Network interventions on physical activity in an afterschool program: an agent-based social network study

We studied simulated interventions that leveraged social networks to increase physical activity in children. We studied a real-world social network of 81 children (average age = 7.96 years) who lived in low socioeconomic status neighborhoods, and attended public schools and 1 of 2 structured aftersc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of public health (1971) 2015-04, Vol.105 Suppl 2 (S2), p.S236-S243
Main Authors: Zhang, Jun, Shoham, David A, Tesdahl, Eric, Gesell, Sabina B
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Behavior
Body Weights and Measures
Child
Children & youth
Exercise
Exercise/Physical Activity
Families & family life
Female
Friendship
Health Promotion - organization & administration
Humans
Intervention
Male
Obesity
Obesity/Overweight/Underweight
Opinion leaders
Organizational Objectives
Other Statistics/Evaluation/Research
Overweight - epidemiology
Poverty Areas
Program Evaluation
Project planning
Public Health
Research and Practice
Schools - organization & administration
Sedentary Behavior
Simulation
Social network analysis
Social networks
Social Support
Socioeconomic Factors
Socioeconomics
Studies
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Summary:We studied simulated interventions that leveraged social networks to increase physical activity in children. We studied a real-world social network of 81 children (average age = 7.96 years) who lived in low socioeconomic status neighborhoods, and attended public schools and 1 of 2 structured afterschool programs. The sample was ethnically diverse, and 44% were overweight or obese. We used social network analysis and agent-based modeling simulations to test whether implementing a network intervention would increase children's physical activity. We tested 3 intervention strategies. The intervention that targeted opinion leaders was effective in increasing the average level of physical activity across the entire network. However, the intervention that targeted the most sedentary children was the best at increasing their physical activity levels. Which network intervention to implement depends on whether the goal is to shift the entire distribution of physical activity or to influence those most adversely affected by low physical activity. Agent-based modeling could be an important complement to traditional project planning tools, analogous to sample size and power analyses, to help researchers design more effective interventions for increasing children's physical activity.
ISSN:0090-0036
1541-0048
DOI:10.2105/AJPH.2014.302277