Comprehensive School Physical Activity Programming and Activity Enjoyment

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a comprehensive school physical activity program (CSPAP) on physical activity enjoyment in children from low-income schools.

Participants were 758 children recruited from the 3rd-6th grade (mean age = 10.1 ± 0.5 years; 376 girls and 382 boys) from 3 schools receiving governmental financial assistance in the US. CSPAP was implemented over one semester during the 2014-2015 school year. We assessed physical activity enjoyment at baseline and at a 12-week follow-up using the Physical Activity Enjoyment Scale. We used a mixed-design 4 × 2 × 2 analysis of covariance test with repeated measures to examine the effect of grade, sex, and time (baseline, follow-up) on enjoyment scores, adjusting for the clustering of students within classrooms and schools.

There were greater enjoyment scores at follow-up compared to baseline (Mean Difference = 7%, p < .001); however, the increase only represented a small sized effect (d = 0.26). Post hoc tests revealed that greater improvements in enjoyment were seen in older children compared to third graders (p < .001).

The CSPAP marginally improved enjoyment levels in children from low-income schools and we found greater improvements in older children.