1. Effects of Funding Allocation for Safe Routes to School Programs on Active Commuting to School and Related Behavioral, Knowledge, and Psychosocial Outcomes.
- Author
-
Hoelscher, Deanna, Ory, Marcia, Dowdy, Diane, Miao, Jingang, Atteberry, Heather, Nichols, Donna, Evans, Alexandra, Menendez, Tiffni, Lee, Chanam, and Wang, Suojin
- Subjects
WORK environment ,AUTOMOTIVE transportation ,COMMUTERS ,CARPOOLS ,TELECOMMUTING - Abstract
Few controlled evaluations of Safe Routes to School (SRTS) initiatives have been conducted. The Texas Childhood Obesity Prevention Policy Evaluation (T-COPPE) study included three conditions: schools awarded infrastructure (I) projects (n = 23), schools awarded noninfrastructure (NI) projects (n = 21), and matched comparison (C) schools (n = 34). Fourth-grade children completed tallies to determine transport to/from schools. Serial cross-sectional surveys were collected from students and parents at baseline (2009) and follow-up (2012). Data were analyzed using mixed linear regression and growth curve models. Morning percent active commuting to school (ACS) in I and NI schools were higher than C schools (p = .024, p = .013, respectively). Afternoon percent ACS in NI schools decreased more over time compared with C schools (p = .009). I and NI school students had higher ACS self-efficacy; similar results were noted for parents in I schools. Policies that provide cost-reimbursement funding for SRTS achieve modest short-term ACS outcomes, with few differences between types of funding allocations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2016
- Full Text
- View/download PDF