Gender Influence on Students, Parents, and Teachers' Perceptions of What Children and Adolescents in Germany Need to Cycle to School: A Concept Mapping Study.

Active commuting to school is highly recommended for several reasons, and in the decision-making process for doing so, a child interacts with parents and teachers. Until now, these three interactors' gender-specific perspectives on children and adolescents' need for cycling to school have been unavailable. Thus, our concept mapping study analyzed the needs of 12- to 15-year-olds in Germany for cycling to and from school daily, as perceived by students, parents, and teachers stratified by gender. From November 2019 to February 2020, 136 students, 58 parents, and 29 teachers participated. Although 87.8% of girls and 100% of boys owned a bicycle, only 44.4% of girls and 72.9% of boys cycled to school. On average, girls cycled to school on 1.6 ± 2.0 days a week and boys on 2.7 ± 2.0 days a week. A "bicycle and related equipment," the "way to school," and "personal factors" were reported needs, perceived by students and teachers of both genders and by mothers. Girls reported the additional gender-specific need for "social behavior in road traffic," mothers and female teachers reported "role of parents," and female teachers reported a "sense of safety." This study's findings could inspire the development of school-based bicycle interventions.

A Sex/Gender Perspective on Interventions to Reduce Sedentary Behaviour in Girls and Boys: Results of the genEffects Systematic Review.

This systematic review aims to evaluate the extent of sex/gender consideration and effectiveness of interventions designed to reduce sedentary behaviour (SB). We searched for randomised or non-randomised controlled trials with the outcome SB and a sex/gender analysis in eleven electronic databases. Sixty-seven studies were included. Sex/gender considerations were qualitatively rated. Sex/gender was reported separately in 44.8% of studies, 14.9% of studies conducted a sex/gender interaction analysis, and 19.4% enrolled either girls or boys. SB was significantly reduced for girls in 16.4%, for boys in 11.9% and for both in 13.4%. No sex/gender intervention effect was found in 38.8%. According to the qualitative rating, studies without significant sex/gender effects reached "detailed" rating twice as often as studies finding a significant intervention effect for either girls or boys, or both. Overall, no clear pattern according to the qualitative rating and in terms of intervention effectiveness can be drawn. The results reveal a lack of sufficient sex/gender information in intervention planning and delivery. Further research should consider analysing sex/gender intervention effects as well as consider sex/gender inclusive intervention planning and delivery.

Interventions on children's and adolescents' physical activity and sedentary behaviour: protocol for a systematic review from a sex/gender perspective.

BACKGROUND: Low levels of physical activity (PA) and high levels of sedentary behaviour (SB) have been observed in young people. Both behaviours are detrimental for health with patterns tending to continue into adulthood. There is sustained value in establishing health habits in early years. Even though levels of SB and participation in PA differ among boys and girls, and the effectiveness of interventions to promote PA and/or prevent sedentary behaviours varies by sex/gender to date, sex/gender in systematic reviews is not yet widely considered. Additionally, while tools have been proposed, there is no consensus on the criteria to assess sex/gender in systematic reviews in the context of health promotion. The main objectives of this systematic review are to evaluate the effects of interventions on girls' and boys' PA and SB and to appraise the extent to which the studies have taken sex/gender into account. METHODS: Eleven electronic databases will be searched to identify all relevant (randomized) controlled trials. Two independent reviewers will screen studies, extract data and appraise the quality of studies. The main outcome of the studies will be a quantified measure of PA and/or SB. Risk of bias of individual studies will be assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool for RCTs. Meta-analyses will be conducted when possible among studies with sufficient homogeneity. To evaluate sex/gender considerations in primary studies, we will use a sex/gender checklist that builds on existing tools and was developed during a 2-day, iterative process among a multidisciplinary panel of 16 experts. The GRADE framework will be used to evaluate evidence across studies for each main efficacy outcome. DISCUSSION: To our knowledge, our systematic review will be the first to analyse how sex/gender is considered in interventions promoting PA and/or reducing SB in children and adolescents in detail. The review will provide information on how sex/gender aspects have been considered in recent research and the extent to which sex/gender might impact study outcomes. Our findings will be of interest to stakeholders, health promoters, researchers and policy makers who wish to support more equal outcomes from interventions promoting PA and/or reducing SB. TRIAL REGISTRATION: PROSPERO CRD42018109528 .