Public Policy Processes and Getting Physical Activity into Alberta’s Urban Schools (original) (raw)
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SSM - Population Health, 2020
School-based daily physical activity (DPA) policies represent a promising intervention for increasing physical activity levels among children. Between 2005 and 2010, five Canadian provinces adopted and implemented DPA policies. This national case study explored facilitators and challenges to developing, adopting and implementing DPA policies from the perspective of key stakeholders ('policy-influencers') in these five provinces. Methods: Development, adoption and implementation of DPA policies at the provincial level was the phenomenon of interest, with each province constituting a distinct case. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 purposively selected policy-influencers across the five case provinces. Cases were first analyzed separately, and then concurrently in a cross-case comparison. Qualitative content analysis was used to code interviews and develop themes. Results: Four themes related to the development, adoption, and implementation of DPA policies emerged: existing resources and capacity for policy change; top-down policy development/adoption and bottom-up implementation; political will and windows of opportunity; and, ideology and policy change. Each of these themes encompassed facilitators and challenges related to policy processes surrounding development, adoption and implementation of DPA policies. Conclusion: These findings can inform development of future health-related polices in schools. Stakeholders can, for instance, remain attuned to the opening of political windows and capitalize on them as an opportunity to advocate for policy change or create communities of practice to enhance coordination among policy stakeholders. Future studies that explore why other jurisdictions have failed to adopt DPA policies might yield novel insights regarding leverage points to support widespread diffusion of DPA policies. guidelines, with boys being twice as likely as girls to meet them (Colley et al., 2017). School-based physical activity policies establish minimum physical activity standards that students must achieve during the school day or week, and as such may represent a promising means of reducing physical inactivity among children (
BMC public health, 2015
Few children meet physical activity (PA) recommendations, and are therefore at increased risk for overweight/obesity and adverse health outcomes. To increase children's opportunities for PA, several Canadian provinces have adopted school-based daily PA (DPA) policies. It is not clear why some jurisdictions have adopted DPA policies, and others have not, nor whether these policies have been implemented and have achieved their intended outcomes. The purpose of this study was to understand the processes underlying adoption and diffusion of Canadian DPA policies, and to review evidence regarding their implementation and impact. We adopted a multiple case history methodology in which we traced the chronological trajectory of DPA policies among Canadian provinces by compiling timelines detailing key historical events that preceded policy adoption. Publicly available documents posted on the internet were reviewed to characterize adopter innovativeness, describe the content of their DPA...
Implementation Science, 2010
Background: Increasingly, multiple intervention programming is being understood and implemented as a key approach to developing public health initiatives and strategies. Using socio-ecological and population health perspectives, multiple intervention programming approaches are aimed at providing coordinated and strategic comprehensive programs operating over system levels and across sectors, allowing practitioners and decision makers to take advantage of synergistic effects. These approaches also require vertical and horizontal (v/h) integration of policy and practice in order to be maximally effective.
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2014
This article examines the time trends in patterns of school travel mode among Canadian children and youth to inform the Active Transportation (AT) indicator of the The results showed that in 2013, AT was graded a D, because less than half of Canadian children and youth used only active modes of transportation to get to and from school. The proportion of Canadian children and youth who used only inactive modes of transportation for school travel increased significantly from 51% to 62% over the last decade. Children and youth from larger communities and those with lower household income levels were significantly more likely to use AT than those living in smaller communities and those in higher income households, respectively. In conclusion, motorized transport for school travel has increased steadily over the last decade across Canada. Regional and socio-demographic disparities should be considered in efforts to increase the number of children using AT.
BMC Public Health
Background: In British Columbia Canada, a Daily Physical Activity (DPA) policy was mandated that requires elementary school teachers to provide students with opportunities to achieve 30 min of physical activity during the school day. However, the implementation of school-based physical activity policies is influenced by many factors. A theoretical examination of the factors that impede and enhance teachers' implementation of physical activity policies is necessary in order to develop strategies to improve policy practice and achieve desired outcomes. This study used the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) to understand teachers' barriers and facilitators to the implementation of the DPA policy in one school district. Additionally, barriers and facilitators were examined and compared according to how the teacher implemented the DPA policy during the instructional school day. Methods: Interviews were conducted with thirteen teachers and transcribed verbatim. One researcher performed barrier and facilitator extraction, with double extraction occurring across a third of the interview transcripts by a second researcher. A deductive and inductive analytical approach in a two-stage process was employed whereby barriers and facilitators were deductively coded using TDF domains (content analysis) and analyzed for sub-themes within each domain. Two researchers performed coding. Results: A total of 832 items were extracted from the interview transcripts. Some items were coded into multiple TDF domains, resulting in a total of 1422 observations. The most commonly coded TDF domains accounting for 75% of the total were Environmental context and resources (ECR; n = 250), Beliefs about consequences (n = 225), Social influences (n = 193), Knowledge (n = 100), and Intentions (n = 88). Teachers who implemented DPA during instructional time differed from those who relied on non-instructional time in relation to Goals, Behavioural regulation, Social/professional role and identity, Beliefs about Consequences. Forty-one qualitative sub-themes were identified across the fourteen domains and exemplary quotes were highlighted. Conclusions: Teachers identified barriers and facilitators relating to all TDF domains, with ECR, Beliefs about consequences, Social influences, Knowledge and Intentions being the most often discussed influencers of DPA policy implementation. Use of the TDF to understand the implementation factors can assist with the systematic development of future interventions to improve implementation.
Journal of Obesity, 2014
Lower levels of physical activity are associated with childhood obesity. School physical education (PE) policies have been identified as critical to improve child and adolescent physical activity levels but there has been little evaluation of such policies. In the province of Manitoba, Canada, the government implemented a mandatory PE policy in secondary schools designed to increase the daily physical activity levels of adolescents. The objective of this study was to examine the longitudinal changes in and the factors associated with the physical activity trajectories of adolescents in Manitoba during their tenure as secondary school students in the context of this school PE policy. The results found, despite the PE policy, a grade-related decline in the physical activity trajectories of adolescents; however, the decline in physical activity was attenuated among adolescents with low and moderate baseline physical activity compared to adolescents with high baseline physical activity ...
The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity, 2017
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of a province-wide physical education (PE) policy on secondary school students' moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Policy: In fall 2008, Manitoba expanded a policy requiring a PE credit for students in grades 11 and 12 for the first time in Canada. The PE curriculum requires grades 11 and 12 students to complete a minimum of 55 h (50% of course hours) of MVPA (e.g., ≥30 min/day of MVPA on ≥5 days a week) during a 5-month semester to achieve the course credit. A natural experimental study was designed using two sub-studies: 1) quasi-experimental controlled pre-post analysis of self-reported MVPA data obtained from census data in intervention and comparison [Prince Edward Island (PEI)] provinces in 2008 (n = 33,619 in Manitoba and n = 2258 in PEI) and 2012 (n = 41,169 in Manitoba and n = 4942 in PEI); and, 2) annual objectively measured MVPA in cohorts of secondary students in intervention (n = 447) and comparison (Alb...