Exploring the Health Effectiveness of a Physical Activity Program Co-Constructed with Students after the COVID-19 Pandemic.

BACKGROUND: University students have low levels of physical activity and high levels of sedentary behaviors that were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Even before the pandemic, there was poor uptake of university sports activities. Therefore, it is essential to develop and test innovative programs to increase students' motivation to engage in physical activity in order to prevent any future deterioration in their general health. OBJECTIVE: This exploratory study was conducted to test the effectiveness of a physical activity program that was co-constructed with students. METHODS: First, a workshop drawing on social design methodologies and the fundamentals of physical activity programs was conducted to assess students' needs and desires in terms of physical activity. Second, the effectiveness of a program co-constructed with students on the basis of this workshop was assessed on physical and mental health parameters. The results showed that the workshop outcomes allowed the physical activity program to be tailored to meet students' expectations (e.g., session duration and type of activities). This innovative physical activity program was found to improve body image, autonomous motivation, and certain physical parameters. At the end of the 8-week program, the adherence rate was 89%, and 83% of the final respondents expressed a wish to re-enroll for the following semester. CONCLUSIONS: Involving students and considering their wishes, needs, and objectives could facilitate the development of attractive and innovative programs.

Promoting Physical Activity Among University Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, sanitary context and e-learning have greatly modified student lifestyles and led to deteriorations in their mental health. An increase in anxiety and depressive symptoms and sedentary behaviors, reduction in physical activity, and a stronger tendency to move toward unhealthy diet have been demonstrated. This finding highlights the need for innovative interventions to promote healthy lifestyle among students. OBJECTIVE: This research protocol aims to evaluate the effects of an intervention program on the lifestyle and psychological state of students. METHODS: Students from University of Nîmes were recruited and randomly assigned to 1 of 2 following conditions: an intervention group and a control group. Participants in the intervention group were engaged in an 8-week physical activity program. Prior to the start of the program, design-based innovative workshops were conducted with participants to ensure that the program was co-constructed by the users and met their specific needs. Students in the control group did not receive any intervention. For each group, measures of physical activity, sedentary time, anthropometric data, sleep, physical condition, and psychological variables (eg, anxiety, depression, motivation, body appreciation, perceived control, well-being) were conducted at baseline and 9 weeks later. RESULTS: A total of 110 participants were initially included. Reporting of the results is projected for the spring of 2022. CONCLUSIONS: It is anticipated that this innovative intervention co-constructed by pairs will promote a healthier lifestyle and psychological health in students. There is every reason to believe that a mobilized co-construction approach is a promising strategy to limit unhealthy habits and promote physical activity while increasing motivation. The development and evaluation of interventions to address the specific needs of university students is essential and could be transferred to other vulnerable populations such as people with chronic diseases or older people. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05019482; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05019482. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/36429.

Effects of an Intervention to Promote Physical Activity and Reduce Sedentary Time in Disadvantaged Children: Randomized Trial.

BACKGROUND: In our society, children are particularly vulnerable to physical inactivity and excessive sedentary time (ST). The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a school-based intervention designed to promote physical activity (PA) and reduce ST in 6- to 10-years-old children from a disadvantaged neighborhood. METHODS: The first intervention of this randomized trial was carried out in School 1 in 2017/2018 and 2018/2019, School 2 benefited from the same intervention in 2018/2019. Baseline assessments were realized using accelerometers prior to the intervention (T1-T2), after the first intervention (T3) and after the second intervention (T4). School-based actions targeted children, parents, teachers, physical, and organizational environment of school and politics. The chi-square test of independence was used to analyze the evolution of the moderate and vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and ST. RESULTS: For School 1, an increase in the percentage of very active children (over 40 minutes MVPA/day) and of having a very low ST (less 240 minutes/day) (p = .00) was found. No further evolution was revealed during the intervention (T2-T3) and 1 year after (T3-T4). For School 2, similar effects on PA and ST were found at T3 (p < .05). CONCLUSIONS: Positive effects occurred before the intervention in each school and then remained stable.

School-Based Multicomponent Intervention to Promote Physical Activity and Reduce Sedentary Time of Disadvantaged Children Aged 6-10 Years: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: In our modern society, physical activity (PA) is decreasing and sedentary time (ST) is increasing, especially for children from disadvantaged neighborhoods. School-based interventions to promote PA and decrease ST are therefore required among this population in order to change children's lifestyle habits. Moreover, attentional capacities and academic achievement can be enhanced by chronic PA during childhood. The relationships between these variables have been poorly studied with this population. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to present the rationale and methods for a randomized controlled trial among 6-10-year-old children with low socioeconomic status that will (1) evaluate the effectiveness of a school-based intervention designed to promote PA and reduce ST and (2) study the relationships between PA, ST, motor skills, attentional capacities, and academic achievement. METHODS: A randomized controlled trial was conducted in 2 eligible primary schools. During academic year 2016-2017, 1 school was randomly assigned as the experiment one and the other was assigned as the control one. Five assessments times were used: baseline (T1 [November 2016] to T2 [June 2017]), follow-up (T3 [November 2017] to T4 [June 2018]), and final assessment (T5 [June 2019]). The school-based intervention included various components on different levels of the socioecological model: (1) curriculum-based program for children; (2) sensitization workshops and newsletters for parents; (3) training workshops for teachers; (4) environmental adaptation of playgrounds and reorganization of recess time; (5) time adaptation of lunch breaks; and (6) collaboration with political groups. PA, ST, motor skills, and attentional capacities were evaluated and academic achievement was recorded. RESULTS: The presented intervention and its different assessments have been successfully implemented. In order to achieve the 2 objectives of this randomized controlled trial, data analyses are about to be completed. CONCLUSIONS: The implementation of this randomized controlled trial can help to determine effective strategies to promote PA in the context of increasing prevalence of physical inactivity among children with sedentary lifestyle which will be useful for researchers, stakeholders, and public policy makers. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03983447; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03983447. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): RR1-10.2196/17815.

Effect of epoch length on intensity classification and on accuracy of measurement under controlled conditions on treadmill: Towards a better understanding of accelerometer measurement.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of epoch length on intensity classification during continuous and intermittent activities. METHODS: Ten active students exercised under controlled conditions on a treadmill for four 5-min bouts by combining two effort intensities (running and walking) and two physical activity (PA) patterns (continuous or intermittent). The testing session was designed to generate a known level of moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) for each condition. These PA levels were used as criterion measures to compare with the accelerometer measures. Data obtained from the accelerometer were reintegrated into 1-sec, 10-sec, 30-sec and 60-sec epochs. Equivalence testing was used to examine measurement agreements between MVPA values obtained with the different epochs and the reference values. Mean absolute percent errors (MAPE) were also calculated to provide an indicator of overall measurement error. RESULTS: During the intermittent conditions, only the value obtained with the 1-sec epoch was significantly equivalent to the reference value. With longer epochs the difference increased for both intermittent conditions but in an opposite way: with longer epochs, MVPA decreased during walking but increased during running. Regarding the measurement accuracy, the pattern of variations according to the epoch length selected during the intermittent conditions was identical between walking and running: MAPE increased with the increase in epoch length. MAPE remained low only for the 1-sec epoch (7.6% and 2.7% for walking and running, respectively), increased at 31.3% and 34% for the 10-sec epoch and until near 100% with the 30- and 60-sec epoch lengths. CONCLUSION: This study highlighted the misclassification of exercise intensity based on accelerometer measurement and described for the first time the extent and the direction of this misclassification. Moreover, we can confirm that the shorter epochs are more accurate to measure the real exercise intensity during intermittent PA whatever the intensity.