Psychosocial Effects of Physical Activity Interventions for Preschoolers, Children, and Adolescents: Role of Intervention Settings

Objective Physical activity interventions are potential strategies to enhance psychosocial health of children and adolescents. Interventions are performed at diverse settings (e.g., school, home, community), but little research has addressed whether and how the effectiveness of these programs vary by setting type. The aim of this review is to summarize the psychosocial effects of physical activity programs for preschoolers, children, and adolescents at various intervention settings. Data Source A systematic search of five electronic databases, MEDLINE-PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, CENTRAL, and Scopus was performed. Study inclusion and exclusion criteria Included studies had participants between 3-18 years, physical activity intervention duration of at least four weeks, experimental design, and at least one psychosocial health outcome. Data Extraction Data on participants, intervention, comparison, outcomes, and findings were extracted. Data Synthesis Data were synthesized by the intervention setting; school, home, and community. Results Of the thirty-five included studies, 74% were performed at schools. Although fewer studies used community (17%)- and home-based (9%) interventions, these were similarly effective in improving psychosocial health as school-based interventions. Conclusions Community- and home-based intervention settings may be underutilized despite being similarly effective as school-based settings. A large proportion of time is spent out of school during weekends and summer-break. Community- and home-based physical activity programs may be pragmatic strategies to deliver improvements in psychosocial health of preschoolers, children, and adolescents.