Background: The purpose of this study was to examine and compare parent preferences of before and after school physical activity program components in rural and suburban elementary schools.
Methods: A discrete choice experiment was conducted to measure parent preferences for components of before/after school programs. A total of 183 parents (age = 37.2 [8.2] y, 155 females) sampled from 15 elementary schools (K-6 grades) in the Western United States took part in the study, half of which were from a rural community (n = 93, 50.8%). Results from the discrete choice experiment were analyzed using hierarchic Bayesian methodology, which estimated utility scores and was used to calculate important scores for program components.
Results: The specific goal of the before/after school program was the strongest determinant of parents' stated choice overall, followed by leaders, time of day, length, and main focus. Learning sports as the physical activity goal was the top-rated attribute. Subgroup analyses revealed discrepancies between suburban and rural parents and parents of boys and girls.
Conclusion: This study extends the application of discrete choice experiments to school-based programming, providing a unique way to design empirically based, stakeholder informed school programs, specifically within before and after school settings.
Keywords: health promotion; methods; youth.