Long-Term Perspectives of a School-Based Intervention to Promote Active School Transportation

There is a global need for sustainable interventions that increase physical activity among children, and active school transportation (AST) can promote physical activity among schoolchildren. Therefore, an intervention based on gamification, empowerment, and social cognitive theory was initiated in 2016 to promote AST. The aim of this study was to follow up on participants' experiences one and two years after the AST intervention was initiated. Data were collected through focus groups and individual interviews which were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Thirty-one pupils (2017), and forty pupils (2018) aged 9-10 years, two teachers (2017, 2018) and one principal (2018) participated in the study. The result is presented as one main theme; "Unity for an active community-An intervention towards making the active choice the easy choice" and three sub-themes; "Well begun is half done-Engagement sparks motivation", "It takes two to tango-Keep moving with gamifications and togetherness" and "Jumping on the bandwagon-From project to everyday use." The results show that the concept of the intervention was attractive to re-use and that it created a habit to use AST among the children. Interventions to promote AST can benefit from the use of engagement, togetherness, and gamification.