Interrupting Prolonged Sitting With Activity (InPACT)

Interrupting Prolonged Sitting With Activity Feasibility Study

This study tested the feasibility of interrupting prolonged sitting with 10, 3-minute activity breaks in elementary school classrooms. Three elementary schools in Southeast Michigan (20 teachers, 500 students) participated in this study.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Physical Activity
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Active classroom

Detailed Description

School environments have historically provided many opportunities for children to be physically active through comprehensive programs, including recess, intramural physical activity clubs, interscholastic sports and physical education. However, with recent cuts to public school funding and an increased emphasis on standardized test scores, schools districts across the country have reduced time allocated for structured physical activity in favor of additional academic instruction time. This is troubling as uninterrupted prolonged sitting time is associated with increased disruptive behavior, lower academic achievement and increased obesity risk in children. As such, developing low-cost, innovative physical activity interventions aimed at improving weight outcomes and cognitive function in children are warranted.

Researchers have targeted the school classroom, where students spend the majority of their time, as a potential intervention site. Classroom-based physical activity interventions have been largely successful at increasing physical activity, improving physical fitness and academic achievement among children. Yet, no intervention to date has been able to produce significant improvements in weight status, in part due to the intensity, duration and frequency of activities employed (i.e., low-to-moderate intensity; 10-30 minutes per session; 1-2 sessions per day). Preliminary evidence from our laboratory suggests intermittent activity breaks performed at a moderate-to-vigorous intensity elicits greater total daily physical activity energy expenditure without subsequent increases in food intake compared to lower intensity activities. Other researchers have confirmed greater reductions in weight and fat mass in response to higher rather than lower intensity physical activities. In addition, short bursts of activity rather than continuous movements more closely mimics children's natural activity patterns in free-living environments. Hence, incorporating intermittent activity breaks of moderate-to-vigorous intensity as an intervention component may increase the likelihood of classroom-based physical activity interventions improving weight outcomes in children.

Implementing intermittent activity breaks in a classroom will require adjustments to both teaching curricula and classroom design. Current teaching curricula promotes sedentary behaviors by requiring children to spend between 6 and 8 hours in seated academic instruction per day. Moreover, current classroom designs (i.e., size of the classroom and interior areas, type of furniture, flooring and room arrangement) optimize student learning and classroom management with little consideration given to physical activity and movement. Yet, simple adjustments to teaching curricula (i.e. coupling physical activity with teacher's existing lessons) and classroom design (e.g. using smart floor planning to restructure spaces in a classroom) can dramatically increase movement and subsequent learning within that space. In partnership with the School of Education and the Taubman College of Architecture & Urban Planning, two traditionally non-health related fields, the overall objectives of this pilot study are to: 1) develop a classroom curriculum and floor plan that promotes movement, learning and positive behavioral outcomes; and 2) test the feasibility of implementing our classroom-based physical activity intervention (Interrupting Prolonged sitting with ACTivity or INPACT) in three elementary schools (20 classrooms) across the state of Michigan. Third thru fifth grade teachers and students from Columbia Elementary, Estabrook Elementary and Anderson Elementary will be recruited to participate in this pilot study with classroom teachers delivering the physical activity intervention.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 500
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Michigan
    • Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States, 48109
      • Childhood Disparities Research Laboratory

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 8 years to 12 years (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• 3rd thru 6th grade students in participating InPACT classrooms

Exclusion Criteria:

• N/A

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Active classroom; Twenty elementary school teachers implemented 10, 3-minute moderate-to-vigorous physical activity breaks (50-75% of heart rate maximum), 5 days per week in their classrooms over a 16-week period.	Behavioral: Active classroom; 30 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity; Other Names: InPACT classroom

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (student)	Direct observation via the System for Observing Play and Leisure Activity in Youth (SOPLAY) was used to assess student physical activity intensity and physical activity minutes completed in the classroom.	16 weeks
Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (teacher)	Direct observation via the System for Observing Play and Leisure Activity in Youth (SOPLAY) was used to assess teacher physical activity intensity and physical activity minutes completed in the classroom.	16 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Transition time	Transition time was assessed via direct observation and was calculated as the amount of time from when the teacher completed instructions to his/her class to prepare for an activity break to when students started engaging in the activity break.	16 weeks
Time-on-task	Time-on-task was assessed via direct observation and was calculated as the percent of students following the directions of the teacher 30 seconds post activity break.	16 weeks
Physical activity enjoyment	Teachers distributed the revised Physical Activity Enjoyment Scale (PACES) to their students to assess enjoyment of participating in the activity breaks.	16 weeks
Physical activity confidence	Teachers distributed a single-item question from the Physical Activity Self-Efficacy Scale (PASES) to measure physical activity confidence.	16 weeks
Physical activity heart rate	Heart rate during physical activity breaks in the classroom was assessed via heart rate monitoring.	16 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Michigan
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Rebecca E Hasson, PhD, University of Michigan

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): August 15, 2016
• Primary Completion (Actual): December 31, 2016
• Study Completion (Actual): December 31, 2016

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: August 15, 2017
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 16, 2017
• First Posted (Actual): August 21, 2017

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): August 21, 2017
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 16, 2017
• Last Verified: August 1, 2017

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: children; sedentary time; prolonged sitting; classroom; time-on-task
• Other Study ID Numbers: HUM00117049

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No