Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 30, 2026
Physical Activity Measurement in Children Accepting Table Tennis Training
Published on: July 27, 2022
Evaluation of physical activity interventions in children via the reach, efficacy/effectiveness, adoption,
Tara McGoey1, Zach Root1, Mark W Bruner1
1Schulich School of Education, Nipissing University, 100 College Drive, North Bay, ON P1B 8L7, Canada.
Insights
Physical activity interventions for children often lack reporting on real-world applicability. Future studies should detail generalizability and translation factors for better health promotion practice.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric health promotion
- Exercise science
- Public health interventions
Background:
- Existing reviews of physical activity (PA) interventions for children (ages 5-11) primarily assess efficacy (internal validity).
- These reviews often neglect the applicability of findings regarding generalizability and translatability (external validity).
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the extent to which randomized and non-randomized PA interventions in children report on internal and external validity factors.
- Utilized the RE-AIM (Reach, Efficacy/Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, Maintenance) framework for assessment.
Main Methods:
- Systematic search of controlled interventions published within the last 12 years.
- Inclusion criteria applied to identify relevant studies.
- Analysis of 78 studies using the RE-AIM framework.
Main Results:
- Most studies (78 identified) focused on internal validity aspects like sample size, intervention location, and efficacy/effectiveness.
- Minimal reporting was found for external validity indicators such as participant representativeness, costs, fidelity, and sustainability.
Conclusions:
- Findings highlight a significant gap in reporting real-world applicability for pediatric PA interventions.
- Future interventions must address practical challenges and limitations to facilitate translation into health promotion practice.
Context:
Existing reviews of physical activity (PA) interventions designed to increase PA behavior exclusively in children (ages 5 to 11years) focus primarily on the efficacy (e.g., internal validity) of the interventions without addressing the applicability of the results in terms of generalizability and translatability (e.g., external validity).
Objective:
This review used the RE-AIM (Reach, Efficacy/Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, Maintenance) framework to measure the degree to which randomized and non-randomized PA interventions in children report on internal and external validity factors.
Methods And Results:
A systematic search for controlled interventions conducted within the past 12years identified 78 studies that met the inclusion criteria. Based on the RE-AIM criteria, most of the studies focused on elements of internal validity (e.g., sample size, intervention location and efficacy/effectiveness) with minimal reporting of external validity indicators (e.g., representativeness of participants, start-up costs, protocol fidelity and sustainability).
Conclusions:
Results of this RE-AIM review emphasize the need for future PA interventions in children to report on real-world challenges and limitations, and to highlight considerations for translating evidence-based results into health promotion practice.
