Community Health and Preventive Medicine Commons^™

Increasing Physical Activity To Improve Health Through Primary Care Clinics In Rural Nebraska, Jill Reed

Theses & Dissertations

Addressing the lack of physical activity (PA) in rural adults is vital because of the role it plays in the risk for many chronic diseases. The purpose of the study was to explore the feasibility of conducting a 12-week intervention to increase PA behavior in inactive rural adults recruited from a primary care clinic. Subjects were randomized to the intervention (n=30) or control (n=29) group and wore a Fitbit to track PA. The intervention group completed action plans and received weekly motivational text messages to improve PA behaviors. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with study participants (n=10) and a focus group …

Active And Safe Routes To School: Evaluating School Travel Planning To Support Children's Active Travel, Adrian Nicholas Buttazzoni

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Most Canadian children are not achieving their daily recommended physical activity (PA) levels despite the many emotional, psychological, and physical benefits of PA. Walking or wheeling to/from school, or active school travel (AST), is a viable method for improving children’s daily participation in PA. In Canada, the Active and Safe Routes to School initiative promotes AST through its comprehensive School Travel Planning (STP) program. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, broadly, this thesis investigates the i) implementation and ii) effectiveness of a regional, two-year STP program supporting AST. This thesis includes a systematic review of AST intervention models implemented in North America, …

Application Of The Gps Technology To Assess Time-Location Pattern Of Undergraduate Students At A Private Medical University In Karachi, Pakistan: A Pilot Study, Tanzil Jamali, Adeel Ahmed Khan, Asaad Ahmed Nafees, Muhammad Ahmed, Syed Iqbal Azam, Muhammad Masood Kadir, Kiyoung Lee

Community Health Sciences

To compare time-location pattern of undergraduate university students through GPS and diary method, and with level of physical activity, a cross-sectional survey was conducted from September 2012 - May 2013 involving 50 undergraduate students from Aga Khan University. Data were recorded through GPS, diary method, International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ-L) and accelerometer (ActiGraph). Median self-reported time spent in the indoor-inside the campus, indoor-outside the campus and outdoor environment was 405 (IQR:300-540), 720 (IQR:465-840) and 300 minutes (IQR:180-495) respectively, while 52% of the students were in moderate, 40% vigorous and 8% in mild categories of physical activity. Mean differences in location …

Perceptions’ On The Impact Of Families For Health After-School Program, Kathryn Lane

Health Sciences Student Work

Introduction Studies show that parents send their children to afterschool programs as a form of supervision while they are at work, but studies also stress the importance in the parental role in a child’s ability to retain the skills and concepts that are learning within these programs. So what if there was an afterschool program where parents attended and participated with the children, would this have an effect on the impact of the program? Families for Health is an afterschool program designed to bring Families together while teaching key concepts that lead to a healthy lifestyle, focusing on physical activity …

Process Evaluation Of The Healthesteps™ Lifestyle Prescription Program, Wendy Blunt, Dawn P. Gill, Brendan Riggin, Judith Belle Brown, Robert Petrella

Lifestyle Research Team

Background: Physical inactivity, sedentary behaviour, and poor diet are contributing to the rise in chronic disease rates throughout the world. HealtheSteps™ is a lifestyle prescription program focused on reducing risk factors for chronic disease through in-person coaching sessions, goal setting and tracking, and technology supports.

Purpose:A process evaluation was conducted alongside a pragmatic randomized controlled trial to: a) explore the acceptability of HealtheSteps™ program from coach and participant perspectives; and b) identify where the program can be improved.

Methods:Participants at risk or diagnosed with a chronic disease were recruited from five primary care/health services …

Physical Activity And Annual Medical Outlay In U.S. Colorectal, Breast And Prostate Cancer Survivors, Alice F. Yan, Yang Wang, Alexander V. Ng

Public Health Faculty Articles

Multiple chronic conditions in cancer survivors are highly prevalent and may increase health care costs for both patients and the health care system. Studies of cancer survivors reveal positive effects of physical activity (PA) on reducing risk of cancer recurrence, other chronic conditions, and secondary cancer. Few nationally representative studies have examined how physical activity levels have affected survivors' annual economic burden in the United States.

Leisure-time physical activity data from the National Health Interview Survey was linked to health care expenditure data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey data (2008–2012). We calculated per-person annual total medical expenditures for identified …

Characterizing The Metabolic Intensity And Cardiovascular Demands Of Walking Football In Southeast Asian Women, D. P. Heil, Robert U. Newton, Dee Dee Ayra Salle

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Given that the recent rise in obesity rates throughout Southeast Asia is disproportionately driven by women, part of the regional solution may be to encourage more habitual physical activity within this population. Taking advantage of the regional popularity of walking football, this study sought to characterize the cardiovascular demands and metabolic intensity of Southeast Asian women competing in walking football matches to determine the sports’ suitability for promoting physical health. It was hypothesized that both cardiovascular and metabolic intensity measures (≥65% HR% and ≥3.0 METs, respectively) would meet or exceed established thresholds for improving fitness and health. Methods: Women’s teams …