Development of the Fitness Education Index: A Scale of Organizational Level Capacity

ABSTRACT

Purpose: Fitness education is essential for children’s health, but determining the effectiveness of instruction related to health-related fitness is difficult. The present study developed and confirmed the validity of a 20-item scale, adapted from the School Health Index (Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention [CDC], 2014), to evaluate the success of fitness education portion of the Presidential Youth Fitness Program (PYFP) across a sample of 785 teachers. Method: The initial subset (n = 373) represented 353 schools and was used for conducting an exploratory factor analysis. The second subset (n = 412) representing 404 schools, was used to conduct the confirmatory factor analysis. Teachers self-assessed their perceived degree of implementation of fitness education (full, partial, under development, not in place) within their school (i.e., teachers helped students set fitness goals). Results: An initial exploratory factor analysis revealed that the Fitness Education Index questions clustered into six factors. A subsequent confirmatory factor analysis conducted using Mplus concluded the six-factor solution was a good fit (CFI = 0.90, TLI = 0.88, RMSEA = 0.08, SRMR = 0.06). Conclusion: This scale is a valid measure of a school’s readiness to initiate and track progress toward the full implementation of fitness education.

KEYWORDS:

• Physical fitness
• schools
• children
• factor analysis

Acknowledgments

The Fitness Education Index was created as part of the large-scale evaluation of the Presidential Youth Fitness Program (PYFP), which could not have occurred without the generosity of the General Mills Foundation. We would also like to thank the participating program partners, Human Kinetics, The Cooper Institute, SHAPE America (formerly called the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance; AAHPERD), and the school representatives who facilitated data collection and the implementation of the PYFP. For more information about the evaluation of the Presidential Youth Fitness Program, please contact:

Seraphine Pitt Barnes, Ph.D., MPH, CHES

Health Scientist

Division of Population Health

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

4770 Buford Highway NE, MS K-27

Atlanta, GA 30341

Phone: [phone]

E-mail: [email protected]

IRB Approval

The research outlined in this paper was part of the study entitled, Phase one: The Implementation of the Presidential Youth Fitness Program, were reviewed by The University of Texas at Austin Institutional Review Board and were considered exempt. The University of Texas at Austin Institutional Review Board approved the overall process evaluation as a research study (FWA# 00002030; IRB# 2013-12-0050).