۱- Introduction

۲- Methods

۳- Results

۴- Discussion

۵- Conclusion

References

Abstract

Active transportation to school (ATS) is a recognized way to increase physical activity (PA). However, girls and young women do not regularly use ATS despite the many documented physical, mental, and community health benefits. Social Marketing (SM) may provide a framework for understanding girls’ perspectives of and experience with ATS and inform messages for use in a public health marketing campaign. Focus groups with 79 girls between the ages of 7 and 15 were conducted in Spring 2017 in Victoria, Canada. Transcripts and poster data were initially categorized using the ‘۴Ps’ from social marking (Product, Price, Place and Promotion). Participant groups were segmented into three age categories for designing tailored messaging. Thematic analysis revealed elementary school aged participants identified health and fun while middle school participants valued socializing and helping the environment as reasons for engaging in ATS. For secondary school students, ATS was seen as a way to become more independent. All three highlighted fun and enjoyment as important benefits of ATS, and suggested positive and lighthearted messaging. Segmenting into different audiences highlighted how campaign segmentation would resonate with different audiences based on core values and beliefs. Further segmentation of the audience could result in different core values and beliefs held by diverse groups.

Introduction

Despite the strong connection between physical activity (PA) and lifelong health, only 7%–۹% of Canadian children and youth participate in 60 min or more of moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) daily, putting them at risk for developing chronic illnesses such as cardiovascular disease (CVD) and Type II diabetes (Barnes et al., 2016; Patnode et al., 2010; Spurr et al., 2016; Tremblay et al., 2016). Regular exercise is known to have effects on academic and mental health outcomes in children, and positive PA behaviours track into adulthood (Lees and Hopkins, 2013; Malina, 1996). Research shows that girls do less PA than boys including physically active travel (Davison et al., 2008; Dumith et al., 2011; Pearson et al., 2015; Spurr et al., 2016; Trost et al., 2002). Thus, girls do not benefit as much from the association between active transportation to school (ATS) and PA (Buliung, Flora, & Fusco, 2009; Patnode et al., 2010). ATS includes walking, cycling, skating, as well as taking public transportation to school (Frazer et al., 2015). Girls who use ATS report 4.7 to 40 min more MVPA than non-ATS users (Faulkner et al., 2009). Estimates are that 24–۲۶% of Canadian 5–۱۷-year olds use ATS regularly, but inactive modes of travel have steadily eclipsed active modes since 2000 (Canadian Fitness and Lifestyle Research Institute, 2012; Mammen et al., 2014; ParticipACTION, 2016). Along with gender, major determinants of ATS include distance of more than one kilometer from school and age (Panter et al., 2008). Other behavioural change determinants may influence ATS, such as the built environment, weather, family dynamics, modelling, and independent mobility (Bere et al., 2011; De Meester et al., 2013; Mitra and Faulkner, 2012; Pang et al., 2017; Pont et al., 2009). Determinants are sometimes framed by theory with socio-ecological and social cognitive theory (SCT) the most prevalent (Buttazzoni et al., 2018). Two recent reviews have found extremely varied intervention effectiveness (Pang et al., 2017; Villa-González et al., 2018).