Opportunities in the Extended Day: Approaches for Promoting Physical Activity and Healthy Eating During Out-of-School Time.
Sarah A Sliwa, Yuilyn A Chang Chusan, Christina Dahlstrom
PMID 37670603WHAT IT FOUND
Out-of-school time programs successfully improved the environment, increasing fruit, vegetable, and water availability and physical activity during sessions.
However, few interventions changed children's overall daily eating habits or total physical activity levels outside the program hours.
Key findings
01Policy interventions effectively increased the availability of healthy foods and physical activity opportunities within after-school settings.
02While physical activity increased during programming, few interventions succeeded in shifting overall nutrition or physical activity patterns in daily life.
03Interventions that engaged families and communities were more likely to report significant improvements in both nutrition and physical activity outcomes.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
Roughly half of the studies were rated as low quality or having high risk of bias. Nineteen studies lacked a comparison group or usual care control, making it difficult to attribute changes solely to the intervention. The review excluded community-only programming and some physical activity articles due to sampling methods, potentially missing relevant interventions. Most interventions focused on after-school settings, with very few evaluating summer or before-school programs, limiting applicability to those times.
Declared interests
The authors have no conflicts to declare.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the increased physical activity during program hours as evidence that these interventions change a child's overall daily activity levels or dietary habits. The review found that few interventions succeeded in shifting these broader patterns.