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Factors Predicting Physical Activity Among Children With Special Needs

INTRODUCTION: Obesity is especially prevalent among children with special needs. Both lack of physical activity and unhealthful eating are major contributing factors. The objective of our study was to investigate barriers to physical activity among these children. METHODS: We surveyed parents of the...

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Autores principales: Yazdani, Shahram, Yee, Chu Tang, Chung, Paul J.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3716337/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23866163
http://dx.doi.org/10.5888/pcd10.120283
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author Yazdani, Shahram
Yee, Chu Tang
Chung, Paul J.
author_facet Yazdani, Shahram
Yee, Chu Tang
Chung, Paul J.
author_sort Yazdani, Shahram
collection PubMed
description INTRODUCTION: Obesity is especially prevalent among children with special needs. Both lack of physical activity and unhealthful eating are major contributing factors. The objective of our study was to investigate barriers to physical activity among these children. METHODS: We surveyed parents of the 171 children attending Vista Del Mar School in Los Angeles, a nonprofit school serving a socioeconomically diverse group of children with special needs from kindergarten through 12th grade. Parents were asked about their child’s and their own physical activity habits, barriers to their child’s exercise, and demographics. The response rate was 67%. Multivariate logistic regression was used to examine predictors of children being physically active at least 3 hours per week. RESULTS: Parents reported that 45% of the children were diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, 38% with autism, and 34% with learning disabilities; 47% of children and 56% of parents were physically active less than 3 hours per week. The top barriers to physical activity were reported as child’s lack of interest (43%), lack of developmentally appropriate programs (33%), too many behavioral problems (32%), and parents’ lack of time (29%). However, child’s lack of interest was the only parent-reported barrier independently associated with children’s physical activity. Meanwhile, children whose parents were physically active at least 3 hours per week were 4.2 times as likely to be physically active as children whose parents were less physically active (P = .01). CONCLUSION: In this group of students with special needs, children’s physical activity was strongly associated with parental physical activity; parent-reported barriers may have had less direct effect. Further studies should examine the importance of parental physical activity among children with special needs.
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spelling pubmed-37163372013-07-22 Factors Predicting Physical Activity Among Children With Special Needs Yazdani, Shahram Yee, Chu Tang Chung, Paul J. Prev Chronic Dis Original Research INTRODUCTION: Obesity is especially prevalent among children with special needs. Both lack of physical activity and unhealthful eating are major contributing factors. The objective of our study was to investigate barriers to physical activity among these children. METHODS: We surveyed parents of the 171 children attending Vista Del Mar School in Los Angeles, a nonprofit school serving a socioeconomically diverse group of children with special needs from kindergarten through 12th grade. Parents were asked about their child’s and their own physical activity habits, barriers to their child’s exercise, and demographics. The response rate was 67%. Multivariate logistic regression was used to examine predictors of children being physically active at least 3 hours per week. RESULTS: Parents reported that 45% of the children were diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, 38% with autism, and 34% with learning disabilities; 47% of children and 56% of parents were physically active less than 3 hours per week. The top barriers to physical activity were reported as child’s lack of interest (43%), lack of developmentally appropriate programs (33%), too many behavioral problems (32%), and parents’ lack of time (29%). However, child’s lack of interest was the only parent-reported barrier independently associated with children’s physical activity. Meanwhile, children whose parents were physically active at least 3 hours per week were 4.2 times as likely to be physically active as children whose parents were less physically active (P = .01). CONCLUSION: In this group of students with special needs, children’s physical activity was strongly associated with parental physical activity; parent-reported barriers may have had less direct effect. Further studies should examine the importance of parental physical activity among children with special needs. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2013-07-18 /pmc/articles/PMC3716337/ /pubmed/23866163 http://dx.doi.org/10.5888/pcd10.120283 Text en https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is a publication of the U.S. Government. This publication is in the public domain and is therefore without copyright. All text from this work may be reprinted freely. Use of these materials should be properly cited.
spellingShingle Original Research
Yazdani, Shahram
Yee, Chu Tang
Chung, Paul J.
Factors Predicting Physical Activity Among Children With Special Needs
title Factors Predicting Physical Activity Among Children With Special Needs
title_full Factors Predicting Physical Activity Among Children With Special Needs
title_fullStr Factors Predicting Physical Activity Among Children With Special Needs
title_full_unstemmed Factors Predicting Physical Activity Among Children With Special Needs
title_short Factors Predicting Physical Activity Among Children With Special Needs
title_sort factors predicting physical activity among children with special needs
topic Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3716337/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23866163
http://dx.doi.org/10.5888/pcd10.120283
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