Journal Article

Impact of free summer day camp on physical activity behaviors and screentime of elementary-age children from low-income households: a randomized clinical trial

Pfledderer, Christopher D., Weaver, R. Glenn, Chen, Brian, McLain, Alexander, Burkart, Sarah, Zhu, Xuanxuan, Adams, Elizabeth, Armstrong, Bridget, Beets, Michael W., Brazendale, Keith

2025

Overview

Background To examine the efficacy of providing free summer day camp (SDC) to children from low-income families on changes in physical activity, time spent sedentary, and screentime. Methods Across three summers (2021–2023), we randomized 422 children (8.2 ± 1.5yrs, 48% female, 51% Black, 69% at or below 200% Federal Poverty Level, 30% food insecure) from seven elementary schools to one of two conditions: summer as usual (control, n  = 199) or free SDC for 8-10wks (intervention, n  = 223). Accelerometry measured activity (moderate-to-vigorous PA [MVPA] and time spent sedentary) and parent daily report of screentime were measured using a 14-day in April/May (school) and July (summer). Intent-to-treat analysis examined changes in behaviors between school and summer. Exposure models examined differences in behaviors during summer on days when children attended vs. did not attend a SDC in both intervention and control children. Results Intent-to-treat models indicated in the summer children in the intervention group accumulated + 15.0 min/day (95CI 12.0 to 18.0) more MVPA and spent − 29.7 min/day (-37.7 to -21.8) less time sedentary and − 14.1 min/day (-23.9 to -4.3) on screens, compared to children in the control group. Exposure models indicated, on days children attended SDCs, they accumulated more MVPA (+ 26.1 min/day, 22.5 to 29.7), and spent less time sedentary (-63.5 min/day, -72.9 to -54.1) and on screens (-9.5 min/day, -20.1 to 1.2), compared to days when children did not attend SDC. Conclusions Policies targeting upstream structural factors, such as universal access to existing community SDCs during summer, could lead to improvements in health behaviors among children from low-income households. Clinical trials.Gov NCT04072549

• Publisher: BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd,Springer Nature B.V,BMC
• Subject: Accelerometry / Behavioral Sciences / Camping / Camps / Child / Child Behavior / Children & youth / Clinical Nutrition / Clinical trials / COVID-19 / Exercise / Exercise for children / Families & family life / Female / Field trips / Health aspects / Health Behavior / Health insurance / Health promotion / Health Promotion and Disease Prevention / Households / Humans / Hypotheses / Intervention / Low income groups / Male / Medicine / Medicine & Public Health / Methods / Nutrition / Observational studies / Parents & parenting / Pediatric research / Physical fitness for children / Poverty / Prevention / Public assistance programs / School districts / Schools / Screen Time / Seasons / Sedentary Behavior / Siblings / Social aspects / Socially handicapped children / Summer / Vacations