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Increasing active travel to school: are we on the right track? A cluster randomised controlled trial from Sydney,
Li Ming Wen1, Denise Fry, Dafna Merom
1Health Promotion Service, Sydney South West Area Health Service Level 9, King George V Building, Missenden Road, Camperdown NSW 2050 Australia. lmwen@email.cs.nsw.gov.au
Objective:
To evaluate the effectiveness of a program to increase walking to and from school.
Design:
A cluster randomised controlled trial.
Setting:
24 primary public schools in inner west Sydney, Australia.
Participants:
1996 students aged 10-12 years and their parents.
Intervention:
A two-year multi-component program included classroom activities, development of school Travel Access Guides, parent newsletters and improving environments with local councils.
Measures:
Two measures were used: a survey completed by students on how they travelled to and from school over five days, and a survey completed by their parents on how their child travelled to and from school in a usual week.
Results:
The percentage of students who walked to and from school increased in both the intervention and control schools. Data from parent surveys found that 28.8% of students in the intervention group increased their walking, compared with 19% in the control group (a net increase of 9.8%, p=0.05). However this effect was not evident in the student data.
Conclusion:
The study produced a mixed result, with a high variation in travel patterns from school to school. Intervention research should address the complexity of multiple factors influencing student travel to school with a focus on changing local environments and parents' travel to work.
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