Pedestrian Behavior Following Implementation of a Walking School Bus

NCT ID: NCT00402701

Last Updated: 2024-05-09

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 735 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2004-11-30
• Study Completion Date: 2006-04-30

Brief Summary

The purpose of this study is to determine whether a walking school bus program can increase the number of children walking to school and decrease the number of children driven by car to school.

Detailed Description

Walking to school is associated with higher levels of physical activity, which is an objective of Healthy People 2010. However, parents' concerns about safety have been identified as a barrier that prevents their children from walking to school. A walking school bus (WSB) addresses these concerns by providing a supervised period of physical activity on the way to school. A WSB is a group of children led to and from school by responsible adults who walk together along a set route. The peer-reviewed literature on active travel to school is sparse. We evaluated a WSB program, to test the hypothesis that it would increase the proportion of children walking and decrease the proportion of children driven by car to school.

Comparison: We conducted an 18-month controlled, quasi-experimental trial at three public elementary schools in Seattle, Washington. The intervention school was assigned a WSB coordinator who dedicated 10-15 hours/week establishing WSB routes and implementing school activities on pedestrian safety. Each "bus" had its own set route to school from different locations in the surrounding neighborhoods and was staffed by several parent leaders. The two control schools received standard Seattle Public Schools resources on walking to school including "Safe Route Maps," a traffic and safety committee, and school safety patrols. The primary outcomes were the proportions of children who walked with and without an adult or were driven by car to school. We used the test for independent proportions to compare the proportion of children transported to school at the intervention versus control schools.

Conditions

Obesity

Study Design

• Allocation Method: NON_RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: OTHER
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

1

Students in school with active walk-to-school promotion programs.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Walking School Bus Program

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Schoolwide promotion of walk to school. Facilitation of parent-led walking school bus routes.

2

Students in schools with access to standard school district transportation resources.

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

Walking School Bus Program

Schoolwide promotion of walk to school. Facilitation of parent-led walking school bus routes.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Enrolled in school
• Present on the day of the survey at one of 3 study schools.

Exclusion Criteria

• Absent on the day of the survey at one of 3 study schools.

• Minimum Eligible Age: 5 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 12 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Baylor College of Medicine

OTHER

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

OTHER

Sponsor Role: collaborator

University of Washington

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Brian Johnston

Professor: School of Medicine

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Brian D Johnston, MD MPH

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University of Washington

Locations

Harborview Injury Prevention Research Center - University of Washington

Seattle, Washington, United States

Countries

United States

References

Mendoza JA, Levinger DD, Johnston BD. Pilot evaluation of a walking school bus program in a low-income, urban community. BMC Public Health. 2009 May 4;9:122. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-9-122.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 19413910 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

04-3850-E/A

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id