Active Schools, Healthier Futures: An Analysis of School-Based Physical Activity Interventions in Preventing Lifestyle Disorders

Abstract

Obesity and type 2 diabetes, which are lifestyle disorders, as well as early cardiovascular risk factors are being reported in school-aged children across the globe with a high public health concern (WHO 2022). High rates of urbanisation, a lack of outdoor play, protracted screen time and sedentary learning conditions have all played a significant role in the deterioration of physical activity among children and adolescents (Guthold et al. 2020). Schools, in this case, are a strategic and inclusive avenue of carrying out preventive health intervention in form of physical activity programs. In the current research, the researcher seeks to evaluate the efficacy of school-based physical activity programs in lifestyle disease prevention in children through their effects on physical activity, anthropometric measurements and chosen health outcomes. The proposed analytical design is quantitative design, and the study will be based on school-going children (10-16 years old) who would be sampled using stratified random sampling. The validated physical activity questionnaires, anthropometrics measurements, including body mass index and waist circumference, and simple physical fitness evaluations will be used to collect data. Descriptive statistics and inferential test will be used to statistically analyze data to determine the difference in health indicators in intervention group and comparison group. It is believed that the study will indicate that regular and structured physical activity interventions in schools are important in improving physical activity participation, eliminating risk factors related to obesity, and maximizing physical fitness in students, as is supported by the available literature (Janssen and LeBlanc 2010; Dobbins et al. 2013). The results are expected to support the role schools can play in the early prevention of non-communicable diseases and it will support the need to add mandatory physical activity programs into the school curriculum using evidence-based support. Regarding policy, the study highlights the importance of the use of coordinated education and public health interventions to support lifelong healthy behaviours that start during childhood.