# Trauma-adapted Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program (CSPAP)

> **NIH NIH R01** · SEATTLE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL · 2021 · $838,913

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
The COVID-19 pandemic has to-date disproportionately negatively impacted those that experience other
intersecting forms of socioeconomic disadvantage and inequity, including youth who identify as Black,
Indigenous or as a Person of Color (BIPOC), or whose families are below the poverty line. Among BIPOC
youth, these stressors may be experienced in intersection with other adverse childhood experiences (ACEs),
and they are also less likely to have resources to mitigate the impact of these stressors. One key, and
potentially modifiable, protective pathway to supporting youth resilience during and beyond the COVID-19
pandemic is physical activity (PA), which can support both physical and mental health. Schools are considered
central to equitable promotion of PA and the CDC recommends they adopt a Comprehensive School PA
Program (CSPAP), an evidence-based framework for how to increase PA before, during, and after school;
however only about 3% of US secondary schools have PA practices that include all domains of the CSPAP
framework. CSPAP-based interventions have the most barriers to sustainability in low resource school districts
that serve student populations that experience intersecting forms of socioeconomic disadvantage. There are
three core reasons that existing CSPAP-based approaches are not meeting the needs of this population: youth
who have experienced trauma have unique needs in PA settings, (2) physical education teachers require
training in trauma-sensitive approaches and (3) Staffing constrains the ability of schools to implement new
opportunities for PA. There is thus a critical need to determine how to effectively support schools in low
resource communities in increasing PA opportunities, with a particular emphasis on meeting the PA-related
needs of youth who have experienced ACEs and trauma related to COVID-19 or otherwise. We have
developed and conducted feasibility testing of a trauma-sensitive adaptation of CSPAP, and are proposing a
Hybrid Type I implementation-effectiveness trial of this trauma-adapted CSPAP using a stepped-wedge design
to compare schools when they are in the intervention versus control phases. We hypothesize that this
intervention will increase PA opportunities for students, and they will engage in significantly more
(accelerometer-measured) physical activity, demonstrate greater gains in fitness/physical literacy, and report
better psychosocial functioning, during the intervention phase versus the control phase. We will also examine
differential effects of all student level outcomes by race/ethnicity, family socioeconomic status, and gender.
Using a mixed-methods approach, we will explore systems-level barriers and facilitators to successful
implementation and maintenance so as to inform continued intervention improvement, sustainability, and
scalability. This project would inform best practices related to school-centered promotion of youth PA with the
goal of decreasing inequities in youth PA op...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10309705
- **Project number:** 1R01NR020441-01
- **Recipient organization:** SEATTLE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL
- **Principal Investigator:** Emily Grace Kroshus
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $838,913
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-09-23 → 2026-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10309705

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10309705, Trauma-adapted Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program (CSPAP) (1R01NR020441-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10309705. Licensed CC0.

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