Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Physical Activity Behavior across Domains and Settings

Abstract

COVID-19 restrictions and alterations to daily living (e.g. working from home, caregiving responsibilities) necessitated changes in physical activity (PA) behavior. The purpose of this study was to understand how PA within specific domains and behavior settings changed during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the extent to which PA increased or decreased as a function of participants’ gender, work location (i.e., home vs. jobsite) and caregiving responsibilities. An e-survey, conducted April-June 2020, examined changes in PA across domains and settings in a national sample of 805 adults. Respondents reported domain-specific increases in household and recreational PA, but decreases in active transportation, occupational PA, and public transportation use. Weekly minutes of PA changed significantly across all behavior settings, with reported increases in home-based, neighborhood, parks/trails, and total PA, and decreases in PA through recreational sports and fitness facilities. Total weekly PA minutes increased by 10.6%. Those with caregiving responsibilities reported increases in household PA and PA frequency, whereas those without caregiving responsibilities were more likely to report increases in sitting. Those working from home reported a larger increase in neighborhood PA. Those working at a jobsite with caregiving responsibilities reported less weekly PA, while those working from home with caregiving responsibilities reported greater weekly PA. The overall increase in weekly PA minutes and ability to adapt to different domains/settings was encouraging. Future interventions should capitalize on domain- and setting-specific changes, while considering work location and caregiving responsibilities to develop innovative PA promotion strategies.