Assessing Change In Indicators Of Child And Youth Physical Activity In Canada, 2005-2015

The ParticipACTION Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth is an annual, comprehensive assessment of the current status of child and youth physical activity in Canada. Published for 11 consecutive years, the Report Card assigns letter grades to various indicators of physical activity. A temporal trend analysis of these indicators may help Canadian stakeholders gage progress and focus their physical activity promotion efforts. PURPOSE: To assess the change in indicators of child and youth physical activity in Canada from 2005 to 2015. METHODS: For every year the Report Card was released, an interdisciplinary Report Card Research Committee was involved in developing the indicators and assigning letter grades based on an examination of the current data and literature in Canada against a benchmark or optimal scenario. Indicators varied by year and were collapsed into one of 10 indicators for this analysis (overall physical activity, organized sport participation, active play, active transportation, sedentary behaviours, support from family and peers, school, community and environment, government, non-government). Letter grades were converted to numeric ordinal scores (A = 5, B = 4, C = 3, D = 2, F = 1). Net delta (δ) scores were then calculated by subtracting ordinal scores year over year and summing them. RESULTS: Of the 5 behavioural indicators, only 2 underwent a net change to their grades (δ organized sport participation = +1, δ sedentary behaviours = 1). All of the settings indicators (δ family and peers = +1, δ school = +2, δ community and environment = +1) and strategies and investments indicators (δ government = +1, δ non-government = +2) underwent positive net grade changes. CONCLUSION: Several positive changes in grades have been observed in the Report Card over the past 11 years, which is encouraging; however, the mostly structural changes are not translating into substantial change at the behavioural level. Canadian stakeholders are encouraged to focus their efforts on physical activity promotion that directly targets physical activity behaviours in children and youth.