Effectiveness of a family–school–community collaborative physical activity intervention

Editorial reading guide · Collaboration

What opportunities to be active can home and school create together?

The intervention linked school, family and community settings over an academic year to encourage physical activity. Its components should be examined together when interpreting outcomes.

Who was studied?

515 fifth-grade pupils at a public primary school in Guangdong, China.

Age / stage: Ages ten to eleven

Read with three questions

1. Which parts of the intervention could the study evaluate separately?
2. How were participants assigned, and what differed between the comparison conditions?
3. Where do children, families and educators each have a voice in the evidence?

Keep the limits in view

Group comparisons can be affected by baseline differences or concurrent support. Effects of a multicomponent program may not identify a single active ingredient.