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Testing for inter-group contamination in a controlled longitudinal study of added physical education
R Labarre1, J C Jéquier, R J Shephard
1Faculty of Health Sciences, Université de Québec à Trois Rivières, Canada.
Objective:
This case report examines whether there was any cross-contamination between students enrolled in classes that received additional physical education, and their siblings who were enrolled in preceding and succeeding class-cohorts.
Experimental Design:
A controlled longitudinal study extending over 6 years of primary school.
Setting:
An urban and a rural primary school in Québec.
Participants:
546 primary students, comprising approximately equal numbers of boys and girls from the urban and the rural school.
Intervention:
Entire class-cohorts were given and hour of additional physical education ach day throughout their primary schooling, with immediately preceding and succeeding class-cohorts serving as controls.
Measures:
The measured data included standing height, body mass, maximal oxygen intake (direct treadmill test) and PWC170.
Results:
We found no evidence of cross-contamination between siblings in experimental and control class-cohorts.
Conclusion:
Although a theoretical possibility, cross-contamination between students in preceding and succeeding class-cohorts does not seem an important source of error in primary school students, presumably because such children prefer to play with friends from their immediate age cohort.