Keeping children healthy during and after COVID-19 pandemic: meeting youth physical activity needs

The purpose of this study was to: 1) examine the maintenance of Physical Education and physical activity during the distance learning time, 2) determine the resources educators are utilizing to deliver PE curricula, and 3) understand the challenges experienced by educators during distance learning....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	BMC public health Vol. 21; no. 1; p. 485
Main Authors:	Pavlovic, Andjelka, DeFina, Laura F, Natale, Breanna L, Thiele, Shelby E, Walker, Timothy J, Craig, Derek W, Vint, Georgina R, Leonard, David, Haskell, William L, Kohl, Harold W
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	England BioMed Central Ltd 11-03-2021 BioMed Central BMC
Subjects:	Adult Child COVID-19 - prevention & control COVID-19 - psychology Curriculum Demographic aspects Education, Distance Exercise Health aspects Humans Pandemic Physical activity Physical education Physical Education and Training - trends Physical fitness Physiological aspects Puerto Rico - epidemiology School Teachers - psychology Schools - statistics & numerical data Students Surveys and Questionnaires Teenagers United States - epidemiology Youth United States Puerto Rico Physical activity Physical education Pandemic
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Summary:	The purpose of this study was to: 1) examine the maintenance of Physical Education and physical activity during the distance learning time, 2) determine the resources educators are utilizing to deliver PE curricula, and 3) understand the challenges experienced by educators during distance learning. A survey was sent to a cohort of school-based fitness assessment software users. Respondents were largely school-based individuals including PE teachers (n = 1789), school (n = 62) and district administrators (n = 64), nurses (n = 3), and "other" (n = 522). Of 2440 respondents, most were from a city or suburb (69.7%), elementary or middle school (72.3%), and had Title 1 status (60.4%), an indicator of low socioeconomic status. Most campuses were closed during the COVID-19 pandemic (97.8%). Of the schools closed during the pandemic, only 2.8% had no prior PE requirements and that increased to 21% during the pandemic. In schools that remained open during the pandemic, 7.7% had no prior PE requirements and this increased to 60.5%. Importantly, 79% of respondents reported that students were either "significantly less" or "somewhat less" physically active during the closure. For closed schools, the most frequently cited challenges included "student access to online learning", "teacher/student communication" and "teacher remote work arrangements". For open schools, the most commonly reported challenges included "social distancing", "access to gymnasium/equipment", and "concern for personal health and wellbeing". The COVID-19 pandemic has caused important reductions in PE requirements and time engaged in physical activity. Challenges experienced by teachers were identified for closed and open schools.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	1471-2458 1471-2458
DOI:	10.1186/s12889-021-10545-x