The Trial of Activity in Adolescent Girls (TAAG): From theory to implementation in middle school physical activity promotion

The Trial of Activity for Adolescent Girls study (TAAG), a randomized, controlled field trial, was conducted from 2000 to 2006 in six different states in the United States of America (USA). Thirty-six middle schools were randomly assigned to intervention or control (3 intervention and 3 control schools at each site). The intervention targeted the entire population of girls at each school. A cross-sectional sample of girls were randomly selected and measured, regardless of their participation in any aspects of the intervention (Stevens, Murray, Catellier, Lytle, Elder et al., 2005). The intervention was based on a broad version of the socio-ecological model, comprising elements of: operant conditioning; social cognitive theory; organizational change, and diffusion of innovations. This chapter discusses the development of the intervention within the context of these theories, outlines how TAAG addressed the: physical environment; the social environment; individual factors; reviews process evaluation data; and study outcomes.