Deana A Hildebrand, Nancy M Betts, Gail E Gates
Parents' Perceptions of Childhood Obesity and Support of the School Wellness Policy
Journal of nutrition education and behavior
sars covid19 pandemic resulted major changes daily life conducted health officials instituted policies decelerate spread virus resulting changes physical activity patterns schoolaged children aim study utilize wearable activity monitor assess ambulatory activity elementaryschool aged children home environment covid19 stayathome mandate institutional review board approved research study performed april 3rd may 1st 2020 health officials issued several stayathome shelterinplace orders participant recruitment conducted using convenience sample 38 typically developing children participants wore stepwatch activity monitor one week data downloaded analyzed assess global ambulatory activity measures along ambulatory bout intensityduration comparison purposes sam data collected pandemic group 27 agematched children region united states included statistical analyses performed comparing sam variables children abiding stayathome mandate stayathome versus historical cohort alpha005 stayathome cohort took average 3737 fewer daily total steps compared historical cohort p0001 daily total ambulatory time tat across days significantly lower stayathome cohort compared historical cohort mean difference 819 minutes p0001 stayathome cohort spent significantly higher percentage tat easy intensity ambulatory activity mean difference 2 p0001 therefore significantly lower percentage tat moderate intensity mean difference 2 p0001 stayathome mandates resulted lower pa levels elementary schoolaged children beyond global measures also bout intensityduration appears inperson school major contributor achieving higher levels pa study provides additional data policymakers consider future decisions