http://repub.eur.nl/res/aut/28062/ List of Publications en http://repub.eur.nl/static-eur/img/logo.png http://repub.eur.nl http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/23167/ 2011-03-01T00:00:00Z It is the purpose of this study to systematically review the evidence of school-based interventions targeting dietary and physical activity behaviour in primary (6-12 years old) and secondary school (12-18 years old) children in Europe. Eleven studies (reported in 27 articles) met the inclusion criteria, six in primary school and five in secondary school children. Interventions were evaluated in terms of behavioural determinants, behaviour (diet and physical activity) and weight-related outcomes (body mass index [BMI] or other indicators of obesity). The results suggest that combining educational and environmental components that focus on both sides of the energy balance give better and more relevant effects. Furthermore, computer-tailored personalized education in the classroom showed better results than a generic classroom curriculum. Environmental interventions might include organized physical activities during breaks, or before and after school; improved availability of physical activity opportunities in and around the school environment; increased physical education lesson time; improved availability or accessibility of healthy food options; and restricted availability and accessibility of unhealthy food options. More high-quality studies are needed to assess obesity-related interventions in Europe. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/22901/ 2011-02-01T00:00:00Z The aim was to study whether physical activity (PA) interventions in European teenagers are equally effective in adolescents of low versus high socio-economic status (SES). Based on a systematic review (Project TEENAGE), three school-based studies for secondary analyses were selected. SES stratified analyses were run in: (i) a Belgian multi-component intervention, (ii) a French multi-component intervention and (iii) a Belgian computer-tailored education trial. Results of the secondary analyses showed that no overall significant differences between low and high SES groups were found, but some interesting specific effects were revealed. Results from the first study showed an increase in objective PA in the low SES group (P = 0.015) compared with no significant effects in the high SES group. In the second study, larger effects were found in adolescents of high SES (increase of 11 min day-1 P < 0.001), compared with adolescents of lower SES (increase of 7 min day-1, P = 0.02) at the longer term. The third study showed a positive effect on school-related PA in adolescents of high SES (P < 0.05) and on leisure time transportation in adolescents of low SES (P < 0.05). To conclude, we were not able to show a significant widening or narrowing of inequalities in European adolescents. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/33085/ 2010-03-01T00:00:00Z The objective of the present review was to summarise the existing European published and grey literature on the effectiveness of school-based interventions to promote a healthy diet in children (6-12 years old) and adolescents (13-18 years old). Eight electronic databases, websites and contents of key journals were systematically searched, reference lists were screened, and authors and experts in the field were contacted for studies evaluating school-based interventions promoting a healthy diet and aiming at primary prevention of obesity. The studies were included if they were published between 1 January 1990 and 31 December 2007 and reported effects on dietary behaviour or on anthropometrics. Finally, forty-two studies met the inclusion criteria: twenty-nine in children and thirteen in adolescents. In children, strong evidence of effect was found for multicomponent interventions on fruit and vegetable intakes. Limited evidence of effect was found for educational interventions on behaviour, and for environmental interventions on fruit and vegetable intakes. Interventions that specifically targeted children from lower socio-economic status groups showed limited evidence of effect on behaviour. In adolescents, moderate evidence of effect was found for educational interventions on behaviour and limited evidence of effect for multicomponent programmes on behaviour. In children and adolescents, effects on anthropometrics were often not measured, and therefore evidence was lacking or delivered inconclusive evidence. To conclude, evidence was found for the effectiveness of especially multicomponent interventions promoting a healthy diet in school-aged children in European Union countries on self-reported dietary behaviour. Evidence for effectiveness on anthropometrical obesity-related measures is lacking. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/27244/ 2009-12-06T00:00:00Z Background: Although physical activity is considered to yield substantial health benefits, the level of physical activity among European teenagers is not sufficient. Adolescence is characterized by a decline in physical activity level. Many studies investigated the effectiveness of interventions promoting physical activity among young people, but none dealt with the available evidence specific for Europe. This review was conducted to summarize the effectiveness of interventions to promote physical activity among European teenagers. Methods: A systematic review was conducted to identify European intervention studies published in the scientific literature since 1995. Four databases were searched, reference lists were scanned and the publication lists of the authors of the retrieved articles were checked. The ANGELO framework was used to categorise the included studies by setting and by intervention components. Results: The literature search identified 20 relevant studies. Fifteen interventions were delivered through the school setting, of which three included a family component and another three a family and community component. One intervention was conducted within a community setting, three were delivered in primary care and one was delivered through the internet. Ten interventions included only an individual component, whereas the other ten used a multi-component approach. None of the interventions included only an environmental component. Conclusion: Main findings of the review were: (1) school-based interventions generally lead to short term improvements in physical activity levels; (2) improvements in physical activity levels by school-based interventions were limited to school related physical activity with no conclusive transfer to leisure time physical activity; (3) including parents appeared to enhance school-based interventions; (4) the support of peers and the influence of direct environmental changes increased the physical activity level of secondary school children; (5) the assumption that a multi-component approach should produce synergistic results can not be confirmed; (6) when interventions aimed to affect more than one health behaviour the intervention appeared to be less effective in favour of physical activity. Overall, the current European literature supports the short-term effectiveness of school-based physical activity promotion programmes. The available evidence for the effectiveness in other settings is rather limited and underscores the need for further research. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/35948/ 2007-06-01T00:00:00Z The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a computer-tailored physical activity intervention delivered through the Internet in a real-life setting. Healthy adults (n = 526), recruited in six worksites, between 25 and 55 years of age were randomized to one of three conditions receiving, respectively, (i) online-tailored physical activity advice + stage-based reinforcement e-mails, (ii) online-tailored physical activity advice only, (iii) online non-tailored standard physical activity advice. At 6-month follow-up, no differences in physical activity between study conditions were found; total physical activity, physical activity at moderate intensity and physical activity in leisure time significantly increased in all study conditions between baseline and follow-up. Further evaluation of the intervention materials showed that the tailored advice was more read, printed and discussed with others than the standard advice. Most of the respondents in the e-mail group indicated to be satisfied about the number, frequency and usefulness of the stage-based e-mails. In conclusion, although tailored advice was appreciated more than standard advice, no evidence was found that an online-tailored physical activity intervention program outperformed online standard information.