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Contents - Winter 2009

Vol. 2 No. 1

Report Card on Fitness

By Matt Barron

Read more on this topic in our Online Exclusive: http://www.usask.ca/research/communications/explore/onlineexclusive_read.php?id=4

It’s a report card that measures physical activity, not academic progress, and evaluates the children of a nation, not a single child. Nonetheless it would make any parent squirm.

The 2008 National Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth delivered Canadian kids an F grade, down from an already dismal D-minus in 2007. Increased time in front of the TV and computer was shown to be a contributing factor.

To help combat these slipping grades, researchers at the University of Saskatchewan, headed by kinesiologist Karen Chad, are helping communities across Canada promote physical activity through an innovative and successful strategy.

In 2000, in collaboration with the U of S, City of Saskatoon, and ParticipACTION, the Saskatoon Health Region created the in motion program, to encourage people to take advantage of the health benefits of exercise, such as preventing osteoporosis and heart disease.

“Learning how to be physically active is similar to learning how to read in that once you’ve learned the process, it will take you through the rest of your life,” says Chad, acting vice-president of research and professor in the U of S College of Kinesiology.

The National Report Card’s recommends addressing the inactivity problem by bringing together everyone from parents and health-care providers to community leaders and policymakers, and the creators of in motion have done just that. The results are surprising.

According to surveys conducted every two years by Fast Consulting, only five per cent of Saskatoon youth and children were active enough to benefit their health in 2000. But that number has jumped to 30 per cent.

The impact extended to adults. The physical activity of Saskatoon adults has climbed from 36 per cent to 50 per cent—a 14 per cent increase.

Chad attributes the program’s success to its efforts in thinking outside the gym—that is, weaving together a network of community organizations to deliver effective health-promotion programs.

Program members collaborate with schools, health-care organizations, media and community groups to provide training, education and other resources backed by sound research and evaluation.

U of S researchers from such disciplines as kinesiology, epidemiology, community health, medicine, and physical therapy probe specific issues such as the reasons for inactivity, and attempt to find ways to overcome them.

The challenge can sometimes be psychological, and not physical, Chad explains. U of S research indicates adults’ activity levels depend on their level of confidence and comfort while exercising in a particular setting, such as on the bike path or at the gym.

The program has become a model for communities across Canada. Similar programs have now been introduced in Manitoba and to various communities in British Columbia, southwestern Ontario and the Maritimes.

“Without the research and evaluation we would not be able to determine what’s working and what’s not working,” says Linda Martin, director of in motion. “And one of the big reasons in motion has been picked up by communities across the country is the fact that we have a strong evaluation basis.”

But more work needs to be done, Chad says, including more research on practical, science-based approaches to persuade kids to spend less time in front of the television and computer.

Research also needs to examine how parental “screen-time” affects the physical lifestyle of their children.

Such knowledge would be incorporated into the in motion program—and might even help communities hike those scores on the National Report Card.

For more information on the National Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth, published by Healthy Active Kids Canada, visit http://www. activehealthykids.ca/.