Kelly Mackintosh edited introduction.tex  over 10 years ago

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\section{Introduction}   It is well established that peadiatric obesity is associated with numerous health implication in later life \cite{Freedman2007}(FREEDMAN ET AL., 2007). \cite{Freedman2007}.  Despite evidence to suggest that the prevalence of obesity has plateaued in recent years with the UK (BODDY \cite{Boddy2010}(BODDY  ET AL., 2010) and internationally (ROKHOLME ET AL., 2010), there is no evidence of a decline, and a high proportion of children remain at risk of morbidity. Physical activity and sedentary behaviour are key variables implicated in childhood obesity due to their influence on energy balance (ROWLAND 2004). Current physical activity guidelines recommend children between 5 and 18 years of age to engage in at least 60 minutes moderate-to-vigorous physical activity every day (DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, 2011). Despite this, children, on average, are insufficiently active (HILLS ET AL., 2011) and engage in excessive sedentary behaviour. Specifically, only 41 percent of boys and 30 percent of girls in Wales meet these recommended guidelines\footnote{http://www.bhfactive.org.uk/young-people-key-facts/index.html}. Moreover, according to the Department of Health, more than 30 percent of 5 to 12 year old children in the UK are obese, with Wales leading at 36 percent\footnote{http://www.dh.gov.uk/health/2012/04/obesityfacts/}. Many interventions have been conducted to reverse childhood overweight and obesity, employing a variety of strategies to enhance levels of habitual physical activity and reduce time spent in sedentary behaviours. Schools have been identified as a key context to implement such physical activity promoting interventions, given that children on average spend 40 percent of their waking time there (FOX ET AL., 2004). Despite this, school-based interventions have been conducted with varied success (SUMMERBELL ET AL., 2005), which could be attributed to the different intervention strategies and variable methodological quality, such as lack of objective measurements of physical activity (MOUNTJOY ET AL., 2011). Furthermore, interventions targeting reduced sedentary behaviour tend to discourage highly valued behaviours, such as engagement with technology. LINK TO COMPUTER SCIENCE INTERVENTIONS…