PACO

The mode of commuting to school is a behavior occurring at least twice per day and the mode of active commuting (mainly walking and cycling) is an opportunity to increase the physical activity and fitness levels and, consequently, the health of the young people. The questionnaires to assess the mode and frequency of commuting to school included in the scientific literature are diverse.

After systematically reviewing the literature regarding the questionnaires used to assess the mode and frequency of commuting to school, we propose a questionnaire for this issue whose feasibility and reliability is being studied currently within a work leaded by our research group and collaboration of University of Cádiz and University Autónoma of Madrid (Spain).

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• Download Spanish version of the questionnaire
• Download English version of the questionnaire

PACO Project “Pedalea y Anda al COle” has been funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) (DEP2016-75598-R, MINECO / FEDER, EU) and is directed by Dr. Palma Chillón Garzón, Senior lecturer at the University of Granada. The main objective of this project is to promote active commuting (walking and / or cycling) among students of Compulsory Secondary Education. In order to carry out the project, a manual has been specifically designed that includes the evaluation protocol to follow.

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Active commuting by bike is a behaviour to increasing levels of physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness levels. However, the use of bicycles as a means of traveling in Spain is very low, both in adults and young people.

Tools are needed to promote the use of bicycles in young people, and to include them as content to be taught in educational centers within the framework of Physical Education or another subject.

We have developed a “Bikeability Intervention Manual” to teach students how to ride a bicycle in an urban context through practical experiences. In addition, several evaluation instruments have been developed to be used in the process to assess whether their students are prepared to use the bicycle as a means of safe travel.

These evaluation instruments have been designed based on different instruments found in the literature and have been tested in real context.

• Download Bikeability intervention manual

Active commuting is a behavior in which the body is the engine that produces a displacement such as walking. This active behavior is associated with a higher level of total physical activity. On the other hand, smartphones are part of our daily lives. By combining this tool with gamification techniques, adolescents could be motivated to have a healthy behavior when they commute to school.

From the previous need arises this manual of intervention of a mobile APPLICATION called “Mystic School” (a duration of 1 month with a total of 4 face-to-face sessions), intending to be a tool for secondary schools to promote walking as a means of daily commuting among the students and, therefore, contribute to the acquisition of active lifestyles that improve the health of young Spaniards. To do this, the steps that players take in their real life are transformed by the application into virtual steps that allow them to move along a maze. The plot of this application is set in a school context, where, after finishing the Physical Education class, the teacher asks the player and his/her classmates to help to collect the material and in the warehouse there is a strange ball that transports them to a ruined school located in a parallel universe.

The participants register in the game and choose a character. Then, individually or together with a maximum of 2 other players, they will try to find the exit of the different scenes that run as a maze.

• Download Walking Intervention Manual

This application is registered in the Registry of Intellectual Property of SAFE CREATIVE, from May 21, 2019 at 9:39 UTC the registration of the work with code 1905210950475 made by “University of Granada” with title “Mystic School”. User identification and location data and the usability of the application are collected; being confidential data and trated with privacy. The use of the data is exclusively for educational and research purposes and its implementation has been approved by the Ethics Committee of the University of Granada (Granada, Spain, number 162 / CEIH / 2016).