662020-05-04T17:02:32Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44866/ Increasing children’s physical activity through a teaching-assistant led extracurricular intervention: process evaluation of the action 3:30 randomised feasibility trial Jago, Russell Sebire, Simon Davies, Ben Wood, Lesley Banfield, Kathryn Edwards, Mark J. Powell, Jane E. Montgomery, Alan A. Thompson, Janice Fox, Kenneth Background Many children do not engage in recommended levels of physical activity (PA), highlighting the need to find ways to increase children’s PA. Process evaluations play an important role in improving the science of randomised controlled trials. We recently reported the results of the Action 3:30 cluster randomised feasibility trial illustrating higher levels of moderate to vigorous intensity PA among boys but not girls. The aim of this paper is to report the process evaluation results including intervention fidelity, implementation, context and how intervention components and trial design could be improved before proceeding to a definitive RCT. Methods Children’s session enjoyment was assessed every two weeks. Reasons for non-attendance were provided by questionnaire at the end of the intervention. Post intervention interviews were held with participating teaching assistants (TAs) and school key contacts (KCs), and focus groups were conducted with children in all 10 intervention schools. Interviews and focus groups examined how recruitment and session attendance might be improved and established which elements of the programme that were and were not well received. Results Data indicated good intervention fidelity with TA’s adopting enjoyment-focussed teaching styles and the sessions improving children’s skills and self-esteem. Several positive aspects of implementation were identified, including high session variety, the opportunity to work in teams, the child-led sessions and the engaging leader style. In terms of context there was evidence that TA’s faced difficulties managing challenging behaviour and that further training in this area was needed. TAs and KCs felt that recruitment could be improved by providing taster sessions during PE lessons and clarifying the days that the clubs would run at the point of recruitment. The programme could be improved to enhance interest for girls, by including training for managing disruptive behaviour and making some activities more age-group appropriate. Conclusions Action 3.30 showed promise but could be improved by ensuring age appropriate activities, providing more appeal to girls and improving recruitment through taster sessions and early establishment of days of the week it is to be offered on. BioMed Central 2015-02-18 Article PeerReviewed Jago, Russell, Sebire, Simon, Davies, Ben, Wood, Lesley, Banfield, Kathryn, Edwards, Mark J., Powell, Jane E., Montgomery, Alan A., Thompson, Janice and Fox, Kenneth (2015) Increasing children’s physical activity through a teaching-assistant led extracurricular intervention: process evaluation of the action 3:30 randomised feasibility trial. BMC Public Health, 15 (156). pp. 1-15. ISSN 1471-2458 Physical activity – Intervention process evaluation – Interview – Focus group – Children https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-015-1501-3 doi:10.1186/s12889-015-1501-3 doi:10.1186/s12889-015-1501-3 |
| spellingShingle | Physical activity – Intervention process evaluation – Interview – Focus group – Children Jago, Russell Sebire, Simon Davies, Ben Wood, Lesley Banfield, Kathryn Edwards, Mark J. Powell, Jane E. Montgomery, Alan A. Thompson, Janice Fox, Kenneth Increasing children’s physical activity through a teaching-assistant led extracurricular intervention: process evaluation of the action 3:30 randomised feasibility trial |
| title | Increasing children’s physical activity through a teaching-assistant led extracurricular intervention: process evaluation of the action 3:30 randomised feasibility trial |
| title_full | Increasing children’s physical activity through a teaching-assistant led extracurricular intervention: process evaluation of the action 3:30 randomised feasibility trial |
| title_fullStr | Increasing children’s physical activity through a teaching-assistant led extracurricular intervention: process evaluation of the action 3:30 randomised feasibility trial |
| title_full_unstemmed | Increasing children’s physical activity through a teaching-assistant led extracurricular intervention: process evaluation of the action 3:30 randomised feasibility trial |
| title_short | Increasing children’s physical activity through a teaching-assistant led extracurricular intervention: process evaluation of the action 3:30 randomised feasibility trial |
| title_sort | increasing children’s physical activity through a teaching-assistant led extracurricular intervention: process evaluation of the action 3:30 randomised feasibility trial |
| topic | Physical activity – Intervention process evaluation – Interview – Focus group – Children |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44866/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44866/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44866/ |