scholarly journals METHODS OF TESTING IDEAS IN THE PROJECT "VILLAGES ON MOVE BALTIC": EXPERIENCES FROM BALTIC COUNTRIES

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 5-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Viktorija Piščalkienė ◽  
Milda Gintilienė ◽  
Donatas Misiūnas ◽  
Vilma Rastenienė ◽  
Marita Mattila ◽  
...  

Physical activity is considered as an important tool for promoting of public health. Studies have shown connections between physical activities and mental and physical health, as it is one of the evaluating factors of community indicators. It is recommended that community sport participation is advocated as a form of leisure time for children and adolescents, in an effort to not only improve physical health in relation to such matters as the obesity crisis, but also to enhance psychological and social health outcomes. One of the project "Villages on Move Baltic" (VOMB) 1.1.2016-31.12.2017 (Number 2016-3715/001-001) objectives is to focus more on Health Enhancing Physical Activity and joy of sports for rural citizen in participating regions. This article covers the reasons for seeking to increase participation in sport and other physical recreation activities: health and social engagement; lifestyle, everyday attraction and tourism opportunities. "Villages on Move Baltic" project is activating people to give ideas on how to promote everyday physical activity and how to organise their leisure time in rural areas. The collected ideas are developed by means of culture of experimentation. The Project‘s participants have visited village events and have promoted healthy lifestyle. The goal is to activate inhabitants in rural areas to have more movement and more joy of sports. The ideas about the desirable and interesting forms of physical activity among the rural population were gathered within the participation in 40 events of Villages on Move Baltic" project (VOMB). A total number of participants is 2030, which provided 830 ideas related to physical activity in everyday life and in various events. Conclusions: A great number of ideas about physical activities were collected using verbal and non-verbal methods such as physical activity exercises or games, structured interviews, writing ideas, discussion and drawing. The idea is that competition methods should be applied to specific age and culture groups.

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leona Cilar ◽  
Nina Preložnik ◽  
Gregor Štiglic ◽  
Dominika Vrbnjak ◽  
Majda Pajnkihar

AbstractIntroduction. Nurses need to encourage patients to lead a healthy lifestyle, hence it is important that as nursing students they are already aware of the importance of physical activity. The purpose of the study was to investigate the physical activities of nursing students.Aim. The aim of the study was to find out in what state physical activity of nursing students is and to find out what are their main reasons for lack of physical activity.Material and methods. We conducted a cross-sectional observational study using a mixed methods design. The quantitative data was collected using the survey method with a convenience sample of 123 students and used descriptive and inferential statistics for the analysis. For the qualitative data we used a Grounded Theory Method with semi-structured interviews on purposive samples of four students.Results and conclusions. In the quantitative part of this study we found a significantly higher proportion of outdoor physical activity in comparison to indoor physical activity (p < 0.001). The qualitative part contains the main categories of physical activity implementation, as well as three sub-categories: attitude to physical activity, barriers and incentives. Nursing students do not do physical activities regularly due to lack of time, obligations at the university, time of the year and finances.


2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 16-23
Author(s):  
Viktorija Piščalkienė ◽  
Milda Gintilienė ◽  
Donatas Misiūnas ◽  
Helen Kool ◽  
Jaana Siik ◽  
...  

The analysis was perfomed while participating and doing a research in a project “Villages on Move Bal­tic” (VOMB) 1.1.2016-31.12.2017 (Number 2016- 3715/001-001). The project‘s objective is to focus more Health Enhancing Physical Activity and joy of sports for rural citizen in participating regions. VOMB pro­ject is activating people to give ideas on how to pro­mote everyday physical activity and how to organise their leisure time in rural areas. The Project‘s partners have visited village events and have promoted healthy lifestyle. One of the goals is to motivate inhabitants in rural areas to have more physical activities and more joy of sports. Methods of the research: structured qu­estionnaire in written. This article presents the results of internal and external motivation for most common physical activity types of citizens from participial countries in 6 months. In order to be physically active 6 indicators depended to external motivation and 12 to internal. Sample: there were 627 people from 5 European countries (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Denmark, Finland). The research has shown that the most favorite types of physical activity are walking, riding a bike and running. However, the participants from Finland and Denmark were more motivated in all kinds of physical activities comparing to other participating countries. Walking, gym, Nordic walking, swimming and yoga are the most popular forms of physical activities for the participants of urban areas. Gardening is more po­pular in rural areas. Participants from 18 to 44 years old are more physically active as they apply a variety of physical activities comparing to the participants in 45 to 59 age group. Almost all of the participants agree that health is a driving force of internal motivation for physical activity. To add more, almost all external factors are important to men and women, considering physical activity. Participants from rural areas more than respondents who live in settlements or cities agree on the idea that person’s quality of life depends on personal efforts.


Author(s):  
Jelena Petrović ◽  
Stojan Cenić ◽  
Dragana Dimitrijević

This paper aims to contribute to greater involvement of elementary school children in sports and physical activity in the leisure time. The paper first discusses the theoretic bases concerning leisure time activities structure; the patterns of family leisure, and the importance of sports and physical activities in both groups. Empirical research aims to gain insight into the current patterns of elementary school children’ and their families’ leisure time, and the frequency of sports and physical activity in their free time; also it examines the differences in orientation towards sports and physical activities between children from urban and rural surroundings and between two age groups (4th grade and 7th grade students), and finally it studies a correlation between family leisure patterns and students’ own leisure choices. The research encompassed 189 students of urban and rural areas of the municipality of Leskovac. The students were examined by a 5-point Likert type scale and a questionnaire. Data processing was performed by the SPSS program. The main results led to the conclusions that: Families and schools have to play a significant role in awareness raising about the importance of physical activity and sports engagement within the student’s’ unstructured leisure time; There is a need to support rural schools in developing and sustaining school sports; and finally, Family involvement in sports and recreational activities has to be supported in order to make a model for students’ greater involvement into sports and physical activities. 


2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (s1) ◽  
pp. S40-S45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle C. Kegler ◽  
Iris Alcantara ◽  
Regine Haardörfer ◽  
Alexandra Gemma ◽  
Denise Ballard ◽  
...  

Background:Physical activity levels, including walking, are lower in the southern U.S., particularly in rural areas. This study investigated the concept of rural neighborhood walkability to aid in developing tools for assessing walkability and to identify intervention targets in rural communities.Methods:Semi-structured interviews were conducted with physically active adults (n = 29) in rural Georgia. Mean age of participants was 55.9 years; 66% were male, 76% were white, and 24% were African American. Participants drew maps of their neighborhoods and discussed the relevance of typical domains of walkability to their decisions to exercise. Comparative analyses were conducted to identify major themes.Results:The majority felt the concept of neighborhood was applicable and viewed their neighborhood as small geographically (less than 0.5 square miles). Sidewalks were not viewed as essential for neighborhood-based physical activity and typical destinations for walking were largely absent. Destinations within walking distance included neighbors’ homes and bodies of water. Views were mixed on whether shade, safety, dogs, and aesthetics affected decisions to exercise in their neighborhoods.Conclusions:Measures of neighborhood walkability in rural areas should acknowledge the small size of self-defined neighborhoods, that walking in rural areas is likely for leisure time exercise, and that some domains may not be relevant.


2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver Ling Hoon Leh ◽  
Nur Hidayah Shaharom ◽  
Marlyana Azyyati Marzukhi ◽  
Sharifah Zannierah Syed Marzuki

The natural ecosystems are increasingly being replaced by urban built-up area due to fast urbanisation. The urban development pressure brought urban areas to the uncontrolled built environment which, in turn, significantly compromises the quality of public spaces and facilities. Furthermore, the urban environment discourages active living. Thus, research on the relationship between urbanisation and physical health is rapidly coming to the force. Urbanisation can have detrimental effects, particularly on physical health, which further attributed to unsustainable urban development. A study was carried out at Sri Pahang Public Housing (Flat), Kuala Lumpur with the aim to investigate the healthy lifestyle among residents and the relationship with the public facilities available at study area for the physical activity. Data was obtained through questionnaire survey. The relationship between healthy lifestyle particularly the level of physical activity and the facilities in the study area was analysed using correlation test. It was found that most of the respondents were physically inactive and their healthy lifestyle can be related to the planning aspects of facilities in the study area.


2021 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 477-508
Author(s):  
Bojan Milošević ◽  
Branka Janković ◽  
Milenko Janković

We are witnesses to an ever faster and more "aggressive" influence of modern technologies, not only on lives of adults and adolescents, but also children of preschool age. This planetary trend has not bypassed contemporary Serbian society either. The subject of this paper is the analysis of the data collected through the original empirical research in relation to establishing a connection between (1) the dimension of smartphone control imposed by the parents and (2) the dimensions of physical activity of children of preschool age in their leisure time. The paper analyzes the physical activities of preschool children depending on the following variables: children's gender and age (4, 5 or 6 years old), whether the child owns a smartphone or not, whether the child is included in a programmed sports activity; all this in relation to the parents' statement on whether they limit the time of the child's smartphone use. The relationship between these variables is justified by applying the Parental Smartphone Use Management Scale (PSUMS), while Baecke questionnaire is used for the data on preschool children's physical activity in their leisure time. The empirical research was carried out in the first half of 2020 by conducting a survey among the parents of 943 preschool children aged from 4 to 6 attending preschool and daycare centres in the territory of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina (Serbia). Based on the analysis of the collected data, we have deduced the following: 1. a large percentage of children from 4 to 6 do not own their own smartphones (77.9%), but nonetheless they use smartphones on a daily basis (73.4%); 2. there are no differences in children's physical activities in relation to their gender and age; 3. children spend more time on physical activities in their leisure time if they do not have their own smartphones, if they are engaged in an organized sports activity ("recreational schools"), as well as if their parents limit their smartphone use, and 4. children participate more in physical activities in their leisure time if their parents are consistent regarding children's smartphone time management. Recommendations to parents based on our research are that children should be included in free physical activities at the earliest preschool age, and in the structured/programmed ones at a later preschool age, because that is the period most suitable for accepting adequate habits of physical exercise that are carried on into adulthood. In that manner, children will more easily "give up" their passive (sedentary) activities in leisure time, which is usually spent alongside use of smartphone, all with the aim of optimizing the quality of their growing up.


Author(s):  
Agnieszka Ostachowska-Gasior ◽  
Emilia Kolarzyk ◽  
Renata Majewska ◽  
Anna Gasior ◽  
Jacek Kwiatkowski ◽  
...  

The aim of the study was to assess the relationship between the lifestyle of Polish women (characterized by the quality of diets and levels of reported physical activity) and their characteristics such as age, place of residence, physical activity at work or school, reported health status, and BMI. The sample consisted of 882 women from Southern Poland. Diet quality and the level of physical activity were evaluated by the Nutrition Beliefs Questionnaire established by the Polish Academy of Sciences. The lifestyle category (healthy, moderate, or unhealthy) was based on “Prohealthy Diet Index-10” and participant’s self-assessed physical activity during their leisure-time. The lifestyle category was significantly associated with age, BMI, physical activity at work/school, and health. Moderate lifestyle (high or moderate levels of physical activity combined with low prohealthy diet) was the most commonly found classification in examined women. Age (>35 years old) and overweight are the main factors determining unhealthy lifestyle behavior. Healthy lifestyle is more often chosen by the women from big cities. More intensive efforts should be undertaken to increase the knowledge and awareness of the health benefits of a healthy lifestyle. The main goal should be concentrated on increasing the level of physical activity, especially in leisure time, and promoting the tenets of a well-balanced diet.


2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. NP155-NP157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam G. Gavarkovs ◽  
Shauna M. Burke ◽  
Kristen C. Reilly ◽  
Robert J. Petrella

Chronic disease is becoming increasingly prevalent in Canada. Many of these diseases could be prevented by adoption of healthy lifestyle habits including physical activity and healthy eating. Men, especially those in rural areas, are disproportionately affected by chronic disease. However, men are often underrepresented in community-based chronic disease prevention and management (CDPM) programs, including those that focus on physical activity and/or healthy eating. The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences and perceptions of program delivery staff regarding the challenges in recruitment and participation of men in physical activity and healthy eating programs in rural communities, and suggestions for improvement. Semistructured interviews were conducted by telephone with 10 CDPM program delivery staff from rural communities in Southwest Ontario, Canada. Time and travel constraints, relying on spouses, and lack of male program leaders were cited as barriers that contributed to low participation levels by men in CDPM programs. Hiring qualified male instructors and engaging spouses were offered as strategies to increase men’s participation. The results of this study highlight many of the current issues faced by rural health organizations when offering CDPM programming to men. Health care organizations and program delivery staff can use the recommendations in this report to improve male participation levels.


2019 ◽  
Vol 79 (5) ◽  
pp. 543-555
Author(s):  
Hui Xie ◽  
Linda L Caldwell ◽  
Steven Loy

Background: Latino grandparents are often involved in the care and rearing of grandchildren and may help parents in promoting children’s leisure time physical activity (LTPA). However, potential disagreements between grandparents and parents may undermine their collaboration and subsequently their support for children’s LTPA. Aim: The purpose of this study was to explore Latino grandparents’ perception of disagreements with parents in children’s (age 2–12) LTPA. Methods: Qualitative data were collected from 53 Latino grandparents in Los Angeles County, USA, using four semi-structured focus groups and 26 semi-structured interviews. Transcribed data were systematically and iteratively coded and analysed. Results: Many Latino grandparents disagreed with parents’ sedentary lifestyle, permissive parenting and lack of support for children’s LTPA. In addition, Latino grandparents described disagreement with parents in specific issues such as children’s LTPA options and safety during LTPA. Conclusion: There were disagreements between Latino grandparents and parents concerning children’s LTPA. Health researchers and practitioners should be aware of those disagreements and consider using education/intervention programmes to reduce the tension between Latino grandparents and parents and increase their collaborative support for children’s LTPA.


2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 597-605 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael B. Edwards ◽  
Michael A. Kanters ◽  
Jason N. Bocarro

Background:This study’s purpose was to assess the opportunities for North Carolina adolescents to be physically active in extracurricular middle school environments and to compare opportunities across community types.Methods:Data were analyzed based on the results of an electronic questionnaire distributed to a sample of 431 schools with a response rate of 75.4% (N = 325).Results:Nearly all schools offered interscholastic sports while fewer than half offered intramurals or noncompetitive activities to students. “Open gym” was offered at only 35% of schools, while 24% of schools offered extracurricular activities to students with disabilities. Overall, 43.4% of schools offered special transportation to students who participated in some extracurricular physical activities. Schools in rural areas generally offered fewer programs and had fewer supports than schools located in more urbanized areas. Over two-thirds of rural schools offered no extracurricular programs other than interscholastic sports.Conclusions:Schools can be important settings for physical activity. North Carolina’s middle schools and its rural schools in particular, are falling short in efforts to provide extracurricular physical activity programming recommended by researchers and policy groups.1−6 Lower accessibility to extracurricular physical activities may partially contribute to higher levels of physical inactivity found in the state.


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