Background
West Virginia and McDowell county
The current study
Methods
Participants and procedures
Town hall meetings
Physical activity interest survey
Student PA and health-related behavior survey
Body mass index measurement
Focus groups
School site visits
Analyses and reporting
Results
Town hall meetings
Physical activity interest survey
Activity | Mean (span =1-4) | % Highest score of importance (4) |
---|---|---|
Swimming | 3.44 | 64.8 |
Archery | 3.33 | 58.1 |
Bowling | 3.26 | 55.3 |
Basketball | 3.10 | 51.9 |
Active gaming | 3.15 | 50.4 |
Climbing wall | 3.13 | 44.1 |
Kayaking | 3.02 | 39.8 |
Softball | 2.78 | 39.8 |
Mountain biking | 2.94 | 38.0 |
Student PA and health-related behavior survey
5thGrade (%) | 8thGrade (%) | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Boys | Girls | Boys | Girls | |
Physically active for at least 60 minutes every day | 34.6 | 29.6 | 34.9 | 14.3 |
Attends PE classes at least 5 times in an average week | 36.1 | 35.7 | 69.9 | 61.6 |
Definitely will be physically active for at least 60 min tomorrow | 33.6 | 38.8 | 51.9 | 24.7 |
Definitely will be physically active for at least 60 minutes per day during 5 days or more next week | 25.0 | 34.0 | 33.3 | 17.8 |
Plays video/computer games for 3 or more hours on an average school day | 43.5 | 42.8 | 39.8 | 41.7 |
Watches TV for 3 hours or more on an average school day | 36.1 | 40.8 | 32.5 | 36.3 |
CARDIAC BMI screening
Focus groups
SWOT | School focus groups | Community focus groups |
---|---|---|
Strengths
| 1. General interest in PA is high and participation in the few available programs is usually good. | 1. General interest in PA is high among children, adolescents and adults. |
2. School infrastructure/facilities. | 2. School facilities. | |
3. Several outside spaces and county and state parks. | ||
Weaknesses
| 1. Widespread sedentary lifestyle of children. | 1. Poor condition of existing outside spaces and parks. |
2. Lack of access to proximal PA resources. | 2. Geographical size of McDowell County relative to number of inhabitants. | |
3. Multigenerational families (grandparents and great grandparents raising children). | 3. Long travel time. | |
4. Poor promotion of existing PA opportunities. | ||
4. Lack of appropriate, safe and accessible facilities for PA. | 5. Lack of suitable platforms for communication. | |
5. General narrow view and sheltered perspective of PA possibilities. | 6. Absence of suitable indoor facilities for the winter months. | |
Opportunities
| 1. Citizens generally open to PA opportunities, especially around the schools. | 1. People generally open towards new PA opportunities. |
2. Conversion/renovation of existing school facilities. | 2. A web-based platform with coordinated information of PA opportunities. | |
3. Shared use agreements for the use of school PA facilities for students and families. | 3. Several smaller scale PA rather than centralized larger ones. | |
4. Community fitness centers. | 4. Renovation of existing facilities a sensible starting point. | |
5. Need to train local people. | ||
Threats
| 1. Poverty. | 1. Poverty. |
2. Locality/distrust of outsiders. | 2. Multigenerational/aging families. | |
3. Multigenerational/aging families. | 3. Prevalent drug use/abuse, especially with prescription drugs. | |
4. Poor condition and rampant vandalism of existing infrastructure/facilities. | 4. High unemployment rate. | |
5. Prevalent drug use/abuse | 5. Geographic isolation. | |
6. Poor road condition. | 6. Poor travel/road conditions. | |
7. Social capital/suitable professionals to step up and run new PA programs. |
School site visits
Theme | Summary of theme |
---|---|
Leadership and capacity building | Individuals or groups within the school are needed to champion PA opportunities. School level PA leaders can build and develop connections with families, school personnel, and the community. |
PA access and opportunities | Efforts to integrate physical activity throughout the school day – before, during, and after – are important. |
PE/PA equipment and resources | Additional equipment, resources, and materials for teachers to deliver a quality PE curriculum and a variety of other physical activity programming is needed. |
Physical fitness data Management and Reporting | The use of a standardized method of fitness testing, data collection and reporting is needed. |
Equity and access to safe and usable play space | Indoor physical space where children can be active during the school day is adequate and often times optimal, however outdoor play spaces often lack maintenance and upkeep. |
Community connections | Existing or potential partnerships with community members or organizations with physical activity goals should be optimized, including shared use agreements with the schools. |