Alalawi, A. orcid.org/0000-0001-6525-3437, Blank, L. and Goyder, E. (2023) School-based physical activity interventions among children and adolescents in the Middle East and Arabic speaking countries: a systematic review. PLOS ONE, 18 (7). e0288135. ISSN 1932-6203
Abstract
Background It is widely recognised that noncommunicable diseases are on the rise worldwide, partly due to insufficient levels of physical activity (PA). It is a particularly concerning health issue among children and adolescents in Arabic countries where cultural and environmental factors may limit their opportunity for engaging in physical activities.
Aim This review sought to assess the effectiveness of school-based PA interventions for increasing PA among schoolchildren aged six to 18 years in Middle Eastern and Arabic-speaking countries.
Methods A systematic literature search was developed to identify studies reporting the evaluation of school-based PA interventions in Arabic-speaking countries. Four different databases were searched from January 2000 to January 2023: PubMed/MEDLINE, Web of Science, Scopus and CINAHL. Article titles and abstracts were screened for relevance. Full article scrutiny of retrieved shortlisted articles was undertaken. After citation searches and reference checking of included papers, full data extraction, quality assessment and narrative synthesis was undertaken for all articles that met the inclusion criteria. This review adhered to PRISMA guidelines for conducting systematic reviews.
Results Seventeen articles met the inclusion criteria. Eleven articles reported statistically significant improvements in the levels of PA among their participants. Based largely on self-reported outcomes, increases in PA between 58% and 72% were reported. The studies with a follow-up period greater than three months reported sustained PA levels. There are a limited range of types of programmes evaluated and evaluations were only identified from 30% of the countries in the region. Relatively few studies focused solely on PA interventions and most of the interventions were multi-component (lifestyle, diet, education).
Conclusions This review adds to the existing body of research about the efficacy of school-based interventions to increase physical activity levels. To date, few evaluations assess PA specific interventions and most of the interventions were multi-component including education components on lifestyle and diet. Long-term school-based interventions combined with rigorous theoretical and methodological frameworks are necessary to develop, implement and evaluate PA interventions for children and adolescents in Arabic-speaking countries. Also, future work in this area must also consider the complex systems and agents by which physical activity is influenced.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2023 Alalawi et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
Keywords: | Child; Humans; Adolescent; Exercise; Schools; Educational Status; Life Style; Diet |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health (Sheffield) > School of Health and Related Research (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 10 Jul 2023 14:01 |
Last Modified: | 10 Jul 2023 14:01 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1371/journal.pone.0288135 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:201367 |