Program Evaluation Impact and Moderating Variables of an Intervention Promoting Physical Activity Among Children: Results From a Pilot Study Mathieu Gourlan 1 , Monica Takito 2 , Ce ´ line Lambert 3 , Bruno Fregeac 4 , Natalie Alme ´ ras 5,6 , Olivier Coste 7 , Bruno Pereira 3 , and Florence Cousson-Ge ´lie 1,8 Abstract This pilot study pursued three objectives: to assess the effect of a 1-month multilevel intervention on the PA of children, to assess the impact of the intervention on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) variables, and to evaluate the extent to which the impact of the intervention on PA and TPB variables varied according to personal (i.e., gender and age) and situational (i.e., class and school) moderating variables. Children were aged 7 to 11 years (n ¼ 306). Analyses revealed a significant increase of PA practice and TPB variables (ps < .001). Age (i.e., being a younger child) was associated with a higher increase on attitude and perceived control (ps < .01). The class or the school levels explained a meaningful variance in the evolution of PA or TPB variables (intraclass correl- ation coefficients > .10). The present study reports the interest and feasibility of a multilevel intervention to increase PA and TPB variables in children. Keywords exercise, child, health promotion, psychosocial factors, multilevel intervention Introduction Numerous studies have reported that physical activity (PA) in youth is associated with a wide range of physical, psycho- logical, and social health benefits. 1 Hence, international rec- ommendations suggest a minimum of 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous PA per day for children. 2 Population surveys, however, indicate that less than 20% of this population is active enough to meet the international guidelines. 3 This makes the development and evaluation of PA interventions in children a health priority. 4 Recent evidence has reported that multilevel interventions that include school, family, and community involvement have the potential to generate a considerable increase in the PA practice of school-aged children. 5 Those programs rely on the importance to provide children with the opportunity to encounter the same behavioral prompts (e.g., to be more physically active) from a variety of sources (e.g., parents, teachers, and coaches) in a variety of settings (e.g., home, school, and community) to effectively promote health behav- ior change. 6 Accordingly, multilevel interventions contain diverse strategies to engage several different stakeholders across a range of settings. 5 Recent reviews have reported that multilevel interventions have globally a positive impact on the PA level of school-aged children. 4,7 However, despite this encouraging result, a high heterogeneity was found in the effectiveness between these interventions. 4,7 From this, the necessity to further explore the conditions and the factors associated with the efficacy of multilevel interventions pro- moting PA among school-aged children has been suggested. 5 International Quarterly of Community Health Education 0(0) 1–9 ! The Author(s) 2018 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0272684X17749563 journals.sagepub.com/home/qch 1 Epidaure, Prevention Department of the Institut re ´gional du Cancer de Montpellier, Montpellier, France 2 School of Physical Education and Sport University of Sa ˜o Paulo, Sa ˜o Paulo, Brazil 3 Biostatistics Unit (De ´le ´gation Recherche Clinique et Innovation), Clermont- Ferrand University Hospital, Clermont Ferrand, France 4 Academic Resource Center of He ´rault Dedicated to Health Promotion, Montpellier, France 5 Institut universitaire de cardiologie et pneumologie de Que ´becUniversite ´ Laval, Que ´bec, QC, Canada 6 Department of Kinesiology, Faculty of Medicine, UniversitO ˜ Laval, Que ´bec, QC, Canada 7 Regional Direction of Youth, Sports and Social Cohesion (DRJSCS) Occitanie, Montpellier, France 8 Univ Paul Vale ´ry Montpellier 3, Univ. Montpellier, EPSYLON EA 4556, F34000, Montpellier, France Corresponding Author: Mathieu Gourlan, Epidaure—Po ˆle Pre ´vention de l’ICM, Parc Eurome ´decine, 208 Avenue des Apothicaires, 34298 Montpellier Cedex 5, France. Email: Mathieu.Gourlan@icm.unicancer.fr