Evaluation of a Walking School Bus Program

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Obesity; Physical Activity
• Interventions: Behavioral: Walking School Bus

• Registration Number: NCT01626807
• Lead Sponsor: Seattle Children's Hospital

Brief Summary

Just two generations ago, walking or bicycling to school was the norm for a substantial number of US children, e.g. 48% of children walked or biked to school in 1969 versus only 13% in 2009. This decline occurred in the same timeframe as the childhood obesity epidemic, which is at record high levels in the US and affects low-income and ethnic minority children the most. This project will test "the walking school bus" (WSB) program, in which children walk to and from school with adults, and its impact on low-income, ethnic minority children's walking to school, physical activity, and risk for obesity. Ultimately, this line of research has the potential to provide a low-cost, easy to disseminate program to reduce risk of obesity and cancer for at-risk children.

The investigators Specific Aims among 3rd-5th grade children include:

SA1) To recruit 770 child-parent dyads from 22 elementary schools over 4 years and conduct a cluster randomized controlled trial to assess the efficacy of a WSB program on children's walking to school, physical activity, and BMI z-score over a school-year SA2) To collect and analyze data on individual-, school-, and macro-level influences on changes to children's walking to school resulting from the WSB program

The Primary Hypotheses to be tested, in comparison to control children, include:

H1) The WSB program will increase children's walking to school over a school-year.

H1a) Parents' outcome expectations and self-efficacy will mediate the relationship between the WSB and changes to children's walking to school.

H1b) Walkability, safety, and acculturation will moderate changes to children's walking to school.

H2) The WSB program will increase children's physical activity and decrease BMI z-scores over a school-year.

H3) The WSB program will increase school-level pedestrian safety behaviors over a school-year.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study First Submitted: 2012-06-21
• Study First Submitted QC: 2012-06-22
• Study First Posted: 2012-06-25
• Study Start: 2012-12
• Primary Completion: 2016-08
• Study Completion: 2016-12
• Status Verified: 2017-04
• Last Update Submitted: 2017-04-24
• Last Update Posted: 2017-04-25

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 838

Inclusion Criteria

• physically capable of walking to and from school
• live within 1-mile of school or parents agree to regularly drop off children within 1-mile of school
• attend a study school and enrolled in 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade

Exclusion Criteria

• another child from the same household is enrolled in the study

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Walking school bus	Walking School Bus	-

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Weekly rate of children's active commuting to school	5-6 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity	5-6 months
Body mass index z-score	5-6 months

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Seattle Children's Research Institute; 🇺🇸 Seattle, Washington, United States