Compliance with physical activity guidelines for afterschool programs

Background: Physical activity (PA) guidelines for afterschool programs (ASPs) have been developed by state and national organizations. These guidelines indicate children should: engage in total PA for 20% of time (National AfterSchool Association, NAA); engage in moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) for 20% of time (North Carolina); engage in MVPA for at least 50% of the physical activity time (NAA); or accumulate a minimum of 30mins of MVPA (California) while attending an ASP. The extent to which these guidelines are currently being met is unclear. Methods: Children (N = 641) attending 19 community ASPs in two large metropolitan areas wore accelerometers for up to 4 consecutive days (Mon-Thur). Data were distilled (Evenson cutpoints) into light (LPA), moderate (MPA), and vigorous (VPA) PA. The prevalence of children meeting the guidelines was examined. Results: On average, children attended ASPs for 128.6 mins/day and accumulated 41.1 mins of LPA, 9.3 mins of MPA, and 7.9 mins of VPA. 14.6% of children met California's guideline, 22.5% met North Carolina, 97.2% met NAA's guideline of engaging in total PA for 20% of the time and 12.8% met NAA's guideline of engaging in MVPA at least 50% of the PA time. Conclusion: The majority of the children attending ASPs do not meet any of the existing MVPA guidelines, while almost all children are meeting the total PA guideline by NAA. Considerable effort, therefore, is required to identify the most appropriate PA guidelines for ASPs, monitor progress towards meeting them, and determine ways to assure ASPs meet those guidelines.