School environment and physical activity in children and adolescents: systematic review

The aim of this study was to identify, discuss and summarize findings from articles on the association between characteristics of the school environment and physical activity in children and adolescents. We followed the PRISMA guidelines for systematic reviews. Articles were identified in PubMed. Th...

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Main Authors: Alan Goularte Knuth, Pedro Hallal
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Sociedade Brasileira de Atividade Física e Saúde 2013-05-01
Series:Revista Brasileira de Atividade Física e Saúde
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Online Access:https://rbafs.org.br/RBAFS/article/view/2347
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author Alan Goularte Knuth
Pedro Hallal
author_facet Alan Goularte Knuth
Pedro Hallal
author_sort Alan Goularte Knuth
collection DOAJ
description The aim of this study was to identify, discuss and summarize findings from articles on the association between characteristics of the school environment and physical activity in children and adolescents. We followed the PRISMA guidelines for systematic reviews. Articles were identified in PubMed. The main inclusion criteria were: (a) studies with children and adolescents – studies with preschool children only were excluded because they were covered in a recent review; (b) physical activity as the outcome; (c) school environment characteristics as the exposure variable. Outcome variables were heterogeneous across the 13 studies, including recess physical activity practice, extracurricular sports practice, Physical Education classes and total physical activity. Half of the studies used objective physical activity measures. The evaluation of school environments was again heterogeneous, ranging from checklists of spaces, satellite photos and interviews with school teachers and principals comprising sociocultural dimensions of the environment, policies and PE classes, but mainly measures of the built environment. No definitive conclusion about the influence of school environment on physical activity can be drawn due to the heterogeneity across studies, settings dimension assessed and the lack of prospective data. However, several features such as improvements in playgrounds, health promotion policies at school, and positive perceptions of the school environment seem to be associated with increased physical activity among children and adolescents.
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spelling doaj-art-386b8d6a158f417ba4d7386a1df4a6d42025-08-20T02:51:31ZengSociedade Brasileira de Atividade Física e SaúdeRevista Brasileira de Atividade Física e Saúde1413-34822317-16342013-05-0117610.12820/rbafs.v.17n6p463-473School environment and physical activity in children and adolescents: systematic reviewAlan Goularte Knuth0Pedro HallalUniversidade Federal de PelotasThe aim of this study was to identify, discuss and summarize findings from articles on the association between characteristics of the school environment and physical activity in children and adolescents. We followed the PRISMA guidelines for systematic reviews. Articles were identified in PubMed. The main inclusion criteria were: (a) studies with children and adolescents – studies with preschool children only were excluded because they were covered in a recent review; (b) physical activity as the outcome; (c) school environment characteristics as the exposure variable. Outcome variables were heterogeneous across the 13 studies, including recess physical activity practice, extracurricular sports practice, Physical Education classes and total physical activity. Half of the studies used objective physical activity measures. The evaluation of school environments was again heterogeneous, ranging from checklists of spaces, satellite photos and interviews with school teachers and principals comprising sociocultural dimensions of the environment, policies and PE classes, but mainly measures of the built environment. No definitive conclusion about the influence of school environment on physical activity can be drawn due to the heterogeneity across studies, settings dimension assessed and the lack of prospective data. However, several features such as improvements in playgrounds, health promotion policies at school, and positive perceptions of the school environment seem to be associated with increased physical activity among children and adolescents.https://rbafs.org.br/RBAFS/article/view/2347Schoolphysical activityyouthenvironment
spellingShingle Alan Goularte Knuth
Pedro Hallal
School environment and physical activity in children and adolescents: systematic review
Revista Brasileira de Atividade Física e Saúde
School
physical activity
youth
environment
title School environment and physical activity in children and adolescents: systematic review
title_full School environment and physical activity in children and adolescents: systematic review
title_fullStr School environment and physical activity in children and adolescents: systematic review
title_full_unstemmed School environment and physical activity in children and adolescents: systematic review
title_short School environment and physical activity in children and adolescents: systematic review
title_sort school environment and physical activity in children and adolescents systematic review
topic School
physical activity
youth
environment
url https://rbafs.org.br/RBAFS/article/view/2347
work_keys_str_mv AT alangoularteknuth schoolenvironmentandphysicalactivityinchildrenandadolescentssystematicreview
AT pedrohallal schoolenvironmentandphysicalactivityinchildrenandadolescentssystematicreview