| Description |
Background: Structured settings, specifically school, have been understood to promote physical activity (PA) in children. During the COVID-19 pandemic, students were required to attend school remotely, in an unstructured setting. The purpose of this study is to examine the physical activity of children during the weekdays, weekends, and break during COVID-19. Methods: Participants were asked to fill out a baseline survey prior to the intervention. For one week, students wore Actigraph GT3X+s for baseline measure mures. Afterwards, they were asked to wear a FitBit Inspire 2 for six weeks. Data was collected from the Fitbits using Fitabase (Small Steps Labs LLC., San Diego, CA). Descriptive Statistics and means and standard deviations of MVPA and steps were summarized. Results: Students accumulated 765.7 more steps per day (p < 0.0001) during regular school days compared to winter break. Students accumulated 779.5 more steps per day (p < 0.0001) and 12.3 more MVPA minutes per day (p = 0.0004) during weekdays compared to weekend days. Gender differences were also significant in that boys are more active than girls for both steps (β = 1439.3, p < 0.0001) and MVPA (β = 34.1, p < 0.0001). Conclusion: Students had lower levels of MVPA and steps during the weekends and the winter break. |
