Dr. Patti-Jean Naylor presents research on Action Schools BC

This week Dr. Patti-Jean Naylor from the University of Victoria, Canada, visited the Youth & Health research group of the EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, led by Dr. Mai Chinapaw.

Dr. Naylor presented results on the evaluation of the Action Schools BC program, a best-practice project to provide school children in British Colombia, Canada with more options to make healthy choices regarding physical activity and healthy eating. The health outcome evaluation she presented strongly indicates that  the model was effective at increasing the physical activity level of students, and contributed to improvements in their bone health, heart health, dietary requirement awareness, and academic performance. Pilot research regarding the healthy eating part of the model suggested that the initiative was effective at changing the pattern of vegetable and fruit consumption of school children in Grades 4 to 7.

This program has strong similarities with projects conducted at EMGO, such as the DoIT, Go4it and Jump-in projects.