'FIFA 11 for Health' for Europe. 1: Effect on health knowledge and well-being of 10- to 12-year-old Danish school children

Colin W Fuller, Christina Øyangen Ørntoft, Malte Nejst Larsen, Anne-Marie Elbe, Laila Ottesen, Astrid Junge, Jiri Dvorak, Peter Krustrup

11 Citations (Scopus)
143 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Aim To modify the 'FIFA 11 for Health' programme to the European situation, and to assess its effects on health knowledge and well-being in Danish school children. Method A two-cohort study with seven intervention and two control schools. Of the 546 Danish children (boys 269; girls 277) of mean age 11.1 (±0.4) years from five city and four country-side schools, 402 undertook the 'FIFA 11 for Health' programme and 144 acted as controls. As part of each school's PE curriculum, seven intervention schools received a 45 min Play Football period (football skills and 3 vs 3 games) and a 45 min Play Fair period (health issues and football drills) on a weekly-basis for 11 weeks. Control participants continued with their regular school PE activities. Participants completed preintervention and postintervention health knowledge and well-being questionnaires. Results Overall, health knowledge increase was significantly (p<0.05) greater for the intervention group (11.9%) than the control group (2.6%). Significant (p<0.05) between-group differences were obtained for 8 of 10 health topics (6.1-20.2%) related to physical activity, nutrition, hygiene and well-being. The social dimension of the well-being questionnaire was significantly (p<0.05) improved in the intervention group compared to the control group, but there were no significant between-group effects for the physical, emotional and school dimensions. Positive reporting about the programme was given by 72.4% of the children and only 4.8% reported negatively. Conclusions The 'FIFA 11 for Health' programme modified for Europe demonstrated positive effects on children's health knowledge and social dimension of well-being, thereby providing evidence that the football-based health education programme can be used effectively within a European school's curriculum to increase physical activity, well-being and health knowledge.

Original languageEnglish
JournalBritish Journal of Sports Medicine
Volume51
Issue number20
Pages (from-to)1483-1489
Number of pages7
ISSN0306-3674
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2017

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of ''FIFA 11 for Health' for Europe. 1: Effect on health knowledge and well-being of 10- to 12-year-old Danish school children'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this