For Immediate Release: February 9, 2011
WELLESLEY, MA -- The National Institute on Out-of-School Time (NIOST) at the Wellesley Centers for Women has received a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP) to conduct a comprehensive outcomes research study of After School Gets Moving, a physical activity training resource tool for out-of-school time (OST) professionals. After School Gets Moving, which includes a DVD and printed corresponding exercises, was recently designed and developed by Vida Health Communications of Cambridge with funding from the CDCP.
The media-based training resource will undergo an evaluation using a rigorous experimental design led by Georgia Hall, Ph.D., Senior Research Scientist at NIOST, the principal investigator for the study. The research will assess the effectiveness of the media-based training on relevant staff knowledge and skill, the individual sites’ level of physical activity programming, and the amount of physical activity children experience during the afterschool program hours.
Along with a local intermediary/OST leader, NIOST will identify programs in January 2011 in four cities/regions across the country to participate in After School Gets Moving. Baseline data collection will begin immediately through surveys, observations, and pedometer counts of children participating in the programs. Program Directors will engage their staff in the training materials in February 2011. Data collection will repeat via surveys, observation, and pedometers two weeks and then ten weeks following the staff training.
The study of After School Gets Moving will provide valuable research as it documents the association of specific professional development/training with the volume of physical activity youth experience in afterschool programs. Researchers anticipate that findings from the investigation will contribute valuable insight to OST professionals’ understanding of the promotion of physical activity behaviors and the role that afterschool program hours may play in providing physical activity experiences to children. This project will also assess the value added of media-based professional development and document effective training implementation strategies.
For more than 30 years, the National Institute on Out-of-School Time has advanced the afterschool field through its research, education and training, consultation, and field-building. Much of NIOST’s work has encompassed projects of national scope and influence focusing on building out-of-school time systems and high quality experiences for children and youth. Learn more at www.niost.org.
