Table 1.

Effect sizes of intervention outcomes

Study/country	E1	M2	Q3	Outcome measures	Cohen's	d4
School setting
Haerens et al. (2007) [12], Belgium	N	N	3	Total PA level (min/day)	-0.01
				School-related PA (min/day)	0.14
				Leisure time sport (min/day)	-0.09
				Leisure time active transportation (min/day)	0.05
Verstraete et al. (2006) [13], Belgium	Y	N	2	Low intensity PA (% time spent during morning recess)	-0.30	*
				Moderate intensity PA (% time spent during morning recess)	0.53	**
				Vigorous intensity PA (% time spent during morning recess)	-0.12
				Moderate to vigorous PA (% time spent during morning recess)	0.35	*
				Low intensity PA (% time spent during lunch break)	-1.06	***
				Moderate intensity PA (% time spent during lunch break)	0.89	***
				Vigorous intensity PA (% time spent during lunch break)	0.54	**
				Moderate to vigorous PA (% time spent during lunch break)	1.00	***
Hill et al. (2007) [11], UK	N	N	2	Exercise sessions min. 30 min/week without PE (leaflet only)	0.18
				Exercise sessions min. 30 min/week without PE (leaflet plus quiz)	0.45	*
				Exercise sessions min. 30 min/week without PE (leaflet + implementation intention prompt)	0.32	*
Tsorbatzoudis (2005) [14], Greece	N	N	2	End of intervention: exercise habits (score)	0.59	**
Lubans and Sylva (2006) [15], UK	N	N	1	End of intervention: moderate to vigorous PA (min/week) of 20 min. or longer	0.65	*
Murphy et al. (2006) [16], Ireland	Y	N	1		x
Lindberg et al. (2006) [17], Sweden	N	Y	1		x
Chatzisarantis and Hagger (2005) [18], UK	N	N	1	Frequency of mild, moderate and vigorous PA during leisure time in the last 5 weeks	0.08
Digelidis et al. (2003) [19], Greece	Y	Y	1	End of intervention: frequency of regular exercise in the previous month	-0.04
School setting with involvement of family
Harrison et al. (2006) [20], Ireland	Y	N	3	Moderate to vigorous PA: principal PA + intensity (30 min blocks/day)	2.07	****
Haerens et al. (2007) [21], Belgium	Y	N	2	Total PA level (min/day)	0.12
				School-related PA (min/day)	0.39	*
				Leisure time sport (min/day)	-0.02
				Leisure time active transportation (min/day)	0.07
				Subsample accelerometer data: PA of light intensity (min/day)	0.53	**
				Subsample accelerometer data: PA of moderate to vigorous intensity (min/day)	0.50	**
Christodoulos et al. (2006) [10], Greece	Y	N	2	Organised moderate to vigorous PA (h/week)	3.53	****
				Total moderate to vigorous PA (h/week)	2.79	****
School setting with involvement of family and community
Simon et al. (2006) [22], France	Y	N	2	Leisure supervised PA (%)	0.56	**
Jurg et al. (2006) [23], The Netherlands	Y	N	1	Total PA score (min/day at least moderately active)	0.11
				Meeting the guidelines: 60 min/day of moderate PA (%)	0.27	*
Moon et al. (1999) [24], UK	Y	Y	1	Taking part in sports at school (not PE) once or more a week (%)	-0.02
Community with involvement of schools
Baxter et al. (1997) [25], UK	Y	Y	2	Students that exercise 3 or more times weekly (%)	0.40	*
Primary care
Ortega-Sanchez et al. (2004) [26], Spain	N	N	1	6 months after 1st session: duration (min/week)	0.28	*
				6 months after 1st session: frequency (days/week)	0.17
				6 months after 1st session: intensity in points (mild = 1, moderate = 2, vigorous = 3)	0.32	*
				12 months after 1st session: duration (min/week)	0.37	*
				12 months after 1st session: frequency (days/week)	0.25	*
				12 months after 1st session: intensity in points (mild = 1, moderate = 2, vigorous = 3)	0.44	*
Walker et al. (1999) [27], UK	N	Y	1	Teenagers who reported positive behaviour change (% 3 months after intervention)	0.14
Kelleher et al. (1999) [28], Ireland	N	Y	1	Exercise (times/week) by 12-15 years old	< 0.01
Individual
Woods et al. (2002) [29], Scotland	N	N	2	Membership of the Sport and Recreation Service at the university (%)	0.61	**

¹Intervention includes environmental components: Y(es)/N(o)

²Intervention aims to affect more health behaviours besides physical activity: Y(es)/N(o)

³Global rating quality assessment: three-grade scale (3 = strong; 2 = moderate; 1 = weak)

⁴Classification of effect sizes: trivial (Cohen's d ≤ .2); * small (Cohen's d > .2); ** moderate (Cohen's d > .5); *** large (Cohen's d > .8); **** very large (Cohen's d > 1.3)

^xImpossible to calculate effect size based on reported results