PIPages
Labs

Timothy Walker

University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, TX·Public Health & Epidemiology

Physical inactivity contributes to chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, yet only 42% of children meet physical activity guidelines. National recommendations call on schools to use two proven approaches.

Fields

Public Health & Epidemiology

Education Research

Medicine & Clinical Research

Topics

physical activity

childhood physical inactivity

physically active breaks

Grants
1 known grant, through Jun 2031

What they work on

  1. Optimize a multifaceted implementation strategy for physically active breaks and lessons in elementary schools using Implementation Mapping and user-centered design approaches.
  2. Evaluate whether the strategy improves teachers' implementation fidelity for physically active breaks and lessons, using a Type 3 hybrid design and Bayesian statistical methods.
  3. Assess the sustainability of physically active breaks and lessons after school support ends, using mixed methods to identify the factors that help or hinder continued use.

More about the research

Physically active breaks are short bursts of movement between lessons. Physically active lessons build movement into academic teaching. Teachers and schools often struggle to adopt these approaches and keep them going, especially in under-resourced communities. This project studies how to help schools put these approaches into practice and sustain them.

Why it matters

Most children do not get enough physical activity, raising their risk of chronic conditions such as heart disease. A strategy that helps elementary school teachers, including those in under-resourced schools, adopt and keep using active breaks and lessons could raise children's activity levels across many schools. It may also support classroom behavior and learning.

Known grants

From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.

Optimizing and evaluating an implementation strategy to improve use of classroom-based physical activity approaches in elementary schools

NIH · Jul 2026 – Jun 2031

Closest labs

Elva M Arredondo

San Diego State University, CA·Public Health & Epidemiology·Early-career

Test whether the Conmigo mother-daughter program increases moderate-to-vigorous physical activity in girls aged 8–11, using a cluster randomized trial in 18 schools with accelerometer measurements over 15 months.

Melissa Goulding

University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, MA·Public Health & Epidemiology·Early-career

Refine and co-develop BP-Link, a pediatric clinic program for follow-up blood pressure screening, by working with clinic providers, staff and parents through stakeholder-engaged implementation mapping.

Lauren Osborne

Columbia University, NY·Public Health & Epidemiology

Test whether the doula-delivered LHMoms program lowers postpartum depression, improves cardiovascular health and raises quality of life compared with an attention control, in a randomized trial of 450 patients at three New York City hospital sites.

The school

University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston: 25 labs on PI Pages, $419M a year on research, 340 research doctorates a year.

More about University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

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