The workplace is considered a strategic location for health promotion. According to the Texas Workforce Commission, office workers represent up to 40% of the workforce in Texas and the general nature of the type of work is sedentary. Additional study is needed on how the built environment near the worksite area impacts walking behaviors and to determine interventions effective in increasing walking as part of daily routines among office workers. The two aims of this dissertation were: 1) investigate the differences that urban and suburban settings may have on walking behavior (walk trips, walk duration, total step count) of office workers in Texas and 2) to examine the impact of a simple intervention in increasing walking within the respective land use settings. This study utilized on-line survey and travel diary, pedometer, and Geographic Information System to capture the study variables, which included personal, social and cultural, organizational, and built environmental factors. Results showed that urban office workers walk, on average, 600 steps more per day than the suburban office workers. Office workers in both land use settings on average have not met the recommended level of walking steps per day of 10,000 steps per day (Urban Mean=4,932 steps per day, Suburban Mean=4,347 steps per day). Post-intervention step count averaged 5,734 steps per day for urban office workers in contrast to 4,257 steps per day for suburban office workers. This translated to a 16% increase and 2% decrease in walking steps for urban and suburban office workers, respectively. The built environment in terms of land use setting, urban versus suburban, and availability of land use destinations showed associations with walking behavior for office workers. Destinations positively associated with the number of walking trips, including access to bookstores and coffee shops. Access to convenience stores and food establishments for suburban office workers were more relevant for walking duration. Significant destinations for the urban office workers' walking duration per week included the number of banks and food establishments within one fourth mile from their office building. The results for the second aim, testing the tailored information intervention, were informative, though not significant. The intervention did not yield a significant change in walking step count, but provided insight on opportunities for future studies.

<p>Meaningful teaching in physical education – A study of pupils opinions of the contents and teachers methods to activate and account inactive pupils.</p><p>Nowadays people in society are getting more and more inactive, and we have during our practice at different schools, noticed that many pupils are uncalled for and inactive at the lessons in physical education. The purpose with the study is to see what pupils in the ninth grade thinks about the contents of the subject and what they want it to contain to make the teaching more meaningful. The study also looks in to different methods that teachers in physical education use to make the lesson feel meaningful for all the pupils and how they work to activate and account inactive pupils. To collect the information we chose to distribute questioners to pupils and do interviews with teachers. In question of contents, the pupils want to do activities with a high level of effort and they want to have a varying and challenging teaching. To create a context the pupils wanted more theory and they think that the teaching gets more meaning if they get more responsibility and have influence over the lesson. To activate and account the inactive pupils, the teachers in this study tries to create a secure environment and they think it’s important with an open dialogue whit their pupils. They want to make their pupils feel competent and secure enough to participate in the teaching. Different methods they used were to find special solutions and adapt the teaching after individuals and levels to activate all the pupils.</p>

The population of cancer survivors is rapidly expanding, and promotion of health and quality of life for these individuals is a priority. Exercise confers numerous general and cancer–specific benefits, yet many cancer survivors are insufficiently active. Research on perceived exercise barriers in cancer survivors has been limited by methodological and conceptual problems. Recent research suggests barriers may be multi–dimensional, and different types of barriers may be salient depending on whether or not a person intends to engage in a given behavior. Global (i.e., abstract) barriers may be negatively associated with intention, while practical (i.e., concrete) barriers may be positively associated with intention. The present study aimed to examine the utility of a multi–dimensional conceptualization of exercise barriers in cancer survivors and to develop an exercise barriers scale for this population. Participants were 170 breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer survivors (mean age = 60 years, 67% female) who had completed treatment 6–36 months before the study. The study was conducted online in a survey that included measures assessing current exercise behavior, perceived exercise benefits, exercise intention, and exercise barriers. Factor analysis of the exercise barriers measure revealed five factors, which were further condensed into global, practical, and health factors. Total barriers and global barriers negatively predicted exercise intention (ρs < 0.001); practical and health barriers did not predict intention (ρs > 0.05). Accounting for relevant demographic variables and current exercise behavior, total barriers and global barriers contributed significant amounts of unique variance in exercise intention (4% and 7% respectively); however, when perceived benefits were included, only global barriers remained significant. These findings suggest that multi–dimensional conceptualizations of health behavior barriers are worthy of further study and that global barriers may be an important target for interventions designed to increase intention.

This study explores local plans as primary source documents outlining resident-requested, City-approved projects that may help reduce neighborhood-level barriers to physically active transportation and recreation. Emerging evidence suggests a link between the built environment and physical activity, but any causal relationship remains uncertain. This report begins with a literature review to discover neighborhood traits currently under investigation for correlation with higher activity levels. This is followed by an analysis of Austin Neighborhood Plans to identify community-prioritized Action Items pertinent to physical activity. Next, crime data are reviewed to assess objective and perceived safety levels in the study neighborhoods, Chestnut and East César Chávez. Finally, planners and residents are interviewed to explore how health and safety were addressed in the planning process, discover methods by which plan items have been implemented, and identify common barriers to project completion that the public health community may help bridge. Findings indicate that residents’ concerns regarding personal safety and crime may outweigh other neighborhood barriers to physical activity. Planning and health departments would be advised to address crime and safety levels as part of larger built environment efforts to encourage active transportation and recreation. / text

The worldwide obesity epidemic is cause for alarm because of its link to major, life threatening diseases such as cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes. Not only adults, but also children, are suffering from increasing rates of overweight and obesity. This is a matter of serious concern not just because of the specific diseases that are affecting growing numbers of children, but also because overweight and obesity in childhood greatly increase the likelihood that those children will be obese as adults. The incidence of childhood obesity in Texas is significantly higher than the U.S. average. One of the two Austin, Texas zip codes with the highest rates of childhood obesity is zip code 78745. A coalition of concerned residents, government representatives, nonprofit leaders, and religious activists known as Go Austin!/Vamos Austin! (GAVA) has spearheaded an initiative to combat childhood obesity in the zip code. One of GAVA’s three foci is physical activity. This professional report analyzes the physical activity opportunities for children in 78745 through free, publicly available recreation facilities and green spaces. It identifies those spaces that are closest to the childhood obesity hotspots and recommends actions that can be taken by the city, the school district, nonprofits, area businesses, and local residents to increase physical activity among area children through existing and proposed opportunities. / text

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of circus arts instruction on the physical literacy (PL) of children in grades 4 and 5. Methods: A prospective, clustered, quasi-experimental design was used to compare schools with circus arts instruction in physical education class (PE CIRCUS) to three matched schools using standard Physical Health and Education curriculum delivery (PE). PL assessments were obtained at the beginning and end of one semester using PLAY Tools (physicalliteracy.ca). These tools provided an assessment of 1) motor competence, confidence, and comprehension, 2) the child's self-report of physical literacy, 3) the PE teacher's surrogate assessment of the child, 4) the parental assessment of the child, and 5) an inventory of the child's activities. Results: 211 students participated, with equal numbers in grades 4 and 5, and an even distribution between PE and PE CIRCUS groups. There were significant (p<0.05) improvements in motor competence in movement skills (curricular linked) over time for both school settings, but with substantial endpoint differences (7.9%, p<0.01) in favour of PE CIRCUS for 15 of 18 movement skills in grade 5 only. The gender gap in motor competence in the PE CIRCUS group was smaller than that in the PE group. Children in the PE CIRCUS schools revealed greater movement terminology comprehension and higher confidence in execution (p<0.05). Children in the PE CIRCUS schools reported greater confidence, felt more talented, were more eager to participate (p=0.055), and girls associated physical activity with happiness (p<0.05) more than those in the PE schools. Conclusion: Circus arts instruction can effectively aid in the development of physical literacy in children. Providing a quality physical literacy experience, such as circus arts instruction, does not amplify the gender gap, but provides equitable levels of motor competence development for males and females, and assists with achieving current PE curricular objectives. The results of this study provide insight to allow for further development of effective physical education delivery methods in schools, and provide quantitative research to support the positive effects of circus arts instruction reported qualitatively. / October 2015

Abstract Purpose: To characterize physical activity of people using manual wheelchairs with spinal cord injury in Manitoba. Methods: An observational study of manual wheelchairs users with spinal cord injury. Participants completed surveys related to self-efficacy for exercise, physical activity participation, and shoulder pain. Accelerometers were worn for 7 days on the wrist and trunk (GT3X, 100 Hz, 5 s epochs) and completed an activity log concurrently. Individual specific thresholds were determined for moderate intensity during a pace graded wheeling trial. Physical activity and sedentary time were characterized using various derived variables. Results: Twenty five participants (12 tetra:13 para, 21M:4F) demonstrated excellent accelerometer adherence achieving an average of 6.2 days worn for over 13 hours per day. A total of 74.6 min (all activity) and 115 min (contiguous bouts of activity) were achieved over time worn (6.2 days), corresponding to 11.8 and 18.5 min/day respectively. The participants substantially exceeded the published SCI guidelines (40 min/week, P<0.01) but were under the able bodied threshold of 150 min/week (P<0.01). No relationships were observed between surveys and objectively measured PA. Characterization of PA bouts revealed few participants (n=7) exhibiting single bout durations greater than 10 minutes, with an average contiguous bout duration of 30 s. A new functional classification scheme revealed positive correlations to PA variables and wheeling performance. Sedentary times ranged from 6.25 to 8.4 hours per day depending upon accelerometer placement. Conclusion: Arm based accelerometry can be used to determine PA and sedentary characteristics of manual wheelchair users with individual specific moderate intensity thresholds. Participants exceeded the SCI specific activity guidelines in terms of time per week, and failed to reach bout durations of 20 min. This study supports the use of able-bodied PA guidelines as a target. A new functional classification scheme was derived based upon wheeling dependent muscle innervation that had enhanced prediction of PA relative to standard anatomical classification / October 2015

This study draws upon a wide range of research to examine underachievement in UK schools. With underachievement continuing to be present within the UK’s educational system, it is essential that a remedy is found. The notion that physical activity is linked to an increase in academic performance is not a new concept; however researchers are still trying to determine the scope of such a claim. There is a widespread belief that sport can be used as a vehicle to promote positive youth development. In particular, using sport to teach adolescents various life skills has become popular over the previous decade. However, little research has looked at the transfer of life skills into other academic and life domains. Therefore the overarching purpose of this study was to determine if an after-school, sports based life skills programme had any impact on male underachievement within the UK education system. The Transfer-Ability Programme (TAP) was a multi-faceted intervention, which sought to teach twenty underachieving, male students life skills through sport. The results have been presented in three phases with Phase 1 determining the impact of TAP on academic performance in Science, Phase 2 examined the perceptions of the twelve-thirteen year old participants on whether they transferred life skills from the sports hall into the classroom during TAP, and Phase 3 explored the enablers and barriers that facilitated or prevented life transfer. Statistical results indicate that the intervention groups’ academic grades significantly improved during the intervention to a level above teaching prediction. This suggests that teaching life skills through sport may reduce male underachievement. T-tests show that the participants in the intervention group perceived their learning of life skills to significantly increase pre-post TAP. Interview data also supports the notion that the intervention group participants perceived to have learnt the life skills and then transferred them into other academic domains. Phase 3 highlighted five themes that enable or prevent life skill transfer; Support from peers, Pride, Opportunities, Rewards and Transfer experience. These themes are collectively referred to as the SPORT model. The results show that young adolescent males can learn and transfer life skills if deliberately taught to do so. Finally, the findings are discussed with reference to how teachers and physical educators may teach life skills within their lessons, and how life skill transfer may be supported.

This thesis reports research which set out to examine whether exercise interventions embedded within school curricula could confer immediate benefits on students’ attentive functions; an aspect of cognition which is important for academic performance. A novel visuo-motor task was first developed to provide a more direct measure of participants’ attentive functioning than previously possible. Participants tracked moving targets on a tablet computer with a stylus, under single- (following one target) and dual-task conditions (intermittently switching between targets in response to a secondary cue-detection task). Manipulations of attentional load during this task affected adult (19-50 years) and children’s (8-12 years) mean accuracy and intra-individual variability. Age differences between these groups also existed, even after adjusting for motor-control differences. In children, outcomes on the task were validated against the Gordon Diagnostic System (a standardised test of sustained attention) and parental reports of children’s attentiveness (measured using standardised questionnaires). Differences in strategic behaviours whilst dual-tasking were also found that were dependent on task difficulty and whether or not a participant had a developmental disorder. Finally, a repeated-measures crossover-design trial (3 sessions one week apart at the same time of day) was conducted in two schools. Children’s (n = 39) visuo-motor task performance after a 15 min aerobic, moderate-to-vigorous intensity, bench-stepping Exercise Intervention was compared against their Baseline performance (assessment on week 1) and their Control performance (i.e. after a 15 min non-physically active Card-Sorting task). Exercise and Control were separate sessions, weeks 2 and 3, counterbalanced for order. Results indicated no differences between visuo-motor attention post-Exercise, post-Control or at Baseline. Two possible interpretations of this finding are: (1) Exercise does not affect attention acutely to a degree likely to be of subsequent benefit to children’s academic performance. (2) Immediate, short-term, benefits from exercise are conferred on other cognitive processes but not sustained or divided attention.

Experiencing respiratory symptoms in conjunction with exercise is common in children and adolescents and can have a negative impact on daily life. The aim of the thesis was to estimate the prevalence of exercise-induced dyspnoea, exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB) and exercise-induced laryngeal obstruction (E-ILO) in a general adolescent population, and to explore factors associated with EIB. Methods: All 12-13-year-old adolescents in the city of Uppsala (n=3,838) participated in a survey on exercise-induced dyspnoea. A subsample of adolescents who answered the survey, 103 randomly selected adolescents reporting exercise-induced dyspnoea and 47 random adolescents who did not report exercise-induced dyspnoea underwent standardised treadmill exercise tests for EIB and E-ILO. The exercise test for EIB was performed while breathing dry air; a positive test was defined as a decrease ≥10% in FEV1 from baseline. E-ILO was investigated using continuous laryngoscopy during exercise. Health related quality of life (HRQoL), and objectively measured daily physical activity were investigated in those with (n=49) and without (n=91) a positive EIB-test. Results: The prevalence of exercise-induced dyspnoea was 14%, and the estimated prevalence of EIB and E-ILO in the total population was 19.2% and of 5.7%, respectively, with no gender differences. In adolescents with exercise-induced dyspnoea 40% had EIB, 6% had E-ILO, and 5% had both conditions. An increased baseline level of fraction of nitric oxide in exhaled air (FeNO), female gender, and exercise-induced dyspnoea were associated with a positive EIB test. Female adolescents with EIB had lower HRQoL and lower baseline lung function compared to females without EIB. These differences were not observed in male adolescents. There was no difference in time spent in moderate- to vigorous daily physical activity between adolescents with and without EIB.