The Feasibility of a Fitness Test Battery and Web-Based Platform for Monitoring Key Indicators of Adolescent Health in School Settings

Abstract

Aim: To examine the feasibility of a fitness test battery and web-based platform for monitoring key indicators of adolescent health in school settings. Methods: A process evaluation framework for feasibility studies, developed by Orsmond and Cohn (2015), was used to conduct a systematic evaluation of a student centred approach to measure and monitor health-related fitness in schools. Adolescents (N = 1215, female = 609) aged 13.4 years (SD.41) from a randomised sample of 20 schools in the Republic of Ireland, stratified for sex, location and educational (dis)advantage, completed a series of field-based fitness tests. Five feasibility benchmarks were examined, including; recruitment capability, data collection, acceptability of study procedures, resources, and an evaluation of teacher participant experiences. Various sources were used to operationalise the feasibility framework including, student (n = 795) and teacher (n = 20) evaluation surveys, test-retest reliability indices, and health-related fitness data from the 20 school expansion phase. Results: Overall, 95% of teachers (n = 19) and 79% of students (n = 618) surveyed agreed or strongly agreed that the Youth-Fit project was a worthwhile experience on a 5-point Likert scale. All feasibility benchmarks including recruitment capability, data collection procedures, resources and participant responses, were reached or exceeded. Further refinements including reducing the number of test items, increasing the time allocated for administering the test battery, and enhancing the efficiency of data input and quality of report output on the software platform are required. Conclusions: Positive feasibility benchmarks indicated that the Youth-Fit test battery and software platform represented a feasible, pedagogically sound and scientifically rigorous approach for monitoring health-related fitness in secondary school settings.