Recreational facilities and leisure-time physical activity : an analysis of moderators and self-efficacy as a mediator

Objective: To examine socio-demographic and psychosocial moderators, and self-efficacy as a mediator of the cross-sectional relationships between having access to recreational facilities and leisure-time physical activity (LTPA); to investigate the extent to which the environment-LTPA associations could be explained by self-selection to neighborhoods.

Design: A two-stage stratified sampling design was used to recruit 2,650 adults (aged 20-65) from 32 urban communities varying in walkability and socioeconomic status. Participants reported perceived access to facilities and home equipment for LTPA, weekly minutes of LTPA, self-efficacy for and enjoyment of LTPA, reasons for neighborhood selection, and socio-demographic characteristics.

Main Outcome Measures: Self-reported recreational walking and other forms of moderate-to-vigorous LTPA expressed in MET-minutes.

Results: Specific types of recreational facilities were independently  associated with LTPA. Age, education, being overweight/ obese, reasons for neighborhood selection, enjoyment of, and self-efficacy for LTPA moderated these relationships. Self-efficacy was not a significant mediator of these cross-sectional associations.

Conclusion: These findings have potentially significant implications for the planning of environmental interventions aimed at increasing population-level LTPA particularly in those who are less attitudinally inclined to being physically active.

The effects of a simplified tai-chi exercise program (STEP) on the physical health of older adults living in long-term care facilities : a single group design with multiple time points

Background
Studies support the positive effects that Tai Chi has on the physical health of older adults. However, many older adults residing in long-term care facilities feel too weak to practice traditional Tai Chi, and a more simplified style is preferred.
Objective
To test the effects of a newly-developed, Simplified Tai-Chi Exercise Program (STEP) on the physical health of older adults who resided in long-term care facilities.
Design
A single group design with multiple time points: three pre-tests, one month apart; four post-tests at one month, two months, three months, and six months after intervention started.
Settings
Two 300–400 bed veteran homes in Taiwan.
Participants
The 51 male older adults were recruited through convenience sampling, and 41 of them completed six-month study. Inclusion criteria included: (1) aged 65 and over; (2) no previous training in Tai Chi; (3) cognitively alert and had a score of at least eight on the Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire; (4) able to walk without assistance; and (5) had a Barthel Index score of 61 or higher. Participants who had dementia, were wheel-chair bound, or had severe or acute cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, or pulmonary illnesses were excluded.
Methods
The STEP was implemented three times a week, 50 min per session for six months. The outcome measures included cardio-respiratory function, blood pressure, balance, hand-grip strength, lower body flexibility, and physical health actualization.
Results
A drop in systolic blood pressure (p=.017) and diastolic blood pressure (p<.001) was detected six months after intervention started. Increase in hand-grip strength from pre to post intervention was found (left hand: p<.001; right hand: p=.035). Participants also had better lower body flexibility after practicing STEP (p=.038).
Conclusions
Findings suggest that the STEP be incorporated as a floor activity in long-term care facilities to promote physical health of older adults.

A hitchhiker's guide to assessing young people's physical activity : deciding what method to use

Researchers and practitioners interested in assessing physical activity in  children are often faced with the dilemma of what instrument to use. While there is a plethora of physical activity instruments to choose from, there is currently no guide regarding the suitability of common assessment instruments. The purpose of this paper is to provide a user’s guide for selecting physical activity assessment instruments appropriate for use with children and adolescents. While recommendations regarding specific instruments are not provided, the guide offers information about key attributes and considerations for the use of eight physical activity assessment approaches: heart rate monitoring; accelerometry; pedometry; direct observation; self-report; parent report; teacher report; and diaries/logs. Attributes of instruments and other factors to be considered in the selection of assessment instruments include: population (age); sample size; respondent burden; method/delivery mode; assessment time frame; physical activity information required (data output); data management; measurement error; cost (instrument and administration) and other limitations. A decision flow chart has been developed to assist researchers and practitioners to select an appropriate method of assessing physical activity. Five real-life scenarios are presented to illustrate this process in light of key instrument attributes. It is important that researchers, practitioners and policy makers understand the strengths and limitations of different methods of assessing physical activity, and are guided on selection of the most appropriate instrument/s to suit their needs.

The association of levels of physical activity with metabolic syndrome in rural Australian adults

Background:  Physical activity (PA) reduces risk factors related to metabolic syndrome. Rurality influences the way people incorporate physical activity into daily life. The aim of this study is to determine the association of PA level with metabolic syndrome in a rural Australian population. The influence of adiposity on these associations is also investigated.

Methods: Three cross-sectional population health surveys were conducted in south-east Australia during 2004–2006 using a random population sample (n = 1563, participation rate 49%) aged 25–74 years. PA was assessed via a self-administered questionnaire, and components of the metabolic syndrome via anthropometric measurements taken by specially trained nurses and laboratory tests.

Results: Approximately one-fifth of participants were inactive in leisure-time and over one-third had metabolic syndrome (men 39%, women 33%; p = 0.022). There was an inverse association between level of PA and metabolic syndrome (p < 0.001). Men who were inactive in leisure-time were more than twice as likely and women more than three times as likely to have metabolic syndrome compared with those having high PA. Body mass index (BMI) is a mediating factor in the association between level of PA and metabolic syndrome.

Conclusion: Some PA is better than none if adults, particularly women, are to reduce their risk of metabolic syndrome and associated vascular diseases. Specialised interventions that take rurality into consideration are recommended for adults who are inactive.

Individual, social and physical environmental correlates of children's active free-play : a cross-sectional study

Background
Children's unstructured outdoor free-play (or active free-play) has the potential to make an important contribution to children's overall physical activity levels. Limited research has, however, examined physical activity in this domain. This study examined associations between individual, social and physical environmental factors and the frequency with which children play in particular outdoor locations outside school hours. This study also investigated whether the frequency of playing in outdoor locations was associated with children's overall physical activity levels.

Methods
Participants including 8-9 year old children and their parents (n = 187) were recruited from a selection of primary schools of varying socioeconomic status across metropolitan Melbourne, Australia. Parents completed a survey and children's overall physical activity levels were measured by accelerometry. Regression models examined the odds of children playing in various outdoor settings according to particular correlates.

Results
Inverse associations were found between preference for activities not involving physical activity, and the likelihood of children playing in the yard at home on the weekend (OR = 0.65; CI = 0.45,0.95). Positive correlates of children playing in their own street included: parental perceptions that it was safe for their child to play in their street (weekdays [OR = 6.46; CI = 2.84,14.71], weekend days [OR = 6.01; CI = 2.68,13.47]); children having many friends in their neighbourhood (OR = 2.63; CI = 1.21,5.76); and living in a cul-de-sac (weekdays [OR = 3.99; CI = 1.65,9.66], weekend days [OR = 3.49; CI = 1.49,8.16]). Positive correlates of more frequent play in the park/playground on weekdays included family going to the park together on a weekly basis on weekdays (OR = 6.8; CI = 3.4,13.6); and on weekend days (OR = 7.36; CI = 3.6,15.0). No differences in mean mins/day of moderate-vigorous physical activity were found between children in the highest and lowest tertiles for frequency of playing in particular outdoor locations.

Conclusion
The presence of friends, safety issues and aspects of the built environment were reported by parents to be associated with children's active free-play in outdoor locations. Future research needs to further examine associations with time spent in active free-play and objectively-measured overall physical activity levels. It is also important to investigate strategies for developing a supportive social and physical environment that provides opportunities for children to engage in active free-play.

A pilot program of physical activity promotion among clients receiving home and community care

Three Victorian local governments cooperated in a pilot study of physical activity promotion as part of home and community care (HACC) service delivery. Thirty-one people receiving HACC volunteered to participate, including completing the Transtheoretical Stages of Change Exercise Questionnaire and the short-form Stanford Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) just before and at 3 months and 6 months after starting regular self-selected physical activity. Twenty-one participants returned questionnaires at 3 months, and 17 participants returned questionnaires at 6 months. Data were analysed using paired t tests and effect sizes were calculated as mean differences. At 3 months, mean improvements were identified on 6 of the 8 HAQDI (disability index) subscales, and in the overall HAQ-DI score. Improvement in dressing and grooming was preserved at 6 months. At either 3 or 6 months, improvements in dressing and grooming, reach, hygiene, and daily activities, and overall HAQ-DI score exceeded the minimum clinically important difference. No improvements were statistically significant, as is likely in a pilot study with a small sample, however, these results suggest that even very small increases in physical activity may afford clinically meaningful improvements in some areas of physical function required for independent living.

Physical activity based professional development for teachers : the importance of whole school involvement

Objective: This study sought to investigate teachers’ perceptions of a physical activity-related professional development intervention.
Design: Interview-based qualitative approach founded on the interpretive paradigm.
Setting: Purposive selection of one high-rated independent, and one low-rated public primary school from Auckland, New Zealand.
Method: A qualitative approach was used, incorporating a questionnaire used for purposive sampling and a total of eighteen semi-structured interviews with six teachers from two primary schools.
Results: Participants highly valued the inclusion of all teachers in onsite professional development and felt supported by a strong, positive organizational culture.
Conclusion: Participant teachers believed physical activity played an important role within the school setting, and recognized their role in the provision of opportunities for their students. However, they did not necessarily feel confident and competent to facilitate opportunities. A specific professional development intervention was introduced as one form of support to address this need. Teachers valued first-hand experience of professional development and reported particular enjoyment if they participated alongside their colleagues.

Biological maturity and primary school children's physical activity : influence of different physical activity assessment instruments

Biological maturation may attenuate hypothesized sex differences in children’s physical activity but overall the evidence for this is equivocal. In this study, we investigated how the selection of different physical activity assessment instruments affects the detected relationship between biological maturation and late primary school children’s physical activity. Altogether, 175 children (97 girls, 78 boys) aged 10.690.3 years completed the PAQ-C self-report questionnaire and wore ActiGraph GT1M accelerometers for 5 consecutive days. Maturity status was predicted by estimating attainment of age at peak height velocity. Following initial exploration of sex differences in PAQ-C (t-test) and multiple ActiGraph outcome variables (MANOVA), the influence of maturity status was controlled using ANCOVA and MANCOVA. Unadjusted analyses revealed that boys were significantly more active than girls according to the PAQ-C (PB0.0001, d0.52) and ActiGraph (PB0.0001, d0.360.72). After controlling for maturity status, the differences in PAQ-C scores increased (P0.001, d0.64), but the significant differences disappeared for the ActiGraph data (P0.36, d0.170.33). The detected relationship between maturity status and late primary school children’s physical activity is dependent on the physical activity assessment tool employed, reflecting the different aspects of physical activity captured by the respective measures.

Kin selection, not group augmentation, predicts helping in an obligate cooperatively breeding bird

Kin selection theory has been the central model for understanding the evolution of cooperative breeding, where non-breeders help bear the cost of rearing young. Recently, the dominance of this idea has been questioned; particularly in obligate cooperative breeders where breeding without help is uncommon and seldom successful. In such systems, the direct benefits gained through augmenting current group size have been hypothesized to provide a tractable alternative (or addition) to kin selection. However, clear empirical tests of the opposing predictions are lacking. Here, we provide convincing evidence to suggest that kin selection and not group augmentation accounts for decisions of whether, where and how often to help in an obligate cooperative breeder, the chestnut-crowned babbler (Pomatostomus ruficeps). We found no evidence that group members base helping decisions on the size of breeding units available in their social group, despite both correlational and experimental data showing substantial variation in the degree to which helpers affect productivity in units of different size. By contrast, 98 per cent of group members with kin present helped, 100 per cent directed their care towards the most related brood in the social group, and those rearing half/full-sibs helped approximately three times harder than those rearing less/non-related broods. We conclude that kin selection plays a central role in the maintenance of cooperative breeding in this species, despite the apparent importance of living in large groups.

Comparing the small sample properties of two break Lagrange Multiplier unit root tests

In this note, we examine the size and power properties and the break date estimation accuracy of the Lee and Strazicich (LS, 2003) two break endogenous unit root test, based on two different break date selection methods: minimising the test statistic and minimising the sum of squared residuals (SSR). Our results show that the performance of both Models A and C of the LS test are superior when one uses the minimising SSR procedure.

Impact of an active video game on healthy children’s physical activity

OBJECTIVE: This naturalistic study tests whether children receiving a new (to them) active video game spontaneously engage in more physical activity than those receiving an inactive video game, and whether the effect would be greater among children in unsafe neighborhoods, who might not be allowed to play outside.

METHODS: Participants were children 9 to 12 years of age, with a BMI >50th percentile, but <99th percentile; none of these children a medical condition that would preclude physical activity or playing video games. A randomized clinical trial assigned children to receiving 2 active or 2 inactive video games, the peripherals necessary to run the games, and a Wii console. Physical activity was monitored by using accelerometers for 5 weeks over the course of a 13-week experiment. Neighborhood safety was assessed with a 12 item validated questionnaire.

RESULTS: There was no evidence that children receiving the active video games were more active in general, or at anytime, than children receiving the inactive video games. The outcomes were not moderated by parent perceived neighborhood safety, child BMI z score, or other demographic characteristics.

CONCLUSIONS: These results provide no reason to believe that simply acquiring an active video game under naturalistic circumstances provides a public health benefit to children.

Physical activity for cancer survivors : a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials

Objective To systematically evaluate the effects of physical activity in adult patients after completion of main treatment related to cancer. Design Meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials with data extraction and quality assessment performed independently by two researchers. Data sources Pubmed, CINAHL, and Google Scholar from the earliest possible year to September 2011. References from meta-analyses and reviews. Study selection Randomised controlled trials that assessed the effects of physical activity in adults who had completed their main cancer treatment, except hormonal treatment. Results There were 34 randomised controlled trials, of which 22 (65%) focused on patients with breast cancer, and 48 outcomes in our meta-analysis. Twenty two studies assessed aerobic exercise, and four also included resistance or strength training. The median duration of physical activity was 13 weeks (range 3-60 weeks). Most control groups were considered sedentary or were assigned no exercise. Based on studies on patients with breast cancer, physical activity was associated with improvements in insulin-like growth factor-I, bench press, leg press, fatigue, depression, and quality of life. When we combined studies on different types of cancer, we found significant improvements in body mass index (BMI), body weight, peak oxygen consumption, peak power output, distance walked in six minutes, right handgrip strength, and quality of life. Sources of study heterogeneity included age, study quality, study size, and type and duration of physical activity. Publication bias did not alter our conclusions. Conclusions Physical activity has positive effects on physiology, body composition, physical functions, psychological outcomes, and quality of life in patients after treatment for breast cancer. When patients with cancer other than breast cancer were also included, physical activity was associated with reduced BMI and body weight, increased peak oxygen consumption and peak power output, and improved quality of life.

Influence of field position and phase of play on the physical demands of match-play in professional rugby league forwards

This article describes the utilisation of an unsupervised machine learning technique and statistical approaches (e.g., the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test) that assist cycling experts in the crucial decision-making processes for athlete selection, training, and strategic planning in the track cycling Omnium. The Omnium is a multi-event competition that will be included in the summer Olympic Games for the first time in 2012. Presently, selectors and cycling coaches make decisions based on experience and intuition. They rarely have access to objective data. We analysed both the old five-event (first raced internationally in 2007) and new six-event (first raced internationally in 2011) Omniums and found that the addition of the elimination race component to the Omnium has, contrary to expectations, not favoured track endurance riders. We analysed the Omnium data and also determined the inter-relationships between different individual events as well as between those events and the final standings of riders. In further analysis, we found that there is no maximum ranking (poorest performance) in each individual event that riders can afford whilst still winning a medal. We also found the required times for riders to finish the timed components that are necessary for medal winning. The results of this study consider the scoring system of the Omnium and inform decision-making toward successful participation in future major Omnium competitions.