Background/Purpose As the concern over childhood obesity has continued to increase, the influence of physical activity (PA) on youth has been an integral component to the proposed solution. Despite the importance of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA), most children are not meeting recommendations to engage in at least 60 minutes on most days of the week. Recess environments that foster activity have potential to play a role in contributing to achieving recommended PA levels for youth. The purpose of this presentation is to review recess interventions aimed to improve PA among youth that were published between 1986 and May 2011.
Method An extensive literature search conducted independently by two researchers yielded over 1,800 articles. Extracted data from those studies meeting inclusion criteria included: author, publication year, age of participants, location of study, theoretical framework, primary/secondary outcomes and measures, description of intervention, and salient findings.
Analysis/Results Thirteen recess interventions were included in this study, with a majority taking place internationally (n = 8) and targeting elementary age (n = 9). Intervention strategies varied, with adding equipment (n = 8), teacher involvement (n = 4), and playground markings/PA zones (n = 5) the most popular. Most interventions used accelerometers (n = 8) to measure change in PA, with 84.6% (n = 11) reporting improved PA.
Conclusions A majority of the interventions reported some form of success. However, more research is necessary to establish best practices during recess which are conducive to increasing physical activity among all youth.