Rationale and development of the Move More North Carolina: Recommended Standards for After-School Physical Activity.
The purpose of this article is to describe the rationale and procedure employed in developing the Move More North Carolina: Recommended Standards for After-School Physical Activity, which was publicly released statewide in April 2009. The Standards outline evidenced-based best practices for after-school programs to implement in order to increase amount and quality of physical activity (PA) among program participants. The Standards can be applied in any after-school program and were developed to benefit the approximately 152,000 school-aged children who are served by NC after-school programs each year. These programs often serve children at high risk for physical inactivity, including children from racial/ethnic minorities, impoverished areas, with disabilities, and/or living in neighborhoods with limited PA opportunities. The rationale for developing standards for PA in after-school programs is threefold: (1) such programs can provide enjoyable, safe, and age-appropriate PA; (2) they can facilitate family involvement, community partnership, and increase access to PA resources; and (3) they serve children at risk for inactivity. Recommended best practices are included for the following categories: time/intensity, qualified staff/training, curriculum, program size, facilities, equipment, and evaluation. Methods used to inform The Standards included a planning team, on-line surveys, focus groups, a systematic literature review, a consensus panel, and external expert review. The impact of The Standards is yet to be seen, but the collaborative process used in their creation can serve as a model for the development of similar PA standards in other states.
Department of Public Health, Brody School of Medicine, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina 27834, USA. moorej@ecu.edu
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D003245:Consensus Statements as Topic; D003625:Data Collection; D055317:Evidence-Based Practice; D015444:Exercise; D017144:Focus Groups; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D009657:North Carolina; D010806:Physical Education and Training; D011050:Policy Making; D016730:Program Development; D012574:Schools