Introduction
Increasing children’s cycling to school and physical activity are national health
goals. The objective was to conduct an RCT of a bicycle train program to assess impact
on students’ school travel mode and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA).
Study design
Pilot cluster RCT with randomization at the school level and N=54 participants.
Setting/participants
Fourth–fifth graders from four public schools serving low-income families in Seattle,
WA in 2014 with analyses in 2015–2016. All participants were provided and fitted with
bicycles, safety equipment (helmets, locks, and lights), and a 2- to 3-hour bicycle
safety course.
Intervention
The intervention was a bicycle train offered daily (i.e., students volunteered to
cycle with study staff to and from school).
Main outcome measures
Time 1 assessments occurred prior to randomization. Time 2 assessments occurred after
3–5 weeks of the intervention (i.e., during Weeks 4–6 of the intervention period).
The primary outcome was the percentage of daily commutes to school by cycling measured
by validated survey. MVPA, measured by accelerometry and GPS units and processed by
machine learning algorithms, was a secondary outcome.
Results
For two separate adjusted repeated measures linear mixed effects models in which students
(N=54) were nested within schools (N=4), intervention participants had: (1) an absolute
increase in mean percentage of daily commutes by cycling of 44.9%, (95% CI=26.8, 63.0)
and (2) an increase in mean MVPA of 21.6 minutes/day, (95% CI=8.7, 34.6) from Time
1 to Time 2 compared with controls.
Conclusions
A pilot bicycle train intervention increased cycling to school and daily MVPA in the
short term among diverse, inner-city elementary school students. The bicycle train
intervention appears promising and warrants further experimental trials among large,
diverse samples with longer follow-up.
Trial registration
This study is registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov NCT02006186.
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Article Info
Publication History
Published online: June 28, 2017
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© 2017 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
