Exercise behavior in adolescents with mild congenital heart disease.

BACKGROUND AND RESEARCH OBJECTIVES: Most children with congenital heart disease (CHD) are expected to survive to adolescence and adulthood owing to medical advances and care management. These adolescents need to be well informed about their exercise capacity and take greater personal responsibility for their exercise behavior as they mature. The aims of this study were to compare the amount and intensity of exercise engaged in by male and female adolescents with mild CHD while on summer vacation and during the academic semester and to determine the extent to which their exercise behavior met cardiologists' recommendations, based on New York Heart Association functional classification. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: A repeated-measure design was used to evaluate exercise behavior in 126 adolescents 12 to 18 years old with mild CHD from the outpatient cardiology departments of 3 medical centers in Taiwan. Exercise, classified as mild, moderate, or vigorous, was evaluated during summer vacation and during the fall semester using a 7-day self-reported exercise log. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Patients engaged in significantly more mild and total exercise during summer vacation than they did during the fall semester. They also engaged in significantly less vigorous exercise during summer vacation than they did in the fall semester. Female respondents engaged in significantly less moderate (P = .019), vigorous (P < .001), and total (P = .015) exercise than did their male counterparts but showed no difference in mild exercise. During the summer and fall, nearly 50% of the adolescents followed their cardiologist's recommendations for exercise. Adolescents with mild CHD engaged in more exercise during summer vacation but engaged in more vigorous exercise during the fall semester. Approximately one half did not follow the exercise intensity recommended by cardiologists. Inadequate exercise patterns may lead to cardiovascular complications. Planned interventions related to exercise instruction are needed for adolescents with CHD.

A comparison of actual and preferred classroom environments as perceived by middle school students.

BACKGROUND: A good classroom environment can promote students' learning motivation and affect their academic efficacy and adaptation. This study compares the perceptions of Taiwanese middle school students regarding actual and preferred classroom environments and explores the association with sex and grade level. METHODS: Data were collected using cross-sectional research design from a national sample of 1932 middle school students. Data of 1897 valid questionnaires from the Chinese Elementary and Middle School Inventory of Classroom Environment were analyzed. RESULTS: The actual and preferred classroom environments perceived by students differed significantly (p < .001). The overall mean score of actual classroom environment was lower than that of preferred classroom environment. Differences between the actual and preferred environments were greater for girls than for boys (p < .001). Moreover, girls had higher scores than those of boys for both actual (p = .036) and preferred (p < .001) environments. After adjusted for region, seventh- and eighth-grade students had a higher score than that of ninth-grade students on preferred classroom environment (p = .002). CONCLUSIONS: This study identified a gap between the ideal and actual classroom environments. We suggest that the government, schools, and health education teachers improve classroom environments during school health programs to satisfy students' expectations and thus increase their learning efficacy and overall well-being.

The effects of a self-esteem program incorporated into health and physical education classes.

BACKGROUND: Self-esteem, a key construct of personality, influences thoughts, actions, and feelings. Adolescence is a critical stage to the development of self-esteem. Taiwan currently offers no self-esteem building curriculum in the public education system. Therefore, incorporating self-esteem-related teaching activities into the existing curriculum represents a feasible approach to enhance self-esteem in middle school students. PURPOSE: This study aimed to explore the effects on junior high school students' self-esteem of a self-esteem program incorporated into the general health and physical education curriculum. METHODS: A quasi-experimental research design was used, and 184 seventh-grade students at two junior high schools in Taipei City were randomly selected and separated into two groups. The experimental group received one 32-week self-esteem program incorporated into their regular health and physical education curriculum, which was administered in three 45-minute-session classes each week. The control group received the regular health and physical education with no specially designed elements. During the week before the intervention began and the week after its conclusion, each participant's global and academic, physical, social, and family self-esteem was assessed. Data were analyzed using analysis of covariance. RESULTS: For all participants, the experimental group was significantly superior to the control group in respect to physical self-esteem (p = .02). For girls, the experimental group was significantly superior to the control group in family self-esteem (p = .02). However, there was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of global self-esteem. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: This study provides preliminary evidence that incorporating self-esteem activities into the regular school health and physical education curriculum can result in minor effects in students' physical self-esteem and family self-esteem. Findings may provide teachers and school administrators with information to help them design programs to improve students' self-esteem. This study also reminds health professionals to focus on providing self-esteem-building programs when working with adolescent clients.