Health Behavior and Policy Review最新文献

Objective: In this study, we explore parent perception of children's physical activity and screen time during COVID-19 stay-at-home orders.

Methods: We interviewed 16 parents of children ages 5-12 years in the St. Louis, Missouri region using snowball sampling. We sampled from rural, urban, and suburban areas. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using a priori and emergent codes.

Results: The transition to virtual school and work transformed daily activities. Physical education requirements varied, generally perceived as not contributing to overall physical activity. Parents perceived the amount of physical activity as the same or increased but reported an increase in screen time. The physical environment of the home, yard, and neighborhood emerged as a theme as did the social environment for physical activity.

Conclusions: COVID-19 stay-at-home orders created challenges for children's physical activity. Results can be used to inform more generalizable studies and serve as a basis for creating better parent resources to support their children's physical activity outside of ordinary school, sport, and community activity opportunities.

Objective: In this study, we examined students' fitness, body mass index (BMI), and demographics as predictors of observed time on-task (TOT) behaviors as an indicator of behavioral inattention.

Methods: We collected demographics, fitness estimates, and BMI from 2020 fourth-graders (Mean age = 8.6 (SD = 0.5); 47% girls; 49% white) from 28 schools. We measured TOT through momentary time sampling observations. Three-level linear models were conducted to determine whether characteristics predicted differences in TOT. We tested interactions between characteristics and TOT.

Results: Older students exhibited greater percent of TOT (estimate = 2.34, SE = 1.02, df = 919, t = 2.30, p < .05). Additionally, boys spent less percent TOT (estimate = -3.59, SE = 1.03, df = 906, t = -3.49, p < .05). There were no differences by race/ethnicity, SES, BMI, fitness, or time of day and percent TOT. Furthermore, none of the interactions were statistically significant (p > .15).

Conclusions: Girls and older students spent more TOT. These findings are of interest to educators and psychologists working on the development of research-based guidelines aimed to support elementary students' engagement in the classroom.

Objective: In the present study, we sought to determine if a comprehensive school physical activity program (CSPAP) delivered using the Be a Champion! (BAC) framework was effective in increasing moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and decreasing sedentary time in elementary school youth.

Methods: We implemented a CSPAP in 3 elementary schools to determine its effectiveness to youth behaviors compared to 2 control schools. Youth physical activity was assessed via accelerometry in spring 2015 and spring 2016 during school hours on school days. Implementation of the BAC components and youth behavior was assessed through direct observation from fall 2015 through winter 2016.

Results: In a multilevel, mixed model examining the effects of intervention, we found no statistically significant effect of the intervention on overall MVPA. However, a significant increase in MVPA was observed among girls (but not boys) in the intervention schools relative to controls. No differences in sedentary behaviors were observed by group.

Conclusion: CSPAP implementation may be effective in reducing sedentary time and increasing MVPA in girls, but not boys. Research is necessary to increase implementation dose and fidelity to best practices in physical activity promotion.

Objective: We undertook a literature review to evaluate the evidence for an association among school-based fitness testing and bullying, weight-based teasing (WBT), and/or gender discrimination.

Methods: We searched the peer-reviewed literature using PubMed, ERIC and GOOGLE Scholar to identify articles related to school-based physical fitness testing (K-12) on the one hand and bullying, WBT, and/or gender discrimination on the other.

Results: We identified 12 studies on the impact of school-based physical fitness testing (PFT) on bullying and WBT. These studies do not support the assertion that PFT places students at elevated risk for bullying and/or WBT as compared to other school settings. There is a dearth of studies investigating an association between PFT and gender discrimination.

Conclusions: The concerns about PFT as a widespread cause of bullying and WBT are not supported by the evidence. It is likely that school climate is a stronger determinant overall of these negative student interactions and that more rigorous teacher training would ameliorate student concerns about fitness testing. Nevertheless, more rigorous research is warranted to determine with confidence that PFT does not elevate students' risks for bullying and WBT and to examine the risks for students with non-binary gender.