a1 University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, School
of Public Health, Center for Health Promotion and Prevention
Research, 7000 Fannin *2658, Houston, TX 77030, USA Background
Although many school-based diet and physical activity
interventions have been designed and evaluated, relatively few
have been tested for the after-school setting. After-school day-
care programmes at either elementary schools or private
locations provide a ready-made opportunity for health programmes
that may be difficult to incorporate into an already-full school
day. The purpose of this paper is to report on a pilot study of
an after-school adaptation of the CATCH (Coordinated Approach To
Child Health) elementary school programme called the CATCH Kids
Club (CKC). Methods The CKC was pilot-tested and formatively
evaluated in 16 Texas after-school programmes: eight in El Paso
and eight in Austin (four intervention and four reference sites
each). Evaluation consisted of direct observation of moderate to
vigorous physical acti