Design of the iPlay-study (2009)

Health benefits of physical activity in children are well known. However, a drawback is the risk of physical activity-related injuries. Children are at particular risk for these injuries, because of a high level of exposure. Because of the high prevalence of physical activity injuries and the negative short- and long-term consequences, prevention of these injuries in children is important. This article describes how the researchers systematically developed a school-based physical activity-related injury prevention programme using the intervention mapping (IM) protocol. IM describes a process for developing theory- and evidence-based health promotion programmes. The development can be described in six steps: (i) perform a needs assessment, (ii) identify programme and performance objectives, (iii) select methods and strategies, (iv) develop programme; (v) adopt and implement, and (vi) evaluate.