Table 3.
Modifications to each component of PA4E1 scale-up trial made during the delivery of the program (practices and implementation support strategies).
| Modification number (term initiated) | Program component(s) and brief description of modification made during scale-up trial | Fidelity consistent?* | systematic?* | Proactive modification?* | Proposed positive (+), negative (–) or null (0) impact on the project? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (1) | •Implementation strategy 2: for the entire duration of the program, funding for the in-school champions was increased from AUD$350 a fortnight to AUD$400. | ✓ | X | ✓ | + |
| 2 (1) | •Implementation strategy 5: instead of simply providing the physical resources to schools, they were issued as 'incentives' upon completion of training, though all schools ended up receiving the resources as they all completed the necessary training. All schools ended up receiving the resources if they wanted them. | ✓ | X | ✓ | + |
| 3 (1) | •Implementation strategy 3: due to staff turnover, for some schools, their support officer was not co-located within same local health district. | ✓ | X | X | – |
| 4 (1) | •Implementation strategy 3: due to staff turnover, for some schools, their Support Officer not trained in physical education teaching. | ✓ | X | X | – |
| 5 (2) | •Implementation strategy 6: prompting emails were supposed to be sent reminding users to complete professional development. However, these were not sent to PE Teachers or in-School Champions if they registered after the first term of the program. An error in the website coding. | ✓ | X | X | – |
| 6 (4) | •Implementation strategy 5: additional resources were made available, these were a set of 30 pedometers made available to schools who wanted them. Not all schools wanted them. The PA4E1 had three sets available in total. | ✓ | X | ✓ | + |
| 7 (4) | •Implementation strategy 3: enhanced school sport training delivered by support officers to a single school as department of education training dates had expired. In-school champions and PE teachers unable to receive accreditation for this ad-hoc training. | ✓ | X | X | + |
| 8 (4) | •Implementation strategy 4: extra day of face-to-face training held halfway through the program (Term 6). While a second day of face-to-face training was outlined within the study protocol [Table 2 (30)]. School Champions were not made aware of this until Term 4 of the program. This was because the program team were unsure about available resources. | ✓ | X | ✓ | + |
| 9 (5) | •Implementation strategy 5: Facebook group created by in-school champions to facilitate resource, discussion and knowledge exchange. | ✓ | X | ✓ | + |
| 10 (5) | •Practice 2: physical activity plans to be completed by Grade 7 only in the second half of the program, not both Grade 7 and 8 [as originally described in the study protocol – see Table 2 (30)]. | ✓ | X | ✓ | – |
| 11 (5) | •Implementation strategy 4: face-to-face training was repeated for schools unable to attend the centralized training held for all schools. This training was delivered locally to the schools at a location and time that suited the schools, to reduce travel times for the in-school champions. | ✓ | X | X | + |
| 12 (6) | •Implementation strategy 5: additional physical resources for enhanced school sport training were sent to a single school who requested them from their support officer. | ✓ | X | X | + |
| 13 (6) | •Practice 1: lesson observation forms could be submitted either through the website form or uploaded as a word document (new). | ✓ | X | ✓ | + |
| 14 (7) | •Implementation strategy 7: all schools were sent incorrect termly survey feedback reports due to an error with the termly survey. A replacement report was sent with the correct | ||||
| 15 (7) | •Practice 6: termly survey definition of meeting practice 6, changed from mandatory to desirable to have a low or no-cost option community link. | ✓ | X | ✓ | + |
| 16 (7) | •Implementation support strategy 1–7: extension of the whole implementation support program by one school term, extending the program from eight school terms to nine school terms. However, schools were not provided additional funds for release of the in-school champion (Implementation Strategy 2) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | + |
| 17 (7) | •Implementation strategy 4: Extra day of face-to-face training held at the end of the program to support sustainability (Term 9). | ✓ | X | ✓ | + |
| 18 (8) | •Implementation strategy 7: sustainability reports, similar to termly surveys and feedback reports, were designed to assist schools to plan strategies for sustaining the PA4E1 program in their school beyond the life of the research project. These were issued via email to be completed by in-School Champions in liaison with their school Principal. | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | + |
| 19 (8) | •Implementation strategy 1 and 7: all School Principals were offered a face-to-face meeting in Term 8 to explain their schools 24 month sustainability report. | ✓ | X | ✓ | + |
A total of 20 modifications were made during the scale-up of PA4E1, including three to physical activity practices and 16 to implementation support strategies. A further adaptation was made to the evaluation methods, not included in this table. Term initiated refers to the School Term (1–9) that the modification was first made. For a description of each coding category, see the methods section and FRAME (13). See Additional File 4 for a complete dataset of the types and reasons for each modification according to the FRAME (13). PE, Physical Education; NSW, New South Wales.
*
Tick (✓) indicates agreement with the question (i.e., yes). Cross (X) indicates disagreement with the question (i.e., no).