Abstract
Background: The 2021 Active Healthy Kids Scotland Report Card aimed to identify secular trends and socio-economic inequalities, and to assess the health of children and youth prior to COVID-19.
Methods: An expert panel searched for data published in 2018-2020. Grades were assigned to nationally representative data using the Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance methodology.
Results: The expert panel, following national consultation, awarded the following grades: Community/Environment B-, Organized Sport and Physical Activity B-, Government/Policy C/C+, Active Transportation C-, Family/Peers D-, Recreational Screen Time F. Five indicators were graded inconclusive (INC): Overall Physical Activity; Active Play; Physical Fitness; Diet; Obesity. Grades have
remained stable or declined, and surveillance has reduced, increasing the number of INC grades.
There were marked socio-economic inequalities for eight indicators (Recreational Screen Time; Overall Physical Activity; Organized Sport & Physical Activity; Active Transportation; Diet; Obesity; Family/Peers; Community/Environment).
Conclusions: Despite a decade of favorable policy, physical activity and health of children and youth has not improved, and marked socio-economic inequalities continue to persist in Scotland. There is a clear need for greater monitoring of physical activity and health, and improved policy implementation and evaluation, particularly as many indicators and related inequalities may have worsened following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods: An expert panel searched for data published in 2018-2020. Grades were assigned to nationally representative data using the Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance methodology.
Results: The expert panel, following national consultation, awarded the following grades: Community/Environment B-, Organized Sport and Physical Activity B-, Government/Policy C/C+, Active Transportation C-, Family/Peers D-, Recreational Screen Time F. Five indicators were graded inconclusive (INC): Overall Physical Activity; Active Play; Physical Fitness; Diet; Obesity. Grades have
remained stable or declined, and surveillance has reduced, increasing the number of INC grades.
There were marked socio-economic inequalities for eight indicators (Recreational Screen Time; Overall Physical Activity; Organized Sport & Physical Activity; Active Transportation; Diet; Obesity; Family/Peers; Community/Environment).
Conclusions: Despite a decade of favorable policy, physical activity and health of children and youth has not improved, and marked socio-economic inequalities continue to persist in Scotland. There is a clear need for greater monitoring of physical activity and health, and improved policy implementation and evaluation, particularly as many indicators and related inequalities may have worsened following the COVID-19 pandemic.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 317-322 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Journal of Exercise Science & Fitness |
| Volume | 20 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| Early online date | 19 Jul 2022 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Oct 2022 |
Bibliographical note
AcknowledgementsWe acknowledge the Board of the Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance for guidance and for reviewing the 2021 report card process and grades. We also thank the respondents to our consultation for their valuable feedback. FB, SAT, JR, LCAC, and JJR did not receive funding for this work. AJ was supported by the UK Medical Research Council and the Chief Scientist Office (grant numbers MC_UU_00022/1 , MC_UU_00022/4; SPHSU16, SPHSU19).
Keywords
- Physical activity
- Sedentary behaviour
- Health
- Childhood
- Adolescence
- Surveillance
Access to Document
- Bardid_etal_JESF_Results_From_Scotland's_VoR
This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/).