The impact of Action Schools! BC on the health of Aboriginal children and youth living in rural and remote communities in British Columbia

Objectives: The aim of the study was to determine the short-term impact of a 7-month whole-school physical activity and healthy eating intervention (Action Schools! BC) over the 2007–2008 school year for children and youth in 3 remote First Nations villages in northwestern British Columbi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International Journal of Circumpolar Health
Main Authors: Dona Tomlin, PJ Naylor, Heather McKay, Alexandra Zorzi, Marc Mitchell, Constadina Panagiotopoulos
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2012
Subjects:
physical activity
aerobic fitness
cardiovascular risk
children
Aboriginal
nutrition
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine
RC955-962
Arctic
Circumpolar Health
First Nations
International Journal of Circumpolar Health
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3402/ijch.v71i0.17999
https://doaj.org/article/00662cb745084e8cb91916718cad5493
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Summary:Objectives: The aim of the study was to determine the short-term impact of a 7-month whole-school physical activity and healthy eating intervention (Action Schools! BC) over the 2007&#x2013;2008 school year for children and youth in 3 remote First Nations villages in northwestern British Columbia. Study design: A pre-experimental pre/post design was conducted with 148 children and youth (77 males, 71 females; age 12.5&#x00B1;2.2 yrs). Methods: We evaluated changes in obesity (body mass index [wt/ht2] and waist circumference z-scores: zBMI and zWC), aerobic fitness (20-m shuttle run), physical activity (PA; physical activity questionnaire and accelerometry), healthy eating (dietary recall) and cardiovascular risk (CV risk). Results: zBMI remained unchanged while zWC increased from 0.46&#x00B1;1.07 to 0.57&#x00B1;1.04 (p<0.05). No change was detected in PA or CV risk but aerobic fitness increased by 22% (25.4&#x00B1;15.8 to 30.9&#x00B1;20.0 laps; p<0.01). There was an increase in the variety of vegetables consumed (1.10&#x00B1;1.18 to 1.45&#x00B1;1.24; p<0.05) but otherwise no dietary changes were detected. Conclusions: While no changes were seen in PA or overall CV risk, zWC increased, zBMI remained stable and aerobic fitness improved during a 7-month intervention.

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