BACKGROUND: Declining physical activity (PA) among schoolchildren is a global issue. Schools play a crucial role in children's PA, as they spend most of their waking hours at school. Therefore, developing an easy-to-implement school-based physical activity program is important. PURPOSE: This study was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of using gamified exercise in health education classes to enhance PA levels among schoolchildren. METHODS: A randomized controlled pilot design was applied. Two elementary schools were randomly assigned, respectively, to an experimental group (EG; n = 47) that received a gamified fitness program with reciprocal physical education and a control group (CG; n = 44) that received reciprocal physical education only. The gamified fitness program, developed and validated by a multidisciplinary team, was delivered during health education classes. PA levels were measured using AI-wireless wrist sensors worn during schooltime at three points, including the first week (T1), sixth week (T2), and 12th week (T3) of the program. Program feasibility was assessed using participant satisfaction and analyzed using Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE). RESULTS: PA levels at the three time points (T3-T1) were significantly different between the two groups. The results of GEE analysis revealed that daily steps (mean difference ± SE: 4,068.4 ± 1,144.1 steps), total PA (84.4 ± 16.0 min), light PA (LPA; 72.6 ± 15.3 min), and moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA; 12.1 ± 2.9 min) increased significantly more over time in the EG than the CG. Moreover, approximately 85% of the EG identified the PA program as being satisfactory and feasible. CONCLUSIONS/IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: The results of the pilot trial conducted in this study demonstrate the feasibility of integrating gamified exercise into school health education classes and the potential of this program to increase physical activity levels in schoolchildren significantly. The success of the developed program is attributable to its multidisciplinary approach, engaging design, and focus on core strength and cardiorespiratory endurance. Gamified fitness in health education may be used to promote activity, support inclusive policies, and reduce disparities among school-age students.
Hsiao et al. (Tue,) studied this question.