scholarly journals The Impact of Advancements in Science and Technology on Cypriots’ Physical Activities over Time

2012 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-62
Author(s):  
Efstathios Christodoulides

AbstractDue to special historical circumstances, advancements in science and technology have affected various aspects of Cypriot people’s life relatively late. However, since the modern way of life requires less and less compulsory physical activity, this has manifested itself recently in the spreading of a sedentary lifestyle in Cyprus also. The purpose of this paper is to present the changes in the frequency, intensity and type of physical activity throughout three Cypriot generations. It is based on a part of research carried out by survey method of the population of that consisted of secondary school students, their parents, and their grandparents. The sample was selected by stratified, random, and snowball selection (N = 1067). With the youngest generation, the data were collected in groups at their school by questionnaire; the members of other two groups answered the questionnaires individually. In order to analyze the data, the Wilcoxon two related sample test and chi-square analyses were performed. The results revealed that the older generations’ everyday life encompassed more active elements in their childhood and youth than the youngsters’ life comprises nowadays. Both intragenerational and intergenerational changes in daily living and health-related physical activity occurred, and the advancements in science and technology have had a contradictory impact on these processes. In the conclusions, the necessity of taking measures to stop the decline of physical activity is emphasized.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanbin Lee ◽  
Buhm Han

A large number of countries implemented school closure as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. As existing studies mostly rely on retrospective or pre/post comparisons that are prone to unmeasured confounding, the effect of school closure on adolescent health is poorly understood. The South Korean government implemented school closure to prevent the spread of COVID-19. A difference-in-differences comparing changes in health-related outcomes between provinces with differing degrees of school closure was performed. The main analysis group consists of middle school students of age 14 to 16 who were hit hardest where up to 73% of total schooling was taken online in Seoul (the physical attendance was reduced from 170 days to 45 days). For sensitivity analysis, a placebo group of high school students of age 19 who attended all school-days physically was included to detect any violation of our identification strategy. In the main analysis group of boys that experienced reduced physical school-days, both total and vigorous physical activity were reduced (-0.35 [-0.54 -0.17] days/week for vigorous physical activity and -0.38 [-0.61 -0.16] days/week for total physical activity) while such effect was absent in the placebo group of boys that actually did not experience school closure (-0.08 [-0.49 0.32] days/week for vigorous PA and -0.16 [-0.67 0.34] days/week for total PA). In girls, vigorous physical activity decreased (-0.22 [-0.40 -0.04] days/week) but the total physical activity was nearly constant (0.03 [-0.18 0.25] days/week). Other outcomes were largely unchanged.


Author(s):  
Elke Knisel ◽  
Helge Rupprich ◽  
Annika Wunram ◽  
Markus Bremer ◽  
Christiane Desaive

Health literacy is an important outcome of the discussion of school-related health education and health promotion in the 21st century. Although the improvement of health literacy at an early age is increasingly recognized and few interventions show the development of children´s health literacy, still there is little research in this area. The purpose of the study was to examine the enhancement of health literacy among children in a physical activity-based program at elementary school. In total, 137 students aged 6–12 years participated in the program, which included health knowledge transfer in child-appropriate games and exercises. Participants´ health literacy was assessed using the HLS-Child-Q15-DE at the beginning and the end of the program. The instrument measures the access, understanding, appraisal and application of health-related information on a four-point Likert-type scale. As expected, the Wilcoxon signed-rank test revealed significant increases in self-reported health literacy over time. The results show that the degree of change in health literacy was not associated with gender or age. The results suggest that the physical activity-based program has the potential to improve elementary school children´s health literacy, even though in a single group pilot study.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (14) ◽  
pp. 4177
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Izabela Baruk ◽  
Grzegorz Wesołowski

The aim of this article was to determine the significance of modern marketing communication channels used in the process of shaping the external image of an enterprise as an employer. An analysis of the world literature on marketing, management, marketing communication and human resource management was used to prepare the theoretical part. The results of the analysis indicate a cognitive and research gap regarding the use of modern communication channels for building the external image of an enterprise in the role of an employer. In order to reduce the gap, empirical studies were conducted among young Polish potential employees, in which the survey method was used to gather primary data. The collected data were subjected to statistical analysis, during which the following methods and statistical tests were applied: the analysis of average values, exploratory factor analysis, Kruskal–Wallis test (KW), Pearson chi-square independence test and V-Cramer coefficient analysis. The results of the analyses conducted indicate, inter alia, that statistically significant diversity was identified in the case of non-professional media in terms of respondents’ opinions on whether the employer’s image created by modern media is better than the employer’s image created on the basis of classical marketing communication channels. In the case of professional and non-professional media, the age of the respondents was not a differentiating feature. Moreover, neither for professional media nor for non-professional media were statistically significant dependencies identified between respondents’ opinions on the impact of actions undertaken by enterprises on shaping their positive external image as an employer and respondents’ opinions on whether the employer’s image created on the basis of modern marketing communication channels is more beneficial than the employer’s image created on the basis of classical marketing communication channels. The results obtained on the basis of the research have a cognitive and applicability value, characterized by originality. Until now, the importance of using modern marketing communication channels in shaping the employer’s external image has not been analysed. This also applies to enterprises operating on the energy market.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abigail Gilman ◽  
Michael Bruneau ◽  
Tanja Kral ◽  
Brandy-Joe Milliron ◽  
Patricia Shewokis ◽  
...  

Abstract Objectives We examined the effect of a three year, multi-component, school-based intervention on health behaviors of elementary school students. Methods The multi-component, obesity intervention was provided by community partners to 13 schools over three years. Schools were assigned into three varying Levels of Intervention: “Core” Schools (n = 4) received weekly interventions, “Level 1” Schools (n = 5) received monthly interventions, and Control Schools (n = 5) received no intervention. Participants completed self-reported questionnaires assessing several health behaviors, including fruit and vegetable consumption, and physical activity levels. Questionnaires were administered in the Fall and Spring of each year of the intervention. For this study, responses were analyzed from Year 3 and were compared to national recommendations. Descriptive statistics and chi-square tests of independence examined Level of Intervention and questionnaire responses. Results No significant chi-square tests of independence were identified for the Level of Intervention and quantity of fruit or vegetable consumption. A significant (P = 0.003) chi-square test of independence assessing physical activity was identified in the Fall of Year 3. Descriptive analyses indicated that higher proportions of students in the Core and Level 1 Schools met national fruit, vegetable, and physical activity recommendations compared to students in Control Schools. Conclusions The higher frequency of intervention provided to students in the Core Schools did not influence the dietary behaviors of participants. However, receiving any intervention appeared to affect health behaviors of children receiving the intervention compared to the Control Schools. Funding Sources The Independence Blue Cross Foundation.


Author(s):  
Timothy Brusseau ◽  
Ryan Burns

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of summer breaks on the body composition and cardiovascular fitness of elementary school children who participated in a multi-year school-based physical activity intervention. Participants were 404 children who had their height and weight measured and completed the Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run (PACER) during physical education classes at the beginning and end of the school year for three consecutive years. To examine the effects of time on health-related fitness data, general linear mixed effects models were employed. The results indicate that there was a trend toward an increase in body mass index (BMI) after the summer of 2015 (p = 0.958), and a significant increase in BMI after the summer of 2016 compared to time point 1 (p < 0.001). For PACER laps, there were trends toward decreases in PACER laps after the summers of 2015 (p = 0.515) and 2016 (p = 0.073). Summer breaks tended to attenuate the BMI and PACER lap improvements that were observed during the intervention. While school-based physical activity programming has had some successes in improving health-related fitness markers, the loss of these improvements over the summer is of concern to both practitioners and researchers. It is clear that additional efforts are needed to limit obesogenic behaviors during the summer months.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 75-80
Author(s):  
Fatima Abid ◽  
Musa Aamer ◽  
Samira Faiz ◽  
Fahad Azam ◽  
Abida Shaheen ◽  
...  

Introduction: Dysmenorrhea is a very common reproductive issue present in young females that severely impacts their life. Objectives: To determine the prevalence of primary dysmenorrhea amongst undergraduate students of Pakistan, the association of dysmenorrhea with various factors, and the impact on academic performance. Methodology: An observational study was carried out at different Pakistani universities. The data was collected using a self-designed, pre-tested questionnaire. which was distributed online. The data was analyzed using IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version (Armonk, NY) 26.0. Descriptive statistics were applied for qualitative variables. Mean and standard deviation were calculated for quantitative variables. Chi-square was applied to determine if the differences in cycle length were significantly related to dysmenorrhea. T-tests were applied to determine if there were significant differences in age and body mass index in participants with dysmenorrhea. Result: There were 226 students who had participated in the study. There were 193 (85.40%) participants who reported experiencing dysmenorrhea out of which 97 students (50.26%) took a drug or a combination of drugs to alleviate the pain. There was a high prevalence of stress symptoms associated with dysmenorrhea with fatigue after sleep (p<0.05). Physical activity did not have any effect on dysmenorrhea. Physical activity, the average grade of pain, and the presence of pain in each cycle were significant predictors of dysmenorrhea (p<0.05). Conclusion Physical activity and characteristics of pain, such as cyclical nature and intensity, are predictors of dysmenorrhea. 


Author(s):  
Galih Prasetyo ◽  
Suroto ◽  
Dwi Cahyo Kartiko

The purpose of this research is to improve physical fitness which is one of the goals of physical education in Indonesia while also improving the nutritional status of Surabaya vocational high school students. This research uses the treatment of physical activity 3 times a week in 2 months as a task in physical education to improve physical fitness and nutrional status on the sample of this research. Research design uses quasi experimental design with metode non-randomized control group pretest-posttest design. Research data was obtained as follows: data processing result on experiment group show that physical activity to VO2max got significant score based calculating using SPSS of 0,00 and physical activity to nutrional status got sig. of 0,60. Whereas in the control group, physical actifity got sig. of 0.20 to VO2max and sig. to 0.11 on nutrional status. Based on the above analysis it can be concluded that physical activity has a significant effect on physical fitness but physical activity has no significant effect on nutrional status to Surabaya vocational high school students.


1997 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roy J. Shephard

Advocates of quality daily physical education for prepubescent children frequently encounter the argument that such initiatives will harm academic progress. The impact of daily physical education upon the academic performance of primary school students is thus reviewed with particular reference to studies conducted in Vanves (France), Australia, and Trois Rivières (Québec). When a substantial proportion of curricular time (14–26%) is allocated to physical activity, learning seems to proceed more rapidly per unit of classroom time, so that academic performance matches, and may even exceed, that of control students. Children receiving additional physical education show an acceleration of their psychomotor development, and this could provide a mechanism for accelerated learning of academic skills. Other potential mechanisms include increased cerebral blood flow, greater arousal, changes in hormone levels, enhanced nutrient intake, changes in body build, and increased self esteem. Academic teachers may also favor the enhanced physical education program, creating “halo” effects, and the resulting release time may enhance their academic teaching. Irrespective of mechanisms, the implication for public policy is that daily required physical education can be introduced when a child enters primary school without compromising academic development. Given the importance of establishing positive health habits from an early age, school boards should be encouraged to follow a policy of required daily physical activity in primary schools. Evidence of specific benefit in students with learning disabilities remains less convincing.


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