Modern-day technology is appealing to children. Few studies, however, have conducted longitudinal analyses of a school-based exergaming program\'s effect on physical activity (PA) behaviors and fitness in children. Therefore, this study examined the longitudinal effect of an 8-month school-based exergaming intervention on children\'s objectively-measured PA and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF).
Eighty-one fourth grade students (X̅age = 9.23 ± 0.62; 39 girls; 54.3% African American, 30.9% Non-Hispanic White, 14.8% other) participated in this study from 2014-2015. The intervention school\'s children participated in a once-weekly 50-minute exergaming intervention during recess throughout the school year, while the control school continued regular recess. Children\'s in-school PA and sedentary behavior (SB) were measured with ActiGraphGT3X+
accelerometers, with CRF assessed via the half-mile run. All measurements were taken at baseline, mid-intervention (four months) and post-intervention (eight months). Repeated-measures two-way ANCOVAs using age and race as covariates were conducted to examine between-school differences over time for SB, light PA (LPA), moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA), and CRF.
Significant time by group interactions were observed for LPA, F(1, 79) = 7.82, η2 = 0.09, p < 0.01, and MVPA, F(1, 79) = 4.58, η2 = 0.06, p < 0.05, as LPA increased among the control group, while MVPA increased among intervention group. Children in both groups experienced decreased SB during the intervention (intervention: -7.63 minutes; control: -17.59 minutes), but demonstrated lower CRF over time (intervention: +46.73 seconds; control: +61.60 seconds).
Observations suggested that school-based exergaming implementation may be effective in increasing children\'s MVPA and decreasing their SB over the course an academic year (i.e., ~eight months). More research is needed, however, to discern how modifications to school-based exergaming might also promote improved CRF in children.