Hello everybody,
I'm wondering what study design i'm using in the following case. I also give my thoughts but correct me if i'm wrong.
In our city a public health intervention is implemented on half the Primary schools in order to prevent children for obesity and to let them engage in physical activity. Now for my study I will investigate the long term effects of this intervention program by several outcome variables. I compare adolescence children in Secondary school that did participate in the intervention program with adolescence children in Secondary school that did not participate in the intervention program several years ago in their Primary school. I will measure their BMI, weight status, aerobic fitness, health lifestyle, psychosocial health and academic performance for comparison of the groups. My thoughts are that this is an observational cross-sectional design because i'm not creating the intervention/control condition, but i'm comparing two groups based on an intervention that was implemented years ago.
Furthermore, I will compare BMI and weight status of both groups at this moment with their BMI and weight status that is known from the period before the public health intervention? Which study design is this? I'm now comparing variables from a baseline period with an after-intervention period. However, it is retrospective comparing between the groups; I did not control the intervention and control groups for any other factors/confounders. I'm wondering is this a observational or intervention study? And within these main categories which design is it?
I'm looking forward to your thoughts.
Greetz,
Bossssmit