Join Us: Move Play (JU:MP)

Aim:

Increase physical activity in children and young people aged 5 to 14 who are living in some of the most deprived areas of the UK

The problem:

Being physically active is a core driver of health, fitness and wellbeing in children and young people and helps to prevent chronic diseases in adulthood such as obesity, heart disease, stroke, cancer, chronic respiratory disease and diabetes. Low levels of physical activity and high sedentary time can affect children’s cognitive, social, physical and emotional development. As outdoor physical activity becomes less visible, there is a risk that outdoor activities become seen by society as something exceptional rather than normal, further reducing participation in outdoor physical activity. In the UK, 70% of children and young people do not do enough physical activity to protect their health. Born in Bradford (BiB) research found that the majority of 1.5 to 11 year-olds in Bradford do not do enough daily moderate-vigorous physical activity.

What our ARC is doing to help solve this

In 2018, BiB led a successful partnership bid from Active Bradford to secure £11million from Sport England to develop and test the JU:MP programme in Bradford. The programme is looking beyond just the individuals; recognising that there are many complex factors such as environment, societal attitudes and norms that influence physical activity. It is working across these complex factors to help create conditions that are more likely to lead to long term and sustained changes in physical activity levels.

How the JU:MP programme has made a difference to our local communities

JU:MP is delivering against 15 evidence-based workstreams that work across different levels of the system. Early impacts of the JU:MP programme include:

• Co-designed with the community, we have turned wasteland into a vibrant greenspace; developed a natural ‘indestructible’ play area, and improved the accessibility to urban woodlands, enabling children in lower income households and communities to benefit from access to the new green spaces and facilities.
• 5 further green space developments are planned, 3 of which are being co-designed with teenage girls to make these spaces more inviting and appropriate for this underserved group.
• 17 Islamic Religious Settings (IRS) have integrated increasing physical activity into their day to day operations, with a focus on engaging South Asian girls in physical activity, using an approach originally co-created with 30 schools in Bradford
• The co-designed JUMP@home campaign and web-based resource has supported parents in providing physical activities at home
• Enabled Bradford to secure a further £4 million of investment to continue the work of JUMP, so that it can reach more children and families in Bradford
• Supported Sport England to invest a further £250 million across the country, to help 90 more places with taking a whole system approach
• Been shared with over 150 people representing localities across the country at large scale workshop events to share learning from the JUMP programme
• Been discussed in by Tim Hollingworth the Chief Exec of Sport England at a government select committee in the House of Commons on how to support school and community sport and physical activity
• Been reported in national press including the Guardian and the today programme
• Gone global with the World Economic Forum reporting our results

Interpretation of findings

The JUMP intervention showed higher effectiveness that single or multi-component interventions and was able to foster behaviour change over the longer term, until other interventions which have struggled to maintain long term effects.

Interventions operating at the organisational level of the system (e.g school and faith settings where attendance is usually during the week) may be responsible for the increased MVPA on week days. Interventions at the community and family level may be responsible for the reduction in sedentary time at the weekends.

New emerging evidence is pointing towards the importance of interventions at the environment level (e.g green space development and activation) for improving children MVPA.

The scientific publication of the findings is under consideration with an academic journal. You can access the pre-print of the publication here:

The Effectiveness of a Whole System Approach to Improve Physical Activity of Children Aged 5 to 11 Years Living in Multi-ethnic and Socio-economically Deprived Communities: A Controlled Before and After Trial | medRxiv