Realist evaluation of the impact and transferability of a greening of school playgrounds program: The APPIE GREEN study protocol

Abstract

Background

Promoting access to nature for children living in urban areas through the greening of school grounds is a promising "health in all policies" measure, particularly because it would enable children to benefit from the advantages of "natural" play, i.e. unstructured play based on interaction with natural elements. But this is dependent on certain conditions. The aim of the APPIE GREEN study is to analyse the conditions under which the greening of school playgrounds as part of an experiment, the Cours Buissonnières programme run in the city of Bordeaux in France, encourages natural play.

Methods

The design is an observational multiple case study which follows the realist evaluation paradigm. In a cyclical process, we will study 7 schools in the city of Bordeaux, which constitute the 7 case studies. The data collected will be qualitative in nature, based on observations of spaces and their uses, semi-structured interviews with school staff and open interviews with children. The aim of the data collection is to characterise the contextual elements (Ce and Ci), the mechanisms (M), and the results (O) of each case and to iteratively validate the CeCiMO configurations, considered as the functions through which greening encourages natural play.

Discussion

The results of this study aim to propose explanatory configurations for the way in which the programme encourages the exercise of natural play. The aim is to theorise how this works in order to define the conditions for transferability: how, under what conditions and for whom does it work? More pragmatically, this will make it possible i) to provide project leaders with detailed recommendations ii) to disseminate the key elements to be implemented in school grounds but also elsewhere in the city iii) to propose advocacy for the greening of children's environments.