| Description |
A growing number of adolescents are more sedentary and are having fewer formal opportunities, such as physical education, to participate in physical activity. With the mounting evidence that sedentary time has a negative impact on cardio-metabolic profiles, health-related fitness, and physical activity, the need to find an affordable adolescent physical activity intervention that adolescents will participate in is paramount. The purpose of this research study was to evaluate the effect of the Personal Fitness merit badge system on physical activity, health-related fitness, and cardio-metabolic blood profiles in Boy Scouts aged 11-17 years. Fourteen Boy Scouts from the Great Salt Lake Council of the Boy Scouts of America earned their Personal Fitness merit badge. The research staff hosted one merit badge class held at a local church building in the Salt Lake Valley. At the classes, boys received the information needed to obtain the merit badge. They also had cardio-metabolic profiles taken using the Cholestech LDX analyzer, performed health-related fitness testing, and received a pedometer to measure free-living physical activity for 1 week. The boys completed the merit badge over 12 weeks and returned to a final class to again be tested on the aforementioned measures. Results from the related-samples Wilcoxon signed rank test showed that the median of differences between VO2 peak pretest and posttest scores were statistically significant (p=0.004). However, it also showed that the differences between the Pre-MetS and Post-MetS scores (p=0.917), average steps taken per day (p=0.317), and BMI (p=0.419) were not statistically significant. In conclusion, the merit badge had an impact on cardiovascular endurance of the boys who earn the merit badge, suggesting this program has potential to improve cardiovascular fitness and should be considered for boys participating in the Boy Scouts. |
