Conceptualization
Edited by: Jennifer Sacheck, George Washington University, United StatesReviewed by: Sitong Chen, Victoria University, AustraliaThis article was submitted to Children and Health, a section of the journal Frontiers in Public HealthPhysical activity is important for children’s health. However, evidence suggests that many children and adults do not meet international physical activity recommendations. Current school-based interventions have had limited effect on physical activity and alternative approaches are needed. Context, which includes school setting, ethos, staff, and sociodemographic factors, is a key and largely ignored contributing factor to school-based physical activity intervention effectiveness, impacting in several interacting ways.Current programs focus on tightly-constructed content that ignores the context in which the program will be delivered, thereby limiting effectiveness. We propose a move away from uniform interventions that maximize internal validity toward a flexible approach that enables schools to tailor content to their specific context.