Feasibility of an Implementation Strategy for a Physical Activity Program in Rural Middle Schools

Summary

The investigators aim to build on the pilot study data looking at the feasibility of implementation of Goal Setting alongside Hoosier Sport at two schools (Eastern Greene Middle School and White River Valley Middle School). The investigators plan to assess the effect of goal setting on physical activity engagement and psychological measures across the two schools. One school will receive the goal setting intervention in Fall while the other will receive it in Spring.

Detailed Description

The study will assess the effect of goal setting on physical activity implementation strategy through a comparison of two rural middle schools: White River Valley (WRV) and Eastern Greene (EG). This will be a quasi-experimental, school-level crossover design. There will be an intervention semester and control semester at each school. For the intervention semester, Students will receive the 6-weeks of 30-minute small group sessions spent establishing and checking in on goals on a goal-setting worksheet. The program will be delivered during the school's lunch period. Students will get 15 minutes to eat prior to getting into their small groups to complete the goal-setting worksheet. The subjects will be able to eat throughout the group time as well. During this 6-week timeframe, participants will receive pedometers (step trackers) that the participants can wear throughout the duration of the goal setting program. Participants are not required to wear or use the pedometers to set their goals; however, participants will be encouraged to use the pedometer as a potential physical activity to set goals around (steps). At the end of the 6 weeks, participants will be asked to return the pedometer. With the goal setting worksheets, participants will set physical activity goals, track their progress, and check in on their goals throughout the program with members of the study team. Students will also complete all required data collection related to the study. Data collection will include both quantitative and qualitative measures and occur as follows: once the week before the group sessions start (with a survey inquiring about how participants feel toward physical activity and wearing an accelerometer for a 7 day period), the 6th week of the goal-setting sessions (students will wear the accelerometer for one more week), and the week after week 6 (students will complete a survey that includes questions about their experience with the goal-setting sessions and how participants feel toward physical activity). White River Valley will be the intervention school in Fall 2026 and Eastern Greene will be the intervention school in Spring 2027. Study procedures include an initial meeting to collect demographic information, introduce the intervention, and complete baseline assessments. The non-intervention semester will be the control semester. During the control semester, participating students will receive a small health pamphlet with information on the benefits of physical activity and setting goals around physical activity. The participants will fill out two surveys during this semester (one at the beginning and one at the end) at a time chosen by the school and study team. This will take approximately 15-20 minutes to complete. Subjects will also wear accelerometers to track physical activity for 1 week around the time that each survey is completed. During the weeks in which participants are wearing the accelerometers, there will be a 'compliance check' once per week to ensure the accelerometers are actively being worn. This design ensures that data collected from both schools will inform the effectiveness of the implementation strategy and its impact on key clinical outcomes, such as physical activity levels and psychological health indicators. By comparing outcomes between WRV and EG, the study will evaluate whether goal setting alongside sport-based youth development programming improves children's physical activity levels and related health metrics in rural middle school settings.

Eligibility Criteria

Interventions