A walk to kindergarten project in Switzerland: needs assessment, comparison of outcome assessment methods and follow-up over three years

Background: Parents in a suburban community in Switzerland were concerned about the safety of their children when walking to kindergarten. A steering group was formed and a project started with the aim of improving conditions for safe walking to kindergarten and preventing the increase of car use for transport to kindergarten.
Methods: Individual interviews, group interviews and questionnaires were used to assess the needs of teachers, pupils and parents respectively. Baseline counts of kindergarten pupils arriving by car, school bus or on foot were obtained using three different methods. Counts and parent questionnaires were repeated for follow-up after one year and three years.
Results: The involvement of parents, teachers and kindergarten children for the needs assessment was crucial to the project implementation and acceptance. The young children’s self-report as well as counts by older primary school students turned out to be reliable
methods for outcome measurement. The percentage of children brought by car in the morning remained similar after one year with some reduction being observed at 3-year follow-up.
Conclusions: Parents, kindergarten children and school children made significant contributions to this walk to kindergarten project. To achieve their full potential, project activities have to continue over several years.