‘Walk Buds’: A walking intervention to increase physical activity, physical fitness, and emotional wellbeing, in 9–13 year old children with intellectual disabilities. Results of a clustered randomised feasibility trial

Peter Mullhall; Laurence Taggart; Gary McDermott; Paul Slater; Ben Fitzpatrick; Marie H. Murphy; Angela Hassiotis; Anne Johnston

doi:10.1111/jar.13260

‘Walk Buds’: A walking intervention to increase physical activity, physical fitness, and emotional wellbeing, in 9–13 year old children with intellectual disabilities. Results of a clustered randomised feasibility trial

Peter Mullhall^*, Laurence Taggart, Gary McDermott, Paul Slater, Ben Fitzpatrick, Marie H. Murphy, Angela Hassiotis, Anne Johnston

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

1 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Children with intellectual disability are less physically active and more sedentary than typically developing peers. To date no studies have tested the feasibility of a school-based walking intervention for children with Intellectual Disability.

METHOD: A clustered randomised controlled trial (cRCT), with an embedded process evaluation, was used to test the feasibility of a school-based walking intervention. Eight schools (n = 161 pupils aged 9-13 years) were randomised into either an intervention arm or an 'exercise as usual' arm. Measures included physical activity, physical fitness and emotional wellbeing. Baseline and 3-month follow-up data were collected.

RESULTS: The 'Walk Buds' intervention was found to be acceptable to teaching staff and pupils, with an uptake rate of the walking sessions offered of 84%.

CONCLUSION: A number of challenges were experienced, relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, and difficulties collecting accelerometer data. Barriers, facilitators and required changes identified through the mixed methods process evaluation are discussed.

Original language	English
Article number	e13260
Journal	Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities
Volume	37
Issue number	5
Early online date	27 Jun 2024
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/jar.13260
Publication status	Published - 01 Sept 2024
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

clustered RCT
Feasibility
Fidelity
intellectual disability
school-based
walking intervention
Physical Fitness/physiology
Humans
Male
Mental Health
Intellectual Disability/rehabilitation
Feasibility Studies
COVID-19
Walking/physiology
Exercise
Adolescent
Female
School Health Services
Child
fidelity
school‐based
feasibility

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1111/jar.13260Licence: CC BY

Walk Buds’: A walking intervention to increase physical activity, physical fitness, and emotional wellbeing, in 9–13 year old children with intellectual disabilities. Results of a clustered randomised feasibility trial
Copyright 2025 the authors. This is an open access article published under a Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the author and source are cited.
Final published version, 4.41 MBLicence: CC BY

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of '‘Walk Buds’: A walking intervention to increase physical activity, physical fitness, and emotional wellbeing, in 9–13 year old children with intellectual disabilities. Results of a clustered randomised feasibility trial'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this

Mullhall, P., Taggart, L., McDermott, G., Slater, P., Fitzpatrick, B., Murphy, M. H., Hassiotis, A., & Johnston, A. (2024). ‘Walk Buds’: A walking intervention to increase physical activity, physical fitness, and emotional wellbeing, in 9–13 year old children with intellectual disabilities. Results of a clustered randomised feasibility trial. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 37(5), Article e13260. https://doi.org/10.1111/jar.13260

Mullhall, Peter ; Taggart, Laurence ; McDermott, Gary et al. / ‘Walk Buds’: A walking intervention to increase physical activity, physical fitness, and emotional wellbeing, in 9–13 year old children with intellectual disabilities. Results of a clustered randomised feasibility trial. In: Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities. 2024 ; Vol. 37, No. 5.

@article{b4591523c4b8493f935531c9e998aeed,

title = "{\textquoteleft}Walk Buds{\textquoteright}: A walking intervention to increase physical activity, physical fitness, and emotional wellbeing, in 9–13 year old children with intellectual disabilities. Results of a clustered randomised feasibility trial",

abstract = "BACKGROUND: Children with intellectual disability are less physically active and more sedentary than typically developing peers. To date no studies have tested the feasibility of a school-based walking intervention for children with Intellectual Disability.METHOD: A clustered randomised controlled trial (cRCT), with an embedded process evaluation, was used to test the feasibility of a school-based walking intervention. Eight schools (n = 161 pupils aged 9-13 years) were randomised into either an intervention arm or an 'exercise as usual' arm. Measures included physical activity, physical fitness and emotional wellbeing. Baseline and 3-month follow-up data were collected.RESULTS: The 'Walk Buds' intervention was found to be acceptable to teaching staff and pupils, with an uptake rate of the walking sessions offered of 84%.CONCLUSION: A number of challenges were experienced, relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, and difficulties collecting accelerometer data. Barriers, facilitators and required changes identified through the mixed methods process evaluation are discussed.",

keywords = "clustered RCT, Feasibility, Fidelity, intellectual disability, school-based, walking intervention, Physical Fitness/physiology, Humans, Male, Mental Health, Intellectual Disability/rehabilitation, Feasibility Studies, COVID-19, Walking/physiology, Exercise, Adolescent, Female, School Health Services, Child, fidelity, school‐based, feasibility",

author = "Peter Mullhall and Laurence Taggart and Gary McDermott and Paul Slater and Ben Fitzpatrick and Murphy, {Marie H.} and Angela Hassiotis and Anne Johnston",

year = "2024",

month = sep,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1111/jar.13260",

language = "English",

volume = "37",

journal = "Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities",

issn = "1360-2322",

publisher = "Wiley-Blackwell",

number = "5",

}

Mullhall, P, Taggart, L, McDermott, G, Slater, P, Fitzpatrick, B, Murphy, MH, Hassiotis, A & Johnston, A 2024, '‘Walk Buds’: A walking intervention to increase physical activity, physical fitness, and emotional wellbeing, in 9–13 year old children with intellectual disabilities. Results of a clustered randomised feasibility trial', Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, vol. 37, no. 5, e13260. https://doi.org/10.1111/jar.13260

‘Walk Buds’: A walking intervention to increase physical activity, physical fitness, and emotional wellbeing, in 9–13 year old children with intellectual disabilities. Results of a clustered randomised feasibility trial. / Mullhall, Peter; Taggart, Laurence; McDermott, Gary et al.
In: Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, Vol. 37, No. 5, e13260, 01.09.2024.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

TY - JOUR

T1 - ‘Walk Buds’: A walking intervention to increase physical activity, physical fitness, and emotional wellbeing, in 9–13 year old children with intellectual disabilities. Results of a clustered randomised feasibility trial

AU - Mullhall, Peter

AU - Taggart, Laurence

AU - McDermott, Gary

AU - Slater, Paul

AU - Fitzpatrick, Ben

AU - Murphy, Marie H.

AU - Hassiotis, Angela

AU - Johnston, Anne

PY - 2024/9/1

Y1 - 2024/9/1

N2 - BACKGROUND: Children with intellectual disability are less physically active and more sedentary than typically developing peers. To date no studies have tested the feasibility of a school-based walking intervention for children with Intellectual Disability.METHOD: A clustered randomised controlled trial (cRCT), with an embedded process evaluation, was used to test the feasibility of a school-based walking intervention. Eight schools (n = 161 pupils aged 9-13 years) were randomised into either an intervention arm or an 'exercise as usual' arm. Measures included physical activity, physical fitness and emotional wellbeing. Baseline and 3-month follow-up data were collected.RESULTS: The 'Walk Buds' intervention was found to be acceptable to teaching staff and pupils, with an uptake rate of the walking sessions offered of 84%.CONCLUSION: A number of challenges were experienced, relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, and difficulties collecting accelerometer data. Barriers, facilitators and required changes identified through the mixed methods process evaluation are discussed.

AB - BACKGROUND: Children with intellectual disability are less physically active and more sedentary than typically developing peers. To date no studies have tested the feasibility of a school-based walking intervention for children with Intellectual Disability.METHOD: A clustered randomised controlled trial (cRCT), with an embedded process evaluation, was used to test the feasibility of a school-based walking intervention. Eight schools (n = 161 pupils aged 9-13 years) were randomised into either an intervention arm or an 'exercise as usual' arm. Measures included physical activity, physical fitness and emotional wellbeing. Baseline and 3-month follow-up data were collected.RESULTS: The 'Walk Buds' intervention was found to be acceptable to teaching staff and pupils, with an uptake rate of the walking sessions offered of 84%.CONCLUSION: A number of challenges were experienced, relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, and difficulties collecting accelerometer data. Barriers, facilitators and required changes identified through the mixed methods process evaluation are discussed.

KW - clustered RCT

KW - Feasibility

KW - Fidelity

KW - intellectual disability

KW - school-based

KW - walking intervention

KW - Physical Fitness/physiology

KW - Humans

KW - Male

KW - Mental Health

KW - Intellectual Disability/rehabilitation

KW - Feasibility Studies

KW - COVID-19

KW - Walking/physiology

KW - Exercise

KW - Adolescent

KW - Female

KW - School Health Services

KW - Child

KW - fidelity

KW - school‐based

KW - feasibility

U2 - 10.1111/jar.13260

DO - 10.1111/jar.13260

M3 - Article

SN - 1360-2322

VL - 37

JO - Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities

JF - Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities

IS - 5

M1 - e13260

ER -

Mullhall P, Taggart L, McDermott G, Slater P, Fitzpatrick B, Murphy MH et al. ‘Walk Buds’: A walking intervention to increase physical activity, physical fitness, and emotional wellbeing, in 9–13 year old children with intellectual disabilities. Results of a clustered randomised feasibility trial. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities. 2024 Sept 1;37(5):e13260. Epub 2024 Jun 27. doi: 10.1111/jar.13260