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Pedestrian Behavior Following Implementation of a Walking School Bus

This study has been completed.

Sponsors and Collaborators: University of Washington
Baylor College of Medicine
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Information provided by: University of Washington
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00402701
  Purpose

The purpose of this study is to determine whether a walking school bus program can increase the number of children walking to school and decrease the number of children driven by car to school.


Condition Intervention
Obesity
Behavioral: Walking School Bus Program

MedlinePlus related topics:   Obesity    Obesity in Children   

U.S. FDA Resources

Study Type:   Interventional
Study Design:   Other, Non-Randomized, Open Label, Active Control, Parallel Assignment, Efficacy Study
Official Title:   Pedestrian Behavior Following Implementation of a Walking School Bus

Further study details as provided by University of Washington:

Primary Outcome Measures:
  • Proportion of children walking or driven by car to school at one-year [ Time Frame: 1, 6 and 12 months post initiation of intervention ]

Enrollment:   735
Study Start Date:   November 2004
Study Completion Date:   April 2006

Arms Assigned Interventions
1: Experimental
Students in school with active walk-to-school promotion programs.
Behavioral: Walking School Bus Program
Schoolwide promotion of walk to school. Facilitation of parent-led walking school bus routes.
2: No Intervention
Students in schools with access to standard school district transportation resources.

Detailed Description:

Walking to school is associated with higher levels of physical activity, which is an objective of Healthy People 2010. However, parents' concerns about safety have been identified as a barrier that prevents their children from walking to school. A walking school bus (WSB) addresses these concerns by providing a supervised period of physical activity on the way to school. A WSB is a group of children led to and from school by responsible adults who walk together along a set route. The peer-reviewed literature on active travel to school is sparse. We evaluated a WSB program, to test the hypothesis that it would increase the proportion of children walking and decrease the proportion of children driven by car to school.

Comparison: We conducted an 18-month controlled, quasi-experimental trial at three public elementary schools in Seattle, Washington. The intervention school was assigned a WSB coordinator who dedicated 10-15 hours/week establishing WSB routes and implementing school activities on pedestrian safety. Each "bus" had its own set route to school from different locations in the surrounding neighborhoods and was staffed by several parent leaders. The two control schools received standard Seattle Public Schools resources on walking to school including "Safe Route Maps," a traffic and safety committee, and school safety patrols. The primary outcomes were the proportions of children who walked with and without an adult or were driven by car to school. We used the test for independent proportions to compare the proportion of children transported to school at the intervention versus control schools.

  Eligibility
Genders Eligible for Study:   Both
Accepts Healthy Volunteers:   Yes

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Enrolled in school
  • Present on the day of the survey at one of 3 study schools.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Absent on the day of the survey at one of 3 study schools.
  Contacts and Locations

Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00402701

Locations
United States, Washington
Harborview Injury Prevention Research Center - University of Washington    
      Seattle, Washington, United States, 98104

Sponsors and Collaborators
University of Washington
Baylor College of Medicine
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Investigators
Principal Investigator:     Brian D Johnston, MD MPH     University of Washington    
  More Information


Study ID Numbers:   04-3850-E/A
First Received:   November 21, 2006
Last Updated:   October 30, 2007
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:   NCT00402701
Health Authority:   United States: Institutional Review Board

Keywords provided by University of Washington:
walking  
motor activity  
students  
schools
transportation
motor vehicles

Study placed in the following topic categories:
Body Weight
Signs and Symptoms
Obesity
Nutrition Disorders
Overweight
Overnutrition

ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on October 03, 2008




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