title: Will they stay fit and healthy? A three-year follow-up evaluation of a physical activity and health intervention in Polish youth.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  In this paper we evaluate the sustainability of changes of involvement in physical activity. The paper examines the effectiveness of a model aiming at influencing the frequency of leisure time physical activity, physical fitness and body constituency in youth.
  
  
  METHODS
  The baseline of this study was a randomly selected sample of 13 year olds who participated in an intervention programme carried out in three schools in Poznan in 2005-08. From a total of 199 adolescent boys a subsample of 38 individuals from the experimental group and 34 from the control group were followed for 15 months after the interventional programme finished. From 170 girls, a subsample of 33 from the experimental group and 32 girls from the control group were also randomly selected for the follow-up study. Among the variables monitored were: physical fitness, body constituency, and frequency of leisure time physical activity. All the variables were monitored in pre-test, post-test and follow-up examinations.
  
  
  RESULTS
  It was established that 15 months after the end of the interventional programme boys and girls from the intervention groups maintained a higher level of leisure time physical activity than their control group peers, and similarly in the case of selected health-related components of physical fitness. No distinctive differences were found in the case of body constituency, though, apart from muscle mass and the sum of skinfolds in girls.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study exposed an increase in leisure time physical activity in time and a positive influence on selected components of health-related variables. The findings confirm the effectiveness of a multi-level intervention programme involving self-determined out-of-school physical activity planning for school-age youths, indicating the importance of personal and social context.
authors.affiliation: Department of Methodology of Teaching Physical Education, University School of Physical Education, 61-871 Poznań, Poland. bronikowski.michal@wp.pl
authors.forename: Michal
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bronikowski
authors.forename: Malgorzata
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bronikowska
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001824:Body Constitution / Q000502:physiology; D015992:Body Mass Index; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D015438:Health Behavior; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007899:Leisure Activities; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology; D010809:Physical Fitness / Q000502:physiology; D011044:Poland; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012885:Skinfold Thickness